Elon Classic on Tap for 5-0 Falcons this Weekend

Friday, February 16

Elon, NC

9:30 AM ET

Bowling Green State University

North Texas

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

February 15, 2018 | Softball

BGSU heads to North Carolina for five games, beginning Friday

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University softball team heads to North Carolina to play five games in this weekend's Elon Softball Classic from Friday through Sunday (Feb. 16-18). Head coach Sarah Willis and the Falcons are scheduled to play a pair of games against host Elon, along with one game apiece vs. North Texas, Rhode Island and Mount St. Mary's. All games will be held at Hunt Softball Park.

BGSU SOFTBALL LINKS
BGSU Weekly Notes: PDF
Elon Tournament Central
2018 Schedule | 2018 Record Book
WEDNESDAY: Searle Named MAC Scholar-Athlete of Week
TUESDAY: Falcons Sweep MAC Weekly Awards
SUNDAY RECAP AT CSU: Falcons Jump on Top Early, Dispatch Robert Morris
SATURDAY RECAP AT CSU: Falcons Pound Out 20 Hits, Throw Two Shutouts in Sweep
FRIDAY RECAP AT CSU: Miller's Gem Propels BGSU to Opening-Day Sweep in Cleveland

FOUR THINGS TO KNOW
• The Falcons head to Elon with a 5-0 record after going undefeated at the CSU Dome Tournament in Cleveland last weekend. BGSU outscored the opponents by a combined 34-4, and the Falcons hit .382 as a team to the foes' .135.

• The 5-0 start is BGSU's best in 12 seasons, since the 2006 team won a school-record six games to begin the year. That '06 club went on to finish 37-23, tying the BG single-season record for wins.

• BGSU bats pounded out 58 hits on the weekend, and the Falcons had more extra-base hits than the opponents had total hits. BG had 19 extra-base hits, including 12 doubles, a triple and six home runs. The opposition had 15 total hits in the five games.

• Head coach Sarah Willis and her staff have 11 returnees and 11 newcomers on the 2018 roster, and the starters in each of last weekend's five games included five first-year Falcons along with five veterans. In all, seven newcomers made their respective BGSU debuts in Cleveland.

FALCONS EARN SOME EARLY-SEASON HONORS
On Tuesday (Feb. 13), the Falcons swept the MAC weekly awards after the first weekend of the 2018 season. Senior Aspen Searle was named the MAC Player of the Week, while junior Meredith Miller was selected as MAC Pitcher of the Week.

• Miller also was named the MAC Player of the Week by the College Sports Madness web site. CSM names just one overall player of the week from each conference.

• And, on Wednesday (Feb. 14), Searle was named the MAC's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week.

MILLER'S MASTERY
Junior Meredith Miller is off to a solid start to the season, to say the least. Miller went 3-0 with an ERA of 0.00 at the CSU Dome Tournament. She allowed opponents to hit just .095 against her, and gave up only six total hits in 20.0 innings of work.

• Miller walked just three batters while striking out 32. Over her last two games, she issued zero walks and hae 24 strikeouts.

• Last year, in her first season as a Falcon, Miller had three complete-games in which she allowed three hits. This year, Miller has allowed three hits or fewer in each of her three starts to date.

• On Friday, Miller threw a gem in the Falcons' season opener. She fired the first one-hitter of her career against Niagara. Miller allowed only one runner to advance as far as second base.

• The next day, Miller threw a complete-game three-hit shutout vs. Canisius. She again faced just two hitters over the minimum for the second-straight game en route to shutout number six of her career. Miller did not walk a batter, and had a career-high 11 strikeouts vs. the Golden Griffins.

• That personal strikeout record lasted less than 24 hours. On Sunday, Miller allowed just two hits in an 8-1 win over Robert Morris, and struck out 13 batters. Once again, she did not issue a walk, and the one run she allowed was unearned.

SEARLE'S STELLAR START
• Senior shortstop Aspen Searle hit an hit an eye-popping .647 last weekend, going 11-for-17 in the five games in Cleveland. She led the Falcons in batting average and hits, as well as runs scored (10), slugging percentage (1.059) and on-base pct. (.700). Searle had two four-hit games on the weekend, and had at least one hit in all five games. She had four extra-base hits and no strikeouts in 20 plate appearances.

• Searle had a double and scored two of BG's four runs in the season-opening win over Niagara. Then, that evening, she went 4-for-4 at the plate against host Cleveland State with another double, two more runs scored and an RBI.

• Searle entered the season with one career four-hit game, but on Sunday, she had her second four-hit contest in a four-game span, going 4-for-4 vs. Robert Morris. Searle's two-run homer in the top of the first inning gave BGSU a 3-0 lead after just three batters, and she reached base five times, with the homer, three singles, a hit-by-pitch, three runs scored and two RBI.

The homer was the 20th of Searle's career. She ranks sixth in school history in that category, and is rapidly moving up many of BGSU's career lists.

NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES
• The list of key contributors to last weekend's success is long. Here are a few Falcon standouts from the CSU Dome Tournament...

• Freshman 2B Sammy Dees hit .500 in her first weekend as a Falcon. She went 5-for-7 with five extra-base hits (three doubles & two homers) in the last two games, & has reached base in seven of her last nine plate appearances. Dees leads the Brown and Orange with six extra-base hits on the year.

• Another freshman, 3B Sarah Gonzalez, batted .467 in her first weekend, & reached base twice in each of the last four games. She was 2-for-3 in three-straight games, and had two doubles & a homer en route to slugging .800 in the five wins.

• Junior transfer Kali Holcomb hit .421 with a slugging pct. of .842. She had at least one hit in every game, including three two-hit games, and had not one, but two games with four RBI. Holcomb drove in a whopping 11 runs on the weekend.

• Junior P Brooke Parker went 2-0 on the season's opening weekend, allowing opposing batters to hit just .200 against her. She threw six innings vs. host CSU and seven innings against Niagara.

• Junior transfer Kaylee Parker hit .375 in her first weekend as a Falcon, reaching base in all five games. She was 2-for-3 in a win over Niagara, and closed out the weekend by going 3-for-5 with a double, a run and two RBI vs. Robert Morris.

• Junior CF Alex Sorgi hit .353 with an OBP of .476 and six runs scored. The leadoff hitter also walked four times and scored at least one run in each of the five games.

• Freshman Nikki Sorgi started all five games at the designated-player spot. Her five hits on the weekend included a double in her first collegiate at-bat. She had a hit in each of her first three games, & capped the weekend with two hits vs. Robert Morris.

• Junior Kiley Sosby helped lock down 2 wins, striking out the side in the seventh inning in one game, and delivering a pinch-hit, walk-off single in another. And, sophomore LF Kendyl Wheeler took a home run away from an opponent in what her coach, Sarah Willis, called "by far the best catch I have ever seen."

A QUICK LOOK AT THE OPPONENTS
• North Texas is 1-2 on the season. Sophomore Lacy Gregory had 12 RBI over the first three games. The Mean Green went 25-31 overall and 11-13 in Conference USA a year ago. North Texas was picked to finish eighth in the league's preseason poll.

• Elon is 3-2 after a win over North Carolina on Wednesday night. The Phoenix, after going 32-21 overall and 9-11 in the Colonial Athletic Association last year, were picked to finish fifth in the CAA this spring.

• Rhode Island and Mount St. Mary's both will open the season this weekend at Elon. Rhody went 11-33 overall and 8-15 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, and the Rams were picked to finish eighth in the A-10 this year.

• Mount St. Mary's went 20-31 overall and 5-11 in the Northeast Conference a year ago. The Mountaineers were picked to finish eighth in the NEC in 2018.

THE SERIES
• BGSU leads the series with both Mount St. Mary's (2-0) and Rhode Island (1-0-1), but the Falcons trail the series vs. Elon, 1-0. The Falcons swept a twinbill from MSMU in 2014, while the loss to Elon came in 2008. BGSU and Rhody met twice in the 1985 season. The Falcons have never met North Texas on the softball diamond.

ASPEN MOVING TOWARD THE SUMMIT: SEARLE RECORD WATCH
• Fifth-year senior Aspen Searle has added her name to the BGSU record book in many, many categories. Searle enters the Elon tourney ranked sixth in school history in batting average (.331), home runs (20), RBI (97) and slugging percentage (.519), and she is seventh in runs scored (102) and total bases (293), tied for seventh in hits (187), eighth in doubles (36) and deadlocked for eighth in sacrifice flies (four).

COMING UP...
• Following this weekend's games in Elon, the Falcons will have a week off before heading to Lubbock, Texas, for the Jeannine McHaney Memorial Classic, hosted by Texas Tech (March 2-4). BGSU will face TTU, New Mexico and UTSA at that tourney..

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