BGSU Heads to Tennessee for ETSU Tournament

Friday, February 20

Johnson City, Tenn.

2:30 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

ETSU

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

February 19, 2026 | Softball

BGSU Notes

Falcons set to play five games in Friday-Sunday tourney

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

• The Bowling Green State University softball team, off to a school record-tying 6-1 start to the 2026 season, heads to Johnson City, Tenn., to take part in the ETSU Tournament this weekend. Head coach Michelle Gardner and the Falcons are slated to play five games in the tourney, which will begin on Friday (Feb. 20) and run through Sunday (Feb. 22) at Betty Basler Field.

• BGSU is scheduled to play three games (one each day) against ETSU, as well as a pair of contests vs. Tennessee State. None of the games in the ETSU Tournament are scheduled to be streamed, but all games will have live stats. The complete tournament schedule follows...

ETSU TOURNAMENT
Betty Basler Field; Greenville, S.C.
Friday, Feb. 20 Bowling Green at ETSU 1:00 p.m.
Tennessee State at ETSU 4:00 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 21 Bowling Green vs. Tennessee State 10:30 a.m.
Bowling Green at ETSU 1:00 p.m.
Tennessee State at ETSU 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 22   Bowling Green at ETSU 10:30 a.m.
Bowling Green vs. Tennessee State 1:00 p.m.
Tennessee State at ETSU 3:00 p.m.

GREAT START!
• As mentioned, the Falcons are 6-1 on the young season. That is tied for the best start in school history.

• The 2006 and 2018 teams each began the season with 6-1 records as well.

LAST WEEKEND (PLUS SOME FASCINATING FALCON FACTS)
• The Falcons went 4-1 at Furman's Purple & White Classic last weekend. BGSU averaged 9.6 runs per game, with seven batters hitting over .300 on the weekend. Junior Cameron Kaufman scored 10 runs and stole six bases in the five games, with senior Ashley Chevalier driving in a total of 10 runs.

• On Thursday (Feb. 12), BG put crooked numbers on the scoreboard in five of the seven innings, en route to a 17-8 win over Furman. BGSU batters drew 13 walks, and once they reached base, the Falcons were a perfect 10-for-10 in stolen-base attempts. The stolen-base total is believed to be a school record.

• Each of BG's nine starters in the batting order reached base at least twice via hit, walk or hit-by-pitch. Chevalier had six RBI in the win, doubling her previous career best, while Kaufman scored four times.

• In the nightcap, the Paladins responded with a 10-4 victory. Senior Kendall Mathews homered in each end of the twinbill.

• On Friday (Feb. 13), the Falcons defeated Towson, 7-2, then scored four times in the seventh for a 9-8, walk-off win over Lipscomb. Senior Mackenzie Krafcik scattered four hits in a complete-game victory over the Tigers.

• In the nightcap, Lipscomb put five runs on the board in the sixth inning, then added another run in the seventh to take an 8-5 lead, but BG rallied to win, with senior Katie Hutter's sacrifice fly scoring Chevalier from third for the win.

• Then, on Saturday (Feb. 14), BGSU rallied from six runs down to pick up an 11-10 win over Towson. Senior Hannah Hunt had three hits and drove in four runs for the Falcons, with Chevalier picking up three more RBI.

• Down, 7-1, the Falcons scored four times in the third inning and three in the fourth to take the lead on Chevalier's two-run single. The Tigers tied the game, but Kaufman's fifth-inning single gave BG the lead once again. The Falcons went up by an 11-8 count before holding off a sixth-inning rally by the Tigers. Krafcik came on to pick up the save, getting the last out of the sixth before retiring the side in order in the seventh.

400!
• BGSU's first win at the Furman tourney, the 17-8 win over the host school, was the 400th career victory of Michelle Gardner's career. That storied career has included head-coaching stints at Nevada and Indiana, in addition to BGSU.

SCORE MORE
• BGSU's total of 17 runs in the opening game at Furman was the Falcons' highest in nearly seven years, since a school-record 21-run performance against St. Bonaventure on March 16, 2019.

• Thursday's performance is tied for the fourth-highest run total in program history. The list ...
BGSU RECORD BOOK: MOST RUNS, GAME
21 21-0 vs. St. Bonaventure (March 16, 2019)
19 19-3 at Defiance (April 27, 1981)
18 18-9 at Ohio Northern (April 8, 1981)
17 17-8 at Furman (Feb. 12, 2026)
17-0 vs. Wright State (May 9, 1990)
17-12 at Muskingum (April 14, 1979)
16 16-1 vs. Canisius (Feb. 8, 2015)
16-8 at Cleveland State (April 29, 1999)
16-5 at Detroit (May 8, 1990)

ADDITIONAL STATS, NOTES & NUMBERS
• Senior Ashley Chevalier entered last Thursday's action with a career total of 12 runs batted in. She then proceeded to drive in no fewer than six runs in the first game vs. Furman.

• Her previous single-game best was three RBI at Buffalo last season (March 14, 2025).

• The last player to drive in six runs in a game was Hannah Hunt, who did so against Monmouth last season (Feb. 8, 2025). Hunt's six-RBI game, like Chevalier's, came in the state of South Carolina, as the win over Monmouth came in Spartanburg, in a tournament hosted by USC Upstate.

• After entering last Thursday with that career total of 12 RBI, Chevalier drove in 10 runs in three days.

• Cameron Kaufman scored four runs in Thursday's opening game. That is the highest total by a Falcon since the aforementioned win over St. Bonaventure (March 16, 2019). Sarah Gonzalez scored four of BGSU's 21 runs in that victory.

• The Falcons scored 11 or more runs in back-to-back games for just the fifth time in program history, and the first time in 34 years, since a doubleheader sweep at Florida A&M on March 24, 1992. BGSU won those games by scores of 11-0 and 11-1.

• Last season, BGSU did not play a seven-inning game that lasted longer than 2:25. This season, the Falcons have played four such games in the first seven contests.

• The win over Hampton on opening day three hours and nine minutes to play. By comparison, none of BGSU's 52 games last season lasted more than 2:54, and that game (against Toledo) was a 10-inning contest.

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• Head coach Michelle Gardner and her assistants, Greg McQuillin and Indya Smith, welcomed back 15 of 19 letterwinners from last year's team, including all nine positional starters and three of the six pitchers who saw action in 2025.

• That 2025 club surpassed the overall and Mid-American Conference win totals for the previous two years combined. BGSU went 16-36 last spring, after posting a combined record of 15-79 in the 2023 (9-41) and '24 (6-38) campaigns.

• In MAC play, BGSU was 7-19 last year, after going a combined 5-51 in the previous two seasons.

• BGSU had four seniors on last year's roster. Two of those four players did not see action in 2025, and only one of the four players saw action in any games after March 8.

• At the plate, the players returning in 2026 combined for ...
   • 1,339 of the team's 1,362 at-bats (98.3%) in 2025;
   • 212 of the 219 runs scored (96.8%);
   • 195 of the Falcons' 198 RBI (98.5%); and
   • 360 of the team's 361 total hits (99.7%).

• In the circle, returning players combined to pitch 215 of the 328 1/3 total innings (65.5%), including 134 1/3 of the 167 2/3 innings (80.1%) in MAC action.

• The 2025 Falcons scored 219 runs, the fourth-highest total in program history, and last year's BGSU club also ranked in the top five in school history in runs per game (4.21, fifth); RBI (198, third); walks (153; fifth); batters hit by pitch (32, third); on-base percentage (.350; fifth) and sacrifice flies (13, tie-third).

• Addie Martin was named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team. She hit 13 homers, the second-highest single-season total in program history. Martin became the first player in program history to hit at least 12 homers and steal at least 12 bases in the same season.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
• ETSU is off to a 4-0 start to the season, with wins over Albany (two), Mercyhurst and Presbyterian at the latter school's tournament last weekend. Whitney Boone and Abigail Taylor each are hitting .500 after the first weekend, and seven players are batting at least .400. Head coach Cheryl Milligan welcomed back a total of 22 players from last year's team that went 18-37 overall and 6-15 in Southern Conference play.

• Tennessee State enters the weekend at 0-3 after opening the season with a three-game series vs. Butler. The Tigers finished 23-22 overall and 13-13 in Ohio Valley Conference action a year ago. Outfielder Hailey Hunt is a returning All-OVC Team selection, while infielders Jace Jackson and Kailyn Jean-Baptiste each were named 2026 OVC Players to Watch for head coach Genee McRath.

• The Falcons lead ETSU, 4-3, in the all-time series. The teams' last meeting saw the host Bucs pick up a 4-3 victory just under six years ago (March 2, 2020). BGSU posted a 3-0 win the previous year (Feb. 23, 2019). The Falcons are 1-2 on the road and 3-1 at neutral sites vs. ETSU over the years.

• BGSU leads Tennessee State, 3-1, in that series. The Falcons' last meeting with the Tigers also came in 2020, as BG picked up a 7-1 road win (Feb. 21, 2020). TSU posted a 5-0 win two years prior (March 10, 2018), in the teams' only previous neutral-site meeting. The only other encounters came on opening day of the 2002 season, when BG posted a road doubleheader sweep.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the ETSU Tournament, BGSU will head to Madeira Beach, Fla., for five contests at the Make It Happen Games (Feb. 27-March 1). The Falcons will face Illinois State, UIC, Albany, Colgate and Bethune-Cookman that weekend.

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.