Miller, Falcons Shut Down KSU in 2-1, Season-Ending Win

Saturday, May 4

Kent, OH

11:00 AM

Bowling Green State University

21-29, 6-14

Kent State

25-21, 11-4

Bowling Green

Kent State

Photo by: Larry Clapper

May 04, 2019 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 BGSU-KSU Game One Box Score BGSU-KSU Game Two Box Score Rewatch Game One Rewatch Game Two

Fellow seniors Alex Sorgi & Kellie Natham record two hits apiece

By: KENT, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Several seniors capped their Bowling Green State University softball careers with key performances, as the Falcons ended the 2019 season with a 2-1 win on the road over Kent State University. Saturday afternoon's (May 4) doubleheader was held at the Diamond at Dix.

Senior Meredith Miller scattered five hits in a complete-game effort, walking one and striking out six batters in the final game of her collegiate career.

Fellow seniors Kellie Natham and Alex Sorgi had two hits apiece, with Natham driving in a run in the win.

In the opener, KSU's Andrea Scali threw a perfect game as the hosts captured a 4-0 victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• After being silenced by Andrea Scali in the opening game, the Falcons recorded three hits and took the lead in the first inning of the second contest.
• The second batter of the game, sophomore Payton Hamm, doubled to left field off of KSU starter Madi Huck, and Hamm advanced to third base on a grounder to second. Then, senior Kellie Natham lined a ball past third baseman Bailey Brownfield and into left for a run-scoring single.
• Soph Nikki Sorgi followed with a base hit to center, and the runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, but Huck was able to get a strikeout to end the half inning.
• The Golden Flashes threatened in the bottom of the first, with a leadoff bunt single by Kennadie Goth and a one-out hit off the bat of Bailey Brownfield. But, BG starter Meredith Miller needed just two pitches to get two outs, as fly balls to center and right, respectively, ended the inning.
• Miller would allow just three hits over the final six innings of the game. One of those hits came when Maria Cegledy singled up the middle to begin the KSU second. But, the BG senior induced Hunter Brancifort to pop up a bunt attempt, with catcher Evelyn Loyola making the catch, and Miller then got both Carlee Selle and Jen Cader to swing and miss at a 2-2 pitch.
• Senior Alex Sorgi tripled to lead off the third inning, and Natham was hit by a Huck pitch with two outs, but somehow, the KSU starter escaped the jam.
• But, Miller needed just four pitches to retire the Flashes in the bottom of the inning, and BG doubled the lead in the fourth.
• Senior Kali Holcomb led off the inning with a single, and Loyola's sac bunt put arunner at second. Then, sophomore Sarah Gonzalez lined a 3-2 pitch to right center for a double, with Holcomb scoring easily.
• The Flashes got a run back in the bottom of that fourth frame, as Hailey Hopkins singled with one out, and after pinch-runner Brooklyn Whitt stole second, a Brancifort two-out triple made it a one-run game. With the tying run 60 feet away from the plate, Miller got Selle to fly out to right.
• Natham singled up the middle with two outs in the fifth, but the Falcons could advance her no further.
• Cader walked to begin the KSU fifth, but Gonzalez grabbed a line drive off the bat of Goth, and quickly fired to first to double up pinch-runner Olivia Sborlini. Then, Miller whiffed Shelby Hard to end the inning.
• A two-out throwing error by the Falcons did no damage in the sixth, as Miller then got Cegledy to ground out to Nikki Sorgi at second.
• Scali did not allow a baserunner in the first game, but when she replaced Huck in the circle to begin the seventh, freshman Madeline Dyer greeted her by earning a walk on five pitches, and Alex Sorgi reached on a bunt single on the very next pitch.
• The runners moved to second and third on a sac bunt by junior Taylor Blevins, but Scali escaped the jam by getting a strikeout and a ground ball to third.
• Miller, however, got Brancifort to ground out to Gonzalez at shortstop to begin the inning, and Gonzalez then grabbed a liner off the bat of Kaitlyn Miller for the second out. Cader worked the count full, but on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, she swung and missed at a 3-2 pitch, and Miller and the Falcons had the victory.
• While Scali was dominant in game one, senior Brooke Parker pitched well in defeat. Parker allowed just one baserunner in the first two innings, before the Flashes scratched an unearned run across the plate in the third.
• That run came after a Cader double, a Miller single and a BG error on a KSU first-and-third double-steal-type of play. Goth reached on a fielder's choice, but Parker averted further damage when Bailey Brownfield hit a grounder to second baseman Nikki Sorgi, who tagged Goth going from first to second, then threw to first to complete the double play.
• KSU doubled the lead in the fifth when Bailey Brownfield singled to score pinch-runner Sabrina Kerschner. Then, in the sixth, Cegledy walked, and Brancifort followed with a home run to center.

BGSU-KSU STATS & LEADERS
• Scali, as mentioned, was dominant in the first game. She struck out 14 of the 21 batters she faced. She threw 96 pitches, including 64 strikes, in improving to 19-7 on the season.
• Seven different players had one hit apiece for the Flashes in the opener, with the big blow coming off the bat of Brancifort in the sixth. Her two-run homer turned a two-run game into a four-run KSU advantage.
• BG outhit the hosts, 8-5, in the second game. Natham was 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch to reach base three times in four plate appearances. She also had the game-winning RBI in her final game as a Falcon.
• Another senior, Alex Sorgi, also had two hits, including her BG-leading third triple of the season.
• Five of BG's eight hits came from seniors, as Holcomb singled and scored a run in the win.
• Gonzalez, Hamm and Nikki Sorgi all went 1-for-3 in the win. Hamm doubled and scored BG's first run of the day, while Gonzalez drove in the Falcons' second run with a double.
• Miller allowed one run and five hits in her complete-game victory. She walked one batter and struck out six, throwing 59 of her 89 total pitches for strikes.
• Huck took the loss, giving up two runs and seven hits in six innings.
• Scali gave up a hit and walked a batter in her scoreless inning of relief in the nightcap.

MILLER TIME
• Senior Meredith Miller won four-straight decisions to end her college career, and finished the season with a 16-15 record.
• In those four outings – vs. Wright State, Akron, Cleveland State and KSU – she walked just five batters and struck out 33 in 30 innings of work.
• Miller finished with a total of 187 strikeouts this season and 456 in her BGSU career.
• Check out BGSUFalcons.com in the near future for more BGSU softball individual and team notes from the 2019 season.

UP NEXT
• Saturday's doubleheader concluded the 2019 season for the Falcons. BGSU has seven seniors on the '19 roster. That list includes Kali Holcomb, Meredith Miller, Kellie Natham, Brooke Parker, Alex Sorgi, Kiley Sosby and Kathleen Shier.

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.