Falcons Face Flashes as 10-Game Homestand Rolls Along

Friday, March 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

1 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

Kent State

Peyton Steffes homers v Green Bay | March 18, 2025 - Game 2

Peyton Steffes & the Falcons host Kent State this weekend

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

March 20, 2025 | Softball

BGSU Notes Support BGSU Softball

BGSU meets KSU in a Friday DH, Saturday single game at Meserve Field

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

FIRST PITCH...
• The Bowling Green State University softball team continues a season-long, 10-game homestand with a Mid-American Conference series this weekend. Head coach Michelle Gardner and the Falcons will welcome Kent State University to town for three games.

• NOTE: The schedule has changed due to the weather forecast for this weekend. The Falcons and Golden Flashes are now slated to meet in a Friday (March 21) doubleheader, beginning at 1:00 p.m., followed by a Saturday (March 22) single game starting at 2:00 p.m. at Meserve Field.

• Then, BGSU will step outside of conference play on Wednesday (March 26), for a 2:00 p.m. twinbill against Youngstown State University.

NOTEWORTHY
• The Falcons enter the Kent State series with a record of 7-18. BGSU has already topped last season's overall win total, as the 2024 club went 6-38.

• With two homers in Tuesday's (March 18) opening game vs. Green Bay, redshirt freshman Addie Martin now has nine round-trippers this season. That is the highest total by a Falcon since Madi McCoy hit 11 in 2021.

• Martin's total of nine dingers ties her for 11th on the BGSU single-season list. The school record is 15 homers, by Hannah Fulk in 2012.

• Martin homered in her first two official at-bats at Meserve Field, and had a hit in each of her first six trips to the plate on Tuesday vs. the Phoenix.

• The Falcons hit three homers as a team in Tuesday's DH, after hitting a total of three homers at Meserve Field during all of last season (16 games).

• Last season, three Falcons had 10 or more RBI. This season, through 25 games, seven BGSU players have reached double digits in that category.

• Last Friday's (March 14) 11-3, six-inning victory at Buffalo was the Falcons' first true road win of the season. BGSU had been 0-7 in road games entering the contest.

• In fact, the win snapped a 28-game losing streak in road games. BGSU's last road win had come at Northern Illinois on the last day of the 2023 season (May 6, 2023).

• The win at UB also snapped a 12-game MAC road losing streak, dating to that NIU game.

• Only four members of the current team saw action in that NIU contest. Mackenna Fry (second base) and Ashley Chevalier (shortstop) comprised BGSU's middle infield, while Delaney Davis drew the start in right field and Katie Hutter made a pinch-running appearance.

• Friday's victory at UB marked the Falcons' first run-rule win on the road in nearly four years, since a 10-0 victory at Ohio on April 17, 2021.

• Sophomore Peyton Steffes hit .636 in the Buffalo series, going 7-for-11, while classmate Taylor Behrendt also had seven hits in the three games and batted .583 (7-for-12).

• Junior Mackenzie Krafcik fired the first complete game by a Falcon pitcher this season, earning the win against Green Bay in Tuesday's opener. She allowed just one run and five hits.

• The Falcons have hit 18 homers in 25 games this season, more than doubling the total for all of last year. The 2024 club had eight round-trippers in 44 games.

WELCOME (BACK)!
• The 2025 season is Michelle Gardner's first at the BGSU helm, but she is certainly no stranger to Bowling Green. Gardner's coaching career began at BGSU in 1992, as an assistant under head coach Jacquie Joseph.

• That 1992 team went 37-16 overall, setting school records for wins and winning percentage (.698). The '92 squad is still tied for the most wins in a season in BGSU history, while the winning percentage ranks second.

• The '92 team finished second in the MAC, and the 1993 season saw Joseph, Gardner and the Falcons win a MAC title and advance to the NCAA Championships. That team went 34-18 overall and 26-9 in conference play.

• Gardner's wealth of coaching experience includes head-coaching tenures at both Nevada (2003-08) and Indiana (2009-17), as well as time on the staffs at Arizona State, Florida State and Coastal Carolina.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons are 7-18 on the young season, and BGSU is 1-2 in MAC play, heading into the second weekend of conference action.

• BGSU began the season with five games at the Spartan Classic, hosted by USC Upstate (Feb. 7-9), and the Orange and Brown participated in the Norman Tournament two weeks later. The Falcons turned some heads on the final day of the latter tourney (Feb. 24), battling then #2 (and now #1) Oklahoma to extra innings before falling, 8-5.

• The Falcons then played six games in Conway, S.C. (Feb. 28-March 3), including five at the Chanticleer Showdown, before wrapping up the pre-conference schedule with four games at Hoosier Classic (March 7-8).

• Three of the Falcons' losses have come against teams currently in the top 30 in the country in the latest RPI rankings, and a total of 12 of BG's setbacks are to teams ranked in the top 100.

• Head coach Michelle Gardner and her staff – Greg McQuillin, Tegan Cortelletti and Indya Smith – have 14 returning letterwinners, including four positional starters, from the 2024 club. Additionally, five of the seven pitchers from a season ago are on the '25 roster.

• Five Falcons have started all 25 games this season to date. That group includes juniors Hannah Hunt and Katie Hutter, sophomores Taylor Behrendt and Peyton Steffes and redshirt freshman Addie Martin. Freshman Hanna Massaro has made 24 starts, with juniors Ashley Chevalier and Kendall Mathews making 24 and 20 starts, respectively. Soph Cameron Kaufman also has been in the starting lineup 20 times.

• Behrendt leads the Falcons with a .361 batting average, with Hunt and Martin batting .338 and .333, respectively. Hutter is hitting .301 on the season.

• Martin leads the Falcons in runs scored (26), homers (nine), RBI (18), stolen bases (eight) and slugging percentage (.756). Hunt has a team-high 27 hits (Behrendt and Martin each have 26), and Behrendt has a BG-best .447 on-base pct.

• In the circle, six different players have made at least one start. Freshman Morgan Beckham has made a team-high seven starts, while sophomore Alyvia Roth and freshman Sydney Marshall have started six and five games, respectively.

• Senior Scarlet Anderson has pitched in a team-high 17 games, including 15 in relief, and has a team-low 3.16 ERA and a team-high 55 1/3 innings pitched to date. Junior MacKenzie Krafcik also has pitched primarily in relief, having made three starts in her 14 appearances, and has a 4.28 ERA on the season. Anderson has a 3-2 record while Krafcik is 3-3 in 2025.

• A total of 10 positional returnees made at least 10 starts last spring. In the circle, Krafcik made 16 appearances, including 12 starts, and threw 58 2/3 innings in 2024, leading the returning pitchers in all three categories.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
• Kent State is 7-19 this season, and the Golden Flashes are 0-3 in MAC play after facing defending champion Miami last weekend. Delaney Robeson and Kendal Leitner are hitting .407 and .370, respectively, on the season, and Robeson has a team-best 25 RBI. In the circle, three players have started at least six games apiece. Delaney Nagy has a 7.49 ERA, while Ella Johnson leads the team in innings (52.2), wins (three) and strikeouts (40), and has an ERA of 8.51. Head coach Jessica O'Donnell and the Flashes went 26-23 overall and 11-15 in MAC play last season.

• Youngstown State is 4-22 overall, and the Penguins are 0-3 in Horizon League action heading into a weekend series at Detroit Mercy. YSU also hosts Niagara Tuesday before coming to BG the following day. Lydia Wilkerson is hitting a team-best .358 on the season, while Kelsey Ogin leads the pitchers with a 5.35 ERA. Autumn Behlke paces the hurlers in games started (11), wins (three) and innings pitched (58.2). Last season, coach Brian Campbell's club went 36-17 overall and 20-4 in the Horizon League.

• BGSU trails Kent State, 82-47-1, in the all-time series, and the Golden Flashes have won each of the last seven meetings, including three-game series sweeps in Northeast Ohio last year and at Meserve Field in 2023. BGSU's last win was a 6-2 decision on the road on May 7, 2022. The Falcons are 33-40-1 in home games, 22-36 in road tilts and 3-6 in neutral-site meetings with the Flashes through the years.

• BGSU trails Youngstown State, 9-3, in that series, and the Penguins swept a doubleheader against the visiting Falcons last season. Prior to those games, the teams had not met since a 1-0 BGSU win in Kennesaw, Ga., in 2013. The first nine series meetings all came prior to 1988. BGSU is 0-4 at home, 1-3 on the road and 2-2 in neutral-site affairs with the Penguins.

DOWN THE ROAD
• The Falcons are in the midst of a 10-game homestand. Following the Youngstown State twinbill, BGSU will welcome Ball State to Meserve Field for a three-game weekend series. That includes a single game on Friday, March 28, and a double-dip the following day.

• Then, BGSU hits the road for six-straight contests, beginning with a doubleheader at Akron on Tuesday, April 1. That road swing also features a three-game series at Northern Illinois (April 5-6) and a single game at Notre Dame (April 9).

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on the BGSU softball team, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGAthletics and @BGSUSoftball) and Instagram (@bgsu_softball), as well as on the web at BGSUFalcons.com.