Falcons Fall to RedHawks, 4-1, in MAC Tournament Opener

Thursday, May 12

Oxford, OH

3:30 PM

Bowling Green State University

30-16, 0

Miami (OH)

37-15-1, 0

Bowling Green

Miami

photo courtesy Miami Athletics

May 12, 2022 | Softball

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BGSU will face Ohio Friday at 1:00 p.m.

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

OXFORD, Ohio – Top-seeded Miami University scored three times in the fifth inning en route to a 4-1 win over the Bowling Green State University softball team Thursday (May 12). The game, a Mid-American Conference Tournament contest, was held at Miami Softball Stadium.

The Falcons will face Ohio University on Friday (May 13) in an elimination game. Ohio lost to Central Michigan University by a 7-1 score in Thursday's first game.

Riley Coyne drove in three runs for the RedHawks (37-15-1), including a two-run homer that opened the scoring in the fifth. Karli Spaid also homered in that fifth frame.

The Falcons (30-18), the tournament's number-four seed, answered with a run in the sixth inning, but BGSU left the bases loaded. Miami completed the scoring with an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth.

BGSU had a 6-5 advantage in hits on Thursday, with Greta L'Esperance and Maycee Godbolt picking up two hits apiece. L'Esperance scored the Falcons' lone run.

QUOTING COACH WILLIS
"We knew we were going to have to be pretty close to perfect today, with both the offense and the defense. We certainly had a number of opportunities -- in that first inning, and then later in the game when we loaded the bases -- and we did not capitalize on those opportunities. We've just got to be able to keep the momentum going. We made some progress and executed better later in the game, but going forward, we've got to continue to focus and put some runs together for our pitching staff."

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Falcons put a pair of runners on base against MU starter Brianna Pratt in the top of the first inning. Greta L'Esperance led off the game by beating out a bouncer to shortstop. Then, with L'Esperance breaking for second, Peyton Dolejs also hit a ground ball in the vicinity of short, and both players were safe on the infield hit.
• Bailey Sample's sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, but a pair of ground balls to third ended the half inning.
• After the first two hitters of the game reached base, the next 15 were retired before Riley Coyne was hit by a Payton Gottshall pitch to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Gottshall, who had struck out the first and third batters in each of the first two innings, responded by striking out the next three MU hitters in the third.
• BGSU got a baserunner in the fourth, when Reagan Williamson drew a one-out walk. Pinch-runner Marlie McNulty stole second base, and with two outs, Maycee Godbolt singled up the middle, but McNulty was tagged out after attempting to score on the play.
• Holly Blaska walked and stole second to begin the Miami fourth. But, Gottshall struck out Allie Cummins, got Maggie Murphy to pop up to short, then whiffed Lily Wilmot.
• Kate Kobayashi led off the bottom of the fifth with a double to break up Gottshall's no-hit bid. Then, Coyne followed with a drive to left-center for a two-run homer.
• Third baseman Sarah Gonzalez made a spectacular stop of an Adriana Barlow grounder, firing to first from her knees for the out. But, after a fly ball produced the second out, Karli Spaid followed with a homer to left, as the ball was just out of the reach of a leaping effort by Dolejs at the wall.
• BGSU responded in the sixth when L'Esperance reached on a hot shot to third. Spaid knocked the ball down with a diving effort, but could not come up with the ball cleanly. L'Esperance took second on a grounder, then came around to score when Williamson reached on an error.
• Lexi Carver and Godbolt followed with singles that loaded the bases, but first baseman Blaska was able to glove Weber's hard-hit grounder and step on the bag to retire the side.
• Miami added an unearned run when Wilmot reached on an error, and pinch-runner Jenna Golembiewski scored on a Coyne sacrifice fly.
• L'Esperance smacked a single to left-center with two outs in the seventh, but a Dolejs liner was hit directly at second baseman Chloe Parks to retire the side.

STATS, LEADERS & NOTES
• The Falcons had six hits to Miami's five. Godbolt was 2-for-3, while L'Esperance went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Dolejs and Carver also singled, with Williamson drawing a walk and driving home a run.
• Coyne drove in three of MU's four runs, and Kobayashi was 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
• Pratt picked up the win, allowing an unearned run and six hits. She walked one and struck out three.
• Gottshall struck out 12 while walking one in her complete-game effort. She allowed three earned runs and five hits.

Gallery: (5-12-2022) Softball at Miami - May 12 2022

UP NEXT
• BGSU will face second-seeded Ohio in an elimination game on Friday (May 13), with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.
• Miami and CMU will meet in the day's second game, and the BGSU-Ohio winner will face the MU-CMU loser in the third game of the day, scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on 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.