Falcons Head to Bloomington for Hoosier Classic

Friday, March 1

Bloomington, Ind.

4 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Indiana

Makailah Dees at Battle at the Beach - Feb. 24, 2024

Makailah Dees & the Falcons head to Bloomington for the Hoosier Classic

Photo by: Joel Beachum

February 28, 2024 | Softball

BGSU Notes (PDF)Tournament Central Support BGSU Softball

BGSU to begin busy stretch with four games in this weekend's tourney, hosted by IU

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

• The BGSU softball team heads to Bloomington, Ind., for four games in this weekend's Hoosier Classic (March 1-3). Head coach Candace Fenton-Bockbrader and the Falcons will play two games each against Valparaiso and the host school, Indiana.

• Friday (March 1) will see the Falcons and Hoosiers meet in a 4:00 p.m. start at Andy Mohr Field. Then, on Saturday (March 2), BGSU will meet IU at 12:00 p.m., before facing Valparaiso at 5:30 p.m.

• On Sunday (March 3), the Falcons and Beacons will meet at 11:00 a.m.

• All of the tournament games will have live stats, and every game this weekend will be streamed on Big Ten Network Plus.

• The Falcons began the 2024 campaign by going 1-3 at last weekend's Battle at the Beach, hosted by Coastal Carolina. BGSU split a pair of games with Furman, including a 7-3 win in the Falcons' season opener, and also faced Louisville and CCU.

• A total of 21 different players made at least one appearance over the weekend, including eight of the nine newcomers who are eligible to play (one of BGSU's 10 newcomers will redshirt the 2024 season).

• Four players – seniors Peyton Dolejs and Reagan Williamson, sophomore Hannah Hunt and freshman Peyton Steffes – started all four games last weekend. Williamson and Dolejs are batting .455 and .400, respectively, to rank 1-2 on the team in hitting. They are tied for the BGSU lead with four RBI apiece.

• Lexi Carver, who missed nearly all of last season due to injury, played in all four games and is batting .375.

• In the circle, five different Falcons saw action last weekend. Taylor Turner, a transfer from Miami University, pitched a season-high 13 1/3 innings, appearing in three of the four games and making a pair of starts. She picked up a complete-game win in her BGSU debut, defeating Furman on Saturday (Feb. 24).

• Scarlet Anderson currently leads the team with a 3.23 ERA. Anderson allowed opponents to hit just .133 against her last weekend.

• Fenton-Bockbrader and assistant coaches Erinn Gankosky and Jacob Jeffries are joined by 14 returning letterwinners from last year's club. That list includes Dolejs and Williamson, each of whom have started over 100 career games.

• Williamson and Dolejs hit .246 and .245, respectively, in 2023, to pace the returnees. Dolejs has a career batting average of .283, and leads active Falcons with career totals of 396 at-bats, 70 runs scored, 112 hits, 30 extra-base hits and 55 runs batted in.

• Williamson paces BGSU's returning players in career walks (53) and homers (9), and has 313 career-at-bats, 85 hits and 53 RBI as a Falcon.

• Dolejs is the lone returning Falcon who played in all 50 games last season, making 49 starts. A total of five other returning players started at least 34 games in 2023, including Williamson, Hunt, Wynnie Reid, Makailah Dees and Delaney Davis.

• Four of last year's six pitchers have returned in 2024. Anderson and Mackenzie Krafcik each made 19 appearances in the circle last spring, with Anderson recording a team-leading five wins. Krafcik (52 2/3), Anderson (50 1/3) and Madi Young (29 2/3) all pitched more than 29 innings in 2023.

• Last weekend at CCU, the Falcons were the visiting team in each of the first three games. In all three contests, Steffes began the game by reaching base, and she came around to score the game's first run on all three occasions.

• Three of the Falcon frosh, including Steffes, Cameron Kaufman and Aaralyn Nogay, each had the first hit of their respective collegiate careers at the CCU tourney. Steffes scored a team-leading four runs on the weekend, while classmate Kaylee Cole crossed the plate twice.

• Indiana enters the weekend with a record of 11-4 on the season. The Hoosiers are currently hitting .319 as a team, with seven starters batting over .300. Aly VanBrandt is hitting .433 to lead that group, while Taylor Minnick already has 18 RBI on the season. In the circle, Sophie Kleiman leads the team with an ERA of just 0.80, along with a 3-0 record, while Brianna Copeland has IU-best totals of five wins and 43 strikeouts for head coach Shonda Stanton. Last year, the Hoosiers went 44-18 overall and 18-5 in Big Ten Conference play.

• Valparaiso has a 3-11 record this year to date. Kam Utendorf leads the team with a .419 batting average, while Regi Hecker is hitting .350. Three pitchers have seen action in at least seven games so far this year. Sydney McDermott leads that trio with 33 2/3 innings pitched, 20 strikeouts and a pair of wins for coach Meaggan Pettipiece. Last season, Valpo finished 8-41 overall and 4-23 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

• The Falcons are 0-10 all-time vs. Indiana. BGSU last met the Hoosiers in 2017 in Bloomington, with IU picking up wins by scores of 11-3 and 1-0 (March 18-19, 2017).

• BGSU and Valparaiso are tied, 5-5, in that series. The teams met last season, with the Falcons picking up a 7-2 win at the DePaul Dome Tournament (Feb. 11, 2023).

• Following this weekend's action in Bloomington, the Falcons will play a three-game series at Morehead State on Tuesday and Wednesday (March 6-7). Then, BGSU will head to Highland Heights, Ky., for the NKU Spring Classic (March 9-10), where the opponents will include Michigan, Illinois State and host Northern Kentucky.