Falcons Pound Out 20 Hits, Throw Two Shutouts in Saturday Sweep

Saturday, February 10

Cleveland, OH

3:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

3-0

Niagara

2-2

Bowling Green

Niagara

Freshman 3B Sarah Gonzalez was one of many keys to BGSU's Saturday sweep

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

February 10, 2018 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BGSU blanks Niagara & Canisius at the CSU Dome Tournament

By: CLEVELAND, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University softball team was clicking on all cylinders Saturday (Feb. 10), as the Falcons picked up two wins to improve to 4-0 on the young season. BGSU defeated Niagara University, 4-0, then downed Canisius College by an 8-0 count in six innings.

Both games were part of day-two action at the CSU Dome Tournament, held at the Krenzler Dome in downtown Cleveland.

The BG offense pounded out 20 hits, including seven extra-base hits, in Saturday's two wins, while the Falcon pitching staff combined to throw a pair of shutouts.

The Falcons used a four-run third inning to account for all of the scoring in the win over the Purple Eagles. The victory over the Golden Griffins saw the Brown and Orange save most of the offensive fireworks for the late innings, as BG scored three times in both the fifth and sixth innings to pick up the run-rule win.

LINKS
BGSU-NIAGARA STATISTICS: PDF
BGSU-CANISIUS STATISTICS: PDF
2018 Schedule (with links to live stats at CSU | 2018 Record Book

SIX THINGS

One day after throwing her first career one-hitter against Niagara, junior Meredith Miller threw a complete-game three-hit shutout vs. Canisius. For the second-straight outing, Miller faced just two batters over the minimum. She recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts and did not walk a batter. The shutout was the sixth of her career.
Junior transfer Kali Holcomb has had at least one extra-base hit and at least one RBI in each of her first four games as a Falcon. Holcomb had a double in Saturday's first game and a home run in the second.
Through two days of the 2018 season, Holcomb has a whopping 11 RBI, including a pair of four-RBI games. She is batting .429 with a slugging percentage of 1.000 on the year.
Freshman Sarah Gonzalez had two hits in each of Saturday's two games, and now has three multiple-hit games on the young season. Classmate Sammy Dees was a perfect 3-for-3 in the Canisius contest, with a pair of doubles and her first collegiate home run. Both Gonzalez and Dees are batting .500 on the season, and both players have a slugging pct. of over .900.
Fifth-year senior Aspen Searle leads the team with a .538 batting average after recording a hit in each Saturday win. Searle has scored a team-leading seven runs this weekend.
BGSU has outscored opponents, 26-3, over the last two days. The Falcons have scored those 26 runs while striking out just 17 times.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"Brooke Parker pitched a great game against Niagara today. She fed our fielders consistent miss-hits, allowing our defense to take care of the ball. We had some timely hitting from the heart of our lineup with multiple players stepping up to the plate in RBI situations."

"In the second game, Meredith Miller was lights-out for us on the mound with 11 strikeouts and no walks. She was very efficient today, which allowed her to remain in control. She had great support from our lineup, including Sammy Dees, Aspen Searle, Kali Holcomb and Sarah Gonzalez. When we are aggressive at the plate, our offense will produce!"

BGSU-NIAGARA – HOW IT HAPPENED

BGSU junior Brooke Parker and NU starting pitcher Sierra Bertrand each threw a pair of shutout innings to begin Saturday's game. The Purple Eagles, playing their fourth game of the weekend, made a pitching change to begin the third frame, and the Falcons pounced on relief hurler Emily Johnston.
BG scored four times in the third inning, stringing together six hits. Junior Alex Sorgi began the rally with a one-out hit, but Johnston struck out the next hitter before the Falcons scored all four runs with two outs. Sorgi went to second on a wild pitch, then scored easily on Searle's triple to right. Holcomb followed with a double to left, plating Searle, and freshman Nikki Sorgi singled to bring Holcomb around to score. Sorgi, who had taken second base on the throw home, then scored BG's fourth run when junior transfer Kaylee Parker singled. Gonzalez delivered BGSU's third extra-base hit of the inning, sending Parker to third with a double, but Johnston finally got out of the inning.
Meanwhile, Brooke Parker was in control. She allowed a one-out single in the third inning, and a leadoff walk in the fourth, but a force play in the third frame and a double play in the fourth erased any chances of a Niagara threat.
Jennifer Timm led off the NU fifth inning with a double, but the next hitter, Maria Gabriele, hit a liner to Searle at shortstop, and the senior fired the ball to Dees, doubling Timm off of second base.
Freshman Madison French made her BGSU debut in the seventh inning, relieving Brooke Parker in the circle. French pitched to a pair of batters before Parker returned to the game. Parker worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation, striking out Gabriele for the second out and inducing Margaret Vesneske to hit a soft grounder to retire the side and close out the win.

BGSU-NIAGARA LEADERS

Brooke Parker surrendered just three hits in her seven innings of work, picking up the win to move to 2-0 on the young season. She walked just two batters and struck out three.
Meanwhile, three BG players had a two-hit game as the Falcons pounded out nine hits. Gonzalez, Alex Sorgi, Kaylee Parker all went 2-for-3 in the win. Sorgi also had a walk and scored a run, while Parker drove in a run and Gonzalez had her second double of the season.
Searle, Holcomb and Nikki Sorgi all went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Searle's hit was a triple, while Holcomb had a double.
Three players had one hit apiece for Niagara. In the circle, Bertrand pitched two shutout innings, while Johnston allowed four runs and seven hits in her four innings of work.

BGSU-CANISIUS – HOW IT HAPPENED

Miller struck out two batters in each of the four innings, allowing only two baserunners during that time. Meanwhile, the Falcons threatened, but did not score, in the bottom of the first.
That inning saw Dees lace a one-out double against CC starter Erika Mackie. Dees took third on a wild pitch, and a walk to Searle put runners at the corners. But, Holcomb's liner was caught by the first baseman, with Searle doubled off the bag.
BG got on the board in the very next inning. Kaylee Parker was hit by a pitch, and Nikki Sorgi's sacrifice bunt moved pinch-runner Taylor Blevins to second. Blevins promptly stole third, and she came home on a single by Gonzalez.
In the third inning, Dees roped a double, her second two-base hit of the game, to right. Searle reached on an infield single to the left side, but Dees was forced to hold at second. The runners moved up on a wild pitch, but Mackie got out of the jam with back-to-back groundouts.
In the fourth inning, a pair of Canisius errors helped the Falcons double the lead. Nikki Sorgi reached on an error to lead off the inning, and a bunt single by Gonzalez put two runners aboard. On that play, Sorgi advanced all the way to third on another CC error, and she scored on a fielder's choice grounder by senior Laine Simmons.
BG broke the game open in the fifth. Dees led off the inning with her first collegiate home run, and after a walk to Searle, Holcomb hit her second homer in as many days to give the Brown and Orange a 5-0 lead.
Miller, who had struck out 'only' one batter in the top of the fifth, punched out two batters in the next inning, marking the fifth time in six frames that she whiffed two batters. Then, BG put the game away in the bottom of the sixth.
Simmons led off with a single to center, and pinch-hitter Hannah Giammarino followed with a fielder's-choice grounder. Alex Sorgi's infield single and a walk to Dees – who reached base for the fourth time in as many plate appearances – loaded the bases. Searle's grounder resulted in Giammarino being forced at the plate for the second out, but Holcomb singled to score Alex Sorgi and Dees, and pinch-hitter Kiley Sosby's base hit plated Searle to give the Falcons an eight-run lead and end the game.

BGSU-CANISIUS LEADERS

BG pounded out 11 hits in the win, with Dees leading the way. The Falcon freshman was 3-for-3 with two doubles, a homer and a walk. She scored two runs and drove in one.
For the second-straight day, Holcomb had a homer and a four-RBI game. She went 2-for-4 vs. the Golden Griffins, scoring a run.
Gonzalez had her third consecutive two-hit game, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Searle went 1-for-2 with two walks and two runs, while Simmons and Sosby each had a hit and a run batted in. Alex Sorgi scored at least one run for the fourth time in as many 2018 games.
In the circle, as mentioned, Miller spun a three-hitter, striking out a career-high 11 batters. She is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00, and is allowing opponents to bat just .103 against her.

DOME SWEET DOME

BGSU is participating in the CSU Dome Tournament for the fifth consecutive year, and the Falcons have an overall record of 12-8 in that time.
BG has won nine-straight games in the tourney. The Falcons won the last game in the CSU Dome Invitational in 2016 before going a perfect 4-0 in Cleveland on last season's opening weekend.

CSU DOME TOURNAMENT
Friday, Feb. 9
Niagara 10, Cleveland State 4
BGSU 4, Niagara 0
BGSU 10, Cleveland State 3

Saturday, Feb. 10
Niagara 3, Robert Morris 0
Cleveland State 9, Robert Morris 8
BGSU 4, Niagara 0
BGSU 8, Canisius 0 (6 innings)
Cleveland State 6, Canisius 3

UP NEXT

The CSU Dome Tournament concludes with three games on Sunday (Feb. 11). BGSU will face Robert Morris in the day's second game, scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
Then, the Falcons will prepare for next weekend's trip to Elon, N.C., for the Elon Softball Classic (Feb. 16-18). BGSU will face the host school twice, and also will meet North Texas, Rhode Island and Mount St. Mary's.

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