Falcons Blank Fort Wayne, 1-0

Wednesday, March 28

Bowling Green, OH

3:30 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

18-12

Fort Wayne

12-20

Fort Wayne

Bowling Green

Wheeler Searle Sorgi Dees - March 28 2018

The Falcons congratulate Alex Sorgi (third from left) after her spectacular catch in Wednesday's win

Photo by: Brad Bohlke, BGSU Athletic Communications

March 28, 2018 | Softball

Box Score

Solid pitching & defense lead BG to home shutout win

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Sophomore Kendyl Wheeler tripled and scored, and junior pitchers Meredith Miller and Brooke Parker combined on a three-hit shutout as the Bowling Green State University softball team downed Fort Wayne, 1-0, Wednesday afternoon (March 28). The non-conference matchup was held at Meserve Field.

LINKS
BGSU-FORT WAYNE STATISTICS: PDF

Wheeler's run was all the Falcons would need. The sophomore lined a ball to the wall with one out in the bottom of the first inning for her fourth career three-base hit, and she scored easily when senior Aspen Searle slapped a single through the left side of the infield just two pitches later.

Junior Alex Sorgi aided the Falcon cause with a spectacular catch. The centerfielder raced back and to her right to make a diving catch in left-center that ended the Fort Wayne fourth. That grab, which came with a runner on second, prevented the Mastodons from scoring the tying run.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"Defense definitely won this game today. Any time you come out on top of a 1-0 ball game, your defense has to be good and the pitchers definitely have to do their job. That's what happened today, and the pitchers even contributed to the defense today."

"It was great to see the jump from our offense early, especially by (Kendyl) Wheeler and by Aspen (Searle) to get Wheeler home. Our offense definitely did a good job of challenging their defense; they just made some good plays on us today. But, we need to find a way to produce and increase that one-run lead. We will look to work on our situational hitting going into the weekend series with Western Michigan, and this was a good game to help prepare us for this weekend."

BGSU-FORT WAYNE – HOW IT HAPPENED

BGSU starter Meredith Miller allowed only one hit in her four innings of work. That hit came with two outs in the top of the first, as Morganne Denny lined a ball back up the middle for a two-out single. But, on the very next pitch, Miller got Maria Palmegiani to hit a ground ball to third to retire the side.
Then, in the bottom of the inning, junior Alex Sorgi led off with a liner that was caught by lunging Fort Wayne shortstop Payton Hollis. Sophomore Kendyl Wheeler, though, lined a pitch by Addie Benham to the wall in right-center, and legged out a triple. Two pitches later, senior Aspen Searle slapped a ball through the left side of the infield to plate Wheeler.
BG threatened in the third, putting a pair of runners in scoring position. After Searle walked with two outs, Bailey Benefiel replaced Benham in the circle for the Mastodons. Junior Kali Holcomb welcomed Benefiel to the game by scorching a liner to the wall in left field. The ball was hit so hard that leftfielder Courtney Holm was able to field it quickly, and Searle was forced to stop at third. Then, Benefiel got a grounder to short for the third out.
Miller retired the side in order in both the second and third innings, before hitting Jenna Balthazor with a pitch to begin the fourth inning. A sacrifice bunt moved Balthazor to second base, but Falcon third baseman Sarah Gonzalez fielded a grounder, looked the runner back to second and fired to first for the second out.
Then, pinch-hitter Rachel Everson hit a liner to left-center, but Alex Sorgi raced back and made a diving grab to end the inning. The junior's highlight-reel catch very likely saved a run.
The next two and a half innings saw only four hitters reach base. For the Falcons, Gonzalez was hit by a pitch in the home half of the fourth, and she tagged and went to second on a fly ball to left, but was stranded there.
Holm singled to begin the fifth inning, and she took second on a sac bunt. But, on a Hollis grounder to second, Holm made a late break for third. After freshman Sammy Dees had flipped the ball to junior first baseman Kaylee Parker for an out, Parker fired the ball to Gonzalez, who applied the tag on Holm to complete an inning-ending double play.
Lauren Watson beat out a slow bouncer to short in the sixth inning, but BG reliever Brooke Parker got a popup that she caught herself, then induced a grounder to Dees.
In the BG sixth, junior Kellie Natham was hit by a pitch with two down, but a fielder's-choice grounder ended the inning.
Brooke Parker walked Demitra Burns with one out in the seventh, then issued a two-out free pass to pinch-hitter Amber Davis to put runners at first and second. But, on the next pitch, Hollis hit a tapper back to the circle, and one Parker (Brooke) fired the ball to the other (Kaylee), ending the game.

BGSU-FORT WAYNE STATS & LEADERS

The Falcons outhit the Mastodons, 4-3, on Wednesday afternoon. The top-four batters in the BG batting order – Alex Sorgi, Wheeler, Searle and Holcomb – each had a hit, with two of those four hits going for extra bases.
Searle reached base twice with a single and a walk, and she drove in the game's lone run.
Miller faced just two batters over the minimum, allowing only one hit and no walks in four innings of work. She hit one batter with a pitch and struck out two hitters in the win.
Miller threw 37 of her 48 pitches for strikes in the victory, and threw a first-pitch ball to only one of the 14 batters she faced on Wednesday.
Breaking it down further, nine of the hitters Miller faced fell behind, 0-1, in the count. Three of those hitters swung and missed at the first pitch, while six took a called strike to begin their at-bat. Four hitters put Miller's first pitch in play and were retired.
Brooke Parker picked up her second save of the year with three innings of two-hit shutout relief. Parker, who walked two Mastodons, faced only three hitters over the minimum.
Benham took the loss for Fort Wayne, despite allowing just one run and three hits. She walked two hitters and struck out one before leaving with two outs in the second.
Benefiel pitched three and a third innings of scoreless, one-hit relief. She did not issue a walk, but hit a pair of BG batters.
All four pitchers threw between 40 and 49 pitches in the game.
Three different Mastodons had one hit apiece on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

The Falcons conclude a seven-game homestand this weekend. BGSU returns to Mid-American Conference play with a three-game series vs. Western Michigan.
The Falcons and Broncos are slated to play a Friday (March 30) single game, beginning at 3:00 p.m., before squaring off in a Saturday (March 31) doubleheader that starts at 1:00 p.m. at Meserve Field. Admission to all BGSU home softball action is free.

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