Flashes Top Falcons in Series Opener

Friday, April 27

Bowling Green, OH

3:00 PM ET

Bowling Green State University

25-21, 7-10

Kent State

24-19, 10-8

Kent State

Bowling Green

April 27, 2018 | Softball

Box Score

KSU picks up 7-0 win Friday at Meserve Field

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Kent State University jumped on top early Friday afternoon (April 27), and the Golden Flashes captured a 7-0 decision in the opening game of a three-game weekend series with the Bowling Green State University softball team. The Mid-American Conference matchup was held at Meserve Field.

LINKS
BGSU-KSU STATISTICS: PDF

After a scoreless first inning, a solo home run put the Flashes on top in the second, and KSU scored in five-straight innings to slowly pull away.

KSU's Brenna Brownfield hit that second-inning homer to give her team a 1-0 lead, and Holly Speers capped the scoring with a two-run shot in the sixth.

The Golden Flashes had an 8-3 advantage in hits. The Falcons made Madi Huck throw 129 pitches on Friday, but could not break through against the KSU starter, who picked up the complete-game shutout.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"Talent-wise, we match up with Kent State very well. But, we did not show up to play our best ball game today. When we had some misses today, they made it count. They made some opportunities and capitalized on those opportunities."

"Offensively, obviously, we have to put some runs on the board. We've got to be able to make some adjustments a little more quickly, both in the game and within our individual at-bats. We need to look to be more aggressive at the plate, find our timing and figure out a way to string some plays together and manufacture some runs."

BGSU-KSU – HOW IT HAPPENED

Each team had a first-inning baserunner, as KSU's Holly Speers walked with two outs in the top of the inning, while Falcon freshman Sammy Dees was hit by a Madi Huck pitch with one down in the second. Dees advanced as far as second base, but the inning ended with the teams still scoreless.
KSU's Brenna Brownfield, celebrating a birthday on Friday, led off the second inning with a solo homer to left field. BGSU starter Meredith Miller responded by retiring the next two hitters on two pitches, with a ground ball to the circle and then a soft liner that the junior pitcher easily grabbed. The next at-bat took three pitches, but resulted in a grounder to third that retired the side.
In a trend that would continue all afternoon, the Falcons made Huck work for her outs, but BG could not get to the KSU hurler. Junior Laine Simmons led off the BG second inning with a 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off seven pitches, before being retired on a fly ball to right.
Two batters later, freshman Sarah Gonzalez hit the ninth pitch of her at-bat to shallow center for a base hit. But, Huck got an inning-ending strikeout.
In the third inning, a single, a passed ball and a pair of walks (one intentional) loaded the bases with one out for the Flashes. Bailey Brownfield's single to left scored a run, and a wild pitch plated another as KSU took a 3-0 lead.
Dees reached base for the second-straight time, rapping a two-out single through the left side of the KSU infield in the Falcon third, but she was stranded there.
The visitors manufactured a two-out run in the fourth. Kaitlyn Miller tripled to right, then scored on a bouncer by Kennadie Goth. Aspen Searle fielded Goth's high bouncer near the second-base bag, but by the time the ball came down, the senior shortstop had no play as KSU took a four-run lead. Catcher Simmons gunned down would-be base-stealer Goth to end the inning.
BGSU had put a runner on base in each of the first three innings, and the Falcons got two baserunners in the fourth. Simmons singled up the middle with one down, and after a fielder's choice, Gonzalez drew a walk to send junior Kaylee Parker to second. Kellie Natham then gave a ball a ride, but center fielder Maria Cegledy went back a few steps and was able to grab Natham's liner for the third out.
The fifth inning saw Speers walk with one out, and a pair of walks would eventually load the bases with two outs. Then, Carlee Selle's chopper bounced over the head of third baseman Gonzalez. Searle got to the ball on the outfield grass, but her only play was at third base, and the KSU runner just beat the throw to allow a run to score. Freshman Madison French got the next hitter to hit a fielder's choice grounder that ended the inning, but KSU had a five-run lead.
Sophomore Taylor Blevins, who like KSU's Brenna Brownfield was celebrating a birthday, had several impressive plays over the final few innings. Blevins saw 20 pitches in her last two plate appearances, including a 12-pitch at-bat in the seventh inning in which she fouled off seven pitches.
Blevins made a nice running catch in left field in the sixth, tracking down Emily Dobbin's drive just in front of the 200 sign near the left-field foul pole. Speers, however, hit a two-run homer one out later to complete the scoring.
In the seventh, Kaylee Parker's liner was hit directly at the third baseman for the first out. Natham reached on a fielding error, and Blevins drew a walk to cap her 12-pitch plate appearance, but Huck was able to get the final out to lock down the series-opening win.

BGSU-KSU – STATS & LEADERS

Kent State had an 8-3 advantage in hits. Kaitlyn Miller was 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored, while Goth was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Speers had a two-run homer and three walks, and both Bailey and Brenna Brownfield had a hit and an RBI.
Freshmen Dees and Gonzalez each reached base twice for the Falcons. Both players had a hit, while Gonzalez walked and Dees was hit by a pitch.
Simmons also had a hit in three trips for the Falcons.
Huck picked up the complete-game win for the visitors, allowing no runs and three hits. She walked two batters, struck out four, and threw 85 of her 129 pitches for strikes. Huck is now 15-7 on the year.
Meredith Miller took the loss, allowing five runs and five hits before leaving with one out in the fifth. She fired 75 pitches, including 43 strikes.
French gave up two runs and three hits in an inning and two-thirds of relief.
Junior Kiley Sosby pitched the seventh inning and retired the Flashes in order. Sosby threw 16 total pitches, including 10 strikes.
Blevins saw a total of 27 pitches in her three plate appearances, seeing at least seven pitches each time. She fouled off a total of 14 of those 27 pitches.

UP NEXT

BGSU wraps up the Kent State series with a Saturday (April 28) doubleheader at Meserve Field. Then, after a Tuesday (May 1) trip to Wright State, the Falcons will wrap up regular-season play with a three-game set against MAC-leading Ohio next Friday and Saturday (May 4-5).

FOLLOW THE FALCONS

For more information on all things BGSU softball, follow the Falcons on Twitter (@BGAthletics and @BGSUSoftball) and Instagram (@bgsu_softball) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.