Eighteen-Hit Attack Lifts Falcons to 11-5 Win at NIU

Saturday, April 1

DeKalb, IL

1:00 PM CT

Bowling Green State University

16-20, 2-3

Northern Illinois

15-12, 3-2

Bowling Green

Northern Illinois

Katee Hinkle v Tiffin - Oct 2016 - Paul Duncan photo

Katee Hinkle had 5 hits in Saturday's DH, going 4-for-4 in the opener

April 01, 2017 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

MAC West favorites salvage Saturday split with game-two victory

By: DeKALB, Ill. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University softball team pounded out 18 hits in Saturday's (April 1) opening game, rolling to an 11-5 road win over Northern Illinois University. The Huskies bounced back to post a 7-3 win in the nightcap, salvaging a split of the day's doubleheader at Mary M. Bell Field.

BGSU's 11 runs in Saturday's opener was the Falcons' second-highest total of the season, and marked BG's most runs in a Mid-American Conference game in nearly three years, since a 12-11 win at Buffalo on April 18, 2014.

The Falcons' hit total in game one was BGSU's highest in almost eight years, since the Orange and Brown had a whopping 21 hits in a 9-7 win at Akron on April 30, 2010.

LINKS
GAME ONE STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
GAME TWO STATISTICS: HTML | PDF

All nine players in the batting order had at least one hit in Saturday's opener, with six of those nine players putting together a multiple-hit game. Junior Katee Hinkle led the way with a 4-for-4 game, scoring three runs and driving in one. Sophomore Alex Sorgi was 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI, while senior Haley Schrock, redshirt junior Chelsea Raker and freshmen Logan Everett and Kendyl Wheeler had two hits each.

Sophomore Hannah Giammarino, like Sorgi, scored three runs in the win, while Everett touched the plate twice. Wheeler had a pair of RBI in Saturday's victory.

That was plenty of offense for sophomore Meredith Miller, who struck out four and did not walk a batter in her complete-game victory. Miller improved to 9-4 on the season.

Kayti Grable had three hits for the Huskies in the opener, while three of her teammates had two apiece.

After a scoreless first inning, the Falcons scored eight runs over the next two frames. Everett and Hinkle had back-to-back one-out singles in the second, and Giammarino reached on a fielder's choice that loaded the bases. Wheeler's grounder produced the second out, but Everett crossed the plate with the game's first run. Then, Sorgi's double to left brought home a pair of teammates for a 3-0 lead.

Miller retired the Huskies in order in the bottom of the inning, and the BGSU bats went back to work in the third. Redshirt junior Aspen Searle reached on an error, and Raker singled up the middle to send Searle to second and chase NIU starter Alex Frenz.

Reliever Keegan Hayes retired the first batter she faced, but senior Sami Parave's grounder allowed both runners to move up a base. But, Everett followed with a single that scored Searle, and Hinkle's base hit plated pinch-runner Makayla Wood.

Giammarino reached after the NIU catcher's throw to first hit her in the back, with Everett scoring on the play, and after Giammarino stole second base, Wheeler's single scored Hinkle. Sorgi's bunt single loaded the bases, and Schrock's sacrifice fly -- her school-record sixth of the season -- allowed all three runners to advance, with Giammarino tagging and scoring. Hayes finally got the third out of the inning on a fly ball to center, but the Falcons had an 8-0 lead. BGSU had 10 hits through the first three innings.

The Huskies got on the board, as Jenny Van Geertry and Kali Kossakowski hit back-to-back homers with one out in the home half of the third, and Hayes allowed two hits, but no runs, in the top of the fourth.

Miller set down the Huskies in order in the bottom of the inning, however, and BG got another run in the fifth. After the first two runners were retired, Schrock singled up the middle and Searle was hit by a pitch. Raker's sharp single up the middle allowed Schrock to score and make it a 9-2 game.

The Huskies, though, crept within four runs with a three-run fifth. Van Geertry doubled with one down, and after Kossakowski singled, a Bekah Harnish double plated both runners. Grable singled to plate Harnish, but Miller recovered to strike out pinch-hitter Rebecca Rupard. After Katie Lamich singled, Miller got Jessica Rio to swing and miss, ending the inning.

And, BG went to work once again in the sixth. After the first two hitters were retired, Hinkle doubled to right-center, then took third on Giammarino's single. A chopper back to the circle resulted in a hit for Wheeler, loading the bases.

Sorgi came to the plate, and the Huskies employed a defensive shift against the sophomore slapper, putting three players on the left side of the infield. Sorgi, however, proceeded to line a ball through that left side, and the ball also split a pair of outfielders. When the smoke had cleared, Sorgi was on second base with her second double, both of the game and of her career, and Hinkle and Giammarino had crossed the plate. Emma Ray entered the circle for the Huskies, and NIU's third pitcher got the third out, but the damage had been done.

Miller retired the hosts in order in the sixth, and after allowing a two-out single in the seventh, got Alaynie Woollard to hit a ball to Giammarino in center for the game's final out.

Frenz suffered the loss for the Huskies, dropping to 10-3 on the year.

In the nightcap, NIU scored two runs in the first inning, and the MAC West Division favorites scored three more times in the second. Sorgi and junior Laine Simmons each had two hits in the game, Parave walked three times and Searle clubbed a two-run homer -- her second round-tripper in as many days -- but the hosts scored single runs in both the third and fourth innings to keep the Falcons at bay.

After a Kossakowski walk in the first inning, Harnish sacrificed her to second, but BG starter Brooke Parker got Grable to hit a popup for the second out. Woollard, however, beat out a slow roller to short, and Kossakowski, running all the way with two outs, beat the throw home to score the game's first run. Then, Dominique Greeno followed with a single, and an outfield error allowed Woollard to come all the way around to score.

A Van Geertry walk with two down in the second inning was followed by a Kossakowski double, a Harnish single, a BG error on a double-steal attempt and a Grable base hit. Suddenly, the home team had a 5-0 lead.

BG got on the board in the third, as Sorgi singled with one down, and after Schrock's sac bunt, Searle's fly ball landed on the other side of the fence in left-center. The Falcons trailed by a 5-2 score after Searle's fifth homer of the season and the 19th four-base hit of her career.

Greeno led off the home half of the third with a double against BGSU reliever Briana Combs, and a Lamich single with one out scored Greeno to give the hosts a 6-2 lead. The next half-inning saw BG score one run, but the Falcons missed an opportunity to further reduce the deficit.

Parave greeted NIU reliever Tara Thacker with a leadoff walk, and a Simmons single to left was followed by Hinkle's infield hit that loaded the bases. Giammarino singled to center to score Parave, with the bases remaining loaded. But, Thacker got each of the next two Falcons to hit grounders that resulted in force plays at the plate. Then, a foul pop to the catcher ended the inning with the Brown and Orange down by a 6-3 count.

Kossakowski homered with one out in the bottom of the inning to restore the Huskies' four-run lead. Combs would not allow another hit over the remaining 2 2/3 innings of work, but Thacker gave up just one hit over her last three innings.

After the Falcons were retired in order in the fifth inning, Simmons doubled to lead off the sixth. Thacker set down the next two batters, before Wheeler walked to put two runners aboard. But, a ground ball to the first baseman resulted in an unassisted putout that ended the inning.

Then, in the seventh, Searle reached on a one-out error, and Raker drilled a liner to left, but it was hit directly at Lamich, who caught the bullet for the second out. Parave walked for the third time in the game, but a looping liner by Simmons was snared by shortstop Kossakowski on the outfield grass, and the Huskies had the win.

Thacker earned the victory with four innings of one-run, four-hit relief. She walked three batters and struck out two. Ray, the NIU starter, allowed three hits and two runs in three innings of action.

Combs allowed two runs and three hits in her four innings of relief, walking a pair of Huskies and striking out three.

At the plate, Sorgi and Simmons each went 2-for-4 for the visitors, while Kossakowski, Greeno and Lamich all had two-hit games for the hosts. Kossakowski was 2-for-2 with a walk, three runs and two RBI in the nightcap.

BGSU scored a total of 19 runs in the three-game series against the MAC's West Division favorite.

"The offense did a great job this weekend against the NIU pitching staff," said Falcon head coach Sarah Willis. "They gave us a lot of run support, and we will be looking to maintain that success as we go into our doubleheader against a tough Miami team."

The Falcons, after playing the first 37 games of the season away from home, now return to Northwest Ohio for the next five games. BGSU is scheduled to host Miami in a Tuesday (April 4) doubleheader, with game one slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. at Meserve Field. Then, the Falcons will host Eastern Michigan in a three-game weekend series, with a single game Friday (April 7) followed by a Saturday (April 8) twinbill.