Falcons Drop Two Games in Louisiana

Thursday, February 23

Lafayette, LA

3:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

6-4

Drake

8-4

Bowling Green

Drake

Hannah Giammarino v Tiffin - Oct 2016 - Paul Duncan photo

Hannah Giammarino reached base in all 3 plate appearances vs. Drake

February 23, 2017 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BGSU falls to Drake & No. 16 Ragin' Cajuns on Thursday

By: LAFAYETTE, La. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University softball team suffered a pair of setbacks on Thursday (Feb. 23), as the Falcons opened play in the Mardi Gras Invitational in Lafayette, La. BGSU fell to Drake, 4-1, and to No. 16 Louisiana, 14-2 in five innings, at Lamson Park.

With the losses, BG drops to 6-5 on the young season.

In the opener, sophomore pitchers Kiley Sosby and Brooke Parker combined to allow just one hit. But, bases on balls came back to haunt the Falcons, as that one Drake hit was a three-run homer by Kailee Smith after a pair of Bulldogs had walked in the third inning.

In the nightcap, Daniella Chavez and DJ Sanders each homered as the Ragin' Cajuns, who scored in four of the five innings. That was more than enough offense for Louisiana pitcher Alex Stewart, the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year and a NFCA Second-Team All-American, as she allowed just three hits over four innings.

Redshirt junior Chelsea Raker doubled in the first game and homered in the second, with the round-tripper coming off of Stewart.

LINKS
BGSU-DRAKE STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
BGSU-LOUISIANA STATISTICS: HTML | PDF

In game one, Smith picked up the win in the circle for Drake, allowing one run and five hits before leaving with two outs in the seventh inning. She also drove in all four of her team's runs in the win. Nicole Newman, the nation's leader in strikeouts entering the week, got the final out to pick up the save.

Raker continued her hot hitting, going 2-for-3 against the Bulldogs. She had a single in her first at-bat, then doubled her next time up. The latter hit gave her 13 hits in her last 17 at-bats at that point. She was finally retired in the sixth, as Smith got her to hit a fly ball to right.

Raker's first hit came in the first inning, two batters after freshman Kendyl Wheeler had singled off of Smith. But, the DU pitcher got out of the inning, and the Bulldogs looked to break on top in the bottom of the frame.

Walks to Megan Sowa and Sarah Maddox put a pair of runners aboard with one down, but Sosby got Smith to hit an infield popup to retire the side.

BGSU's Haley Schrock and DU's Kennedy Frank each drew a second-inning base on balls, but Schrock was erased on a double-play grounder while Frank was stranded at third. In the third inning, however, the Falcons would score, and the Bulldogs would answer.

Hannah Giammarino led off the third inning with a walk, and the speedy sophomore went all the way to third on junior Katee Hinkle's sacrifice bunt. Sophomore Alex Sorgi reached on an infield single, and promptly stole second to put runners at second and third with one out. Wheeler's fly ball to left was caught, but Giammarino trotted home on the sacrifice fly, giving the Brown and Orange a 1-0 lead.

But, in the home half of the third inning, Kelsey Wright led off with a walk, and one out later, Sowa walked for the second time on the afternoon. Sosby got the second out of the inning on an infield popup, but Smith helped her own cause, homering to center to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. The round-tripper was Drake's first – and, as it turned out, the Bulldogs' last – hit of the game.

Raker doubled to lead off the fourth, but pinch-runner Taylor Blevins was stranded there after the next three batters were retired. Sosby set down the Bulldogs in the bottom of the inning, but Giammarino's leadoff single was the only baserunner the Falcons could muster in the fifth. And, DU added to the lead in the bottom of the inning.

With one down, Tasha Alexander walked, and Sowa drew her third base on balls in as many plate appearances. Parker replaced Sosby in the circle, but Maddox drew another walk. Parker, however, got out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam with only one run crossing the plate. She got Smith to lift a fly ball to center that was caught by Giammarino, with Alexander tagging and scoring. Then, Parker induced Taryn Pena to hit an inning-ending grounder to third.

Both teams were set down in order in the sixth, but Schrock reached on an infield error to begin the seventh inning, and took second on a grounder by junior Laine Simmons. A strikeout produced the second out, and Giammarino walked to bring the tying run to the plate. But, Newman came on in relief of Smith, and got her NCAA-leading 70th strikeout of the season to seal the win.

BGSU outhit Drake, 5-1, but Falcon pitchers walked eight batters, with three of those eight coming around to score. Smith earned the win, allowing one run and five hits. She walked three Falcons and struck out eight. Both teams left five runners on base.

Raker, as mentioned, was 2-for-3 in the game. Giammarino reached base in all three plate appearances, with a hit and two walks.

In the Falcons' second game of the day, the Cajuns took the lead against senior Briana Combs and the Falcons in the top of the first. Combs retired the first batter, and got the next hitter, Haley Hayden, to lift a fly ball to right on a 3-1 count. But, an illegal pitch was called, and Hayden was awarded first base via a walk. She would score on a grounder, before Sanders doubled and Chavez followed with a homer for a 3-0 lead.

BGSU got a run back in the bottom of the inning. Sorgi and Wheeler each reached on infield singles, and on Wheeler's hit, Stewart threw wildly toward first base, and the ball sailed into shallow right as Sorgi continued to third base. With Aspen Searle at the plate, Wheeler was caught in a rundown and tagged out, but Sorgi crossed the plate to make it a 3-1 game.

Parker retired the Ragin' Cajuns in order in the second, but Louisiana turned five singles into three runs in the third. A single up the middle, a grounder into the hole at short and a blooper into shallow center loaded the bases, and a Chavez single through the right side of the infield plated a pair. Then, Beth Ashley's grounder brought home another run to give the Cajuns a 6-1 lead.

Louisiana scored four times in the fourth, with Sanders hitting a three-run homer to left. The bottom of the inning saw Raker line a Stewart offering over the fence in left, but the Cajuns tacked on four more runs in the fifth, which included a Kara Gremillion double and a Hayden single, each of which drove in a run.

Kylee Jo Trahan relieved Stewart in the fifth and retired the Falcons to close out the win. Stewart struck out seven hitters in her four innings, improving to 4-1 on the year.

Combs suffered the loss for the Falcons, dropping to 1-2 on the season. Parker pitched four innings of relief, with sophomore Meredith Miller coming on to retire the only batter she faced in the fifth.

Sanders went 3-for-3 and scored four runs for the Cajuns, while Chavez had two hits and four RBI.

The Falcons return to Lamson Park for a pair of games on Friday (Feb. 24), facing Maryland and Bradley. The Maryland game, the third of six scheduled games on Friday, is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, while the Bradley game is slated to start at 7:00 p.m. ET.

MARDI GRAS INVITATIONAL
Thursday, Feb. 23
Drake 4, Bowling Green 1
#16 Louisiana 9, Drake 3
#16 Louisiana 14, Bowling Green 2 (5 innings)