Falcons Face UMass in Final Home Conference Series of 2026

Friday, April 24

Bowling Green, Ohio

12 p.m. (NOTE THE TIME CHANGE)

Bowling Green State University

Massachusetts

Photo by: Drake Harlett, BGSU Athletics

April 23, 2026 | Softball

BGSU Notes Parking & Traffic Info for Saturday

BG's Busy Slate Includes Friday DH, Saturday's "Senior Day" Single Game & a Tuesday Twinbill vs. Oakland

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

FIRST PITCH...
• The Bowling Green State University softball team closes the home portion of the 2026 regular-season schedule with five games in five days, beginning Friday (April 24). Head coach Michelle Gardner and the Falcons host the University of Massachusetts in a doubleheader, with first pitch set for 12:00 p.m. at Meserve Field.

• Then, the Brown and Orange will conclude a three-game series with the Mid-American Conference's newest member, taking on the Minutewomen in a Saturday (April 25) single game. First pitch is 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

• Following the UMass series, the Falcons will step outside of conference play, beginning the final week of the regular season with a Tuesday (April 28) twinbill vs. Oakland University. Game one will begin at 2:00 p.m. at Meserve. Admission is free for all BGSU home softball games.

• All five games are scheduled to be streamed on YouTube, courtesy of WBGU-TV with announcers from BG Falcon Media. The links will be available on the web at BGSUFalcons.com as well as on YouTube.

SATURDAY PARKING
Fans coming to Saturday's game should be aware of traffic patterns and parking availability. In addition to BG baseball and softball games on campus, the University is also hosting BGSU Spring Soccer Challenge, a local youth tournament. Please plan accordingly as you make your way to BGSU for Saturday's game.

SENIOR DAY!
• Saturday will be Senior Day at Meserve Field, with seven student-athletes recognized in ceremonies that will take place following the conclusion of that day's game. Those seven players include Ashley Chevalier, Delaney Davis, Hannah Hunt, Katie Hutter, Mackenzie Krafcik, Kendall Mathews and Alyvia Roth.

PROMOTIONS, EVENTS & FREE STUFF *
• There are many reasons to come to Meserve Field this weekend. It is Senior Weekend, and as mentioned, Senior Day festivities are scheduled to take place after Saturday's game.
• On Friday, long-time BGSU administrator Steve Messenger, who is retiring in June, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the opening game.
• On Saturday, the first pitch(es) will be thrown by parents of the BGSU seniors prior to the game.
• Tapped 419 is the home of the Ladder 419 truck, and on Saturday, the truck will be at BGSU baseball & softball, serving free root beer floats with supplies courtesy of Maumee Bay Brewing Company. Fans can pick up a ticket for their free float at the BGSU Softball Marketing table.
• There will also be a jersey giveaway on Saturday, courtesy of the BGSU College of Business.
• And, a trading card autograph session with BGSU players will take place this weekend (day & time TBA).
* subject to change due to weather, game-time changes, etc.

FUN FALCON FACTS
• BGSU played just two games last week, dropping a doubleheader to Northern Illinois. The third game of the series, as well as a non-conference contest at Michigan, were canceled due to inclement weather.

• Redshirt sophomore Addie Martin homered in the second NIU contest. It was her ninth dinger of the season and the 22nd of her BGSU career. Martin ranks seventh on the school list for career round-trippers.

• Martin currently has a career slugging percentage of .617 at BGSU, putting her in a virtual tie for that school record. Madi McCoy (2019-21) had a .617 slugging pct. during her three years as a Falcon.

• The Falcons have shattered (figuratively, not literally) a somewhat-painful school record. BGSU batters have been hit by a pitch no fewer than 47 times this spring. The old mark was 35, set in 2018.

• BGSU currently has a team on-base percentage of .386, and the Falcons are on pace to set a school record. The current record is .381, set by the 1988 club.

• BG has scored 4.88 runs per game this season, with an even 200 runs in 41 games to date. That puts the Falcons on pace for the second-highest average in program history. The school record is 5.25 rpg, set by the 1981 team.

• BG has stolen 81 bases this season to date, the second-highest total in program history. The 1988 team holds the record, with 104 steals that spring.

• And, Falcon hitters have drawn 172 walks to date, just five shy of that school single-season mark (177 free passes in 2012).

THE FALCONS – A QUICK OVERVIEW
• The Falcons are 17-24 on the season, and BGSU is 5-15 in the MAC. BG has topped the overall win total for all of last season, having gone 16-36 in 2025.

• Prior to the two games vs. NIU, BGSU went 2-4 in a pair of MAC series, taking a game each from Toledo at home and Ohio on the road. Sophomore Morgan Beckham picked up complete-game victories against both the Rockets (5-0, April 8) and Bobcats (8-1, April 11).

• The Falcons enter the UMass series with records of 3-8 at home, 7-12 in true road games and 7-4 in neutral-site contests. BGSU has more than tripled the road win total for all of '25, having gone 2-19 in such games last spring.

• The Falcons are hitting .263 as a team, with six regulars batting between .285 and .315. Junior Taylor Behrendt leads the way with a .315 batting average, while redshirt sophomore Addie Martin and junior Cameron Kaufman are hitting .304 and .303, respectively. Freshman Hannah Simko (.289), senior Hannah Hunt (.287)and junior Peyton Steffes (.285) are close behind.

• Martin leads the team with 10 doubles and nine homers. She also paces the club in RBI (32), total bases (71) and slugging pct. (.634) and is one of four Falcons with at least 12 stolen bases.

• Behrendt has a team-leading 39 hits this season, while each of the other five aforementioned players have between 33 and 35. Kaufman and Simko each have 14 steals, while Martin and Steffes have 12 apiece. Kaufman leads the Falcons with 33 runs scored and an on-base percentage of .449.

• Hunt is second on the team in RBI, with 26, while fellow senior Ashley Chevalier has 23 RBI in just 89 at-bats. Another senior, Katie Hutter, leads the team in walks, with 22, and is third on the club in OBP (.427), behind Kaufman and Martin (.431).

• Hunt, Martin and Steffes each have started all 41 games to date, while Kaufman has made 40 start, Behrendt 39 and Simko 38.

• In the circle, senior Mackenzie Krafcik has appeared in 23 games, starting 18, and has 10 complete games in those 18 starts. She also has an 8-9 record with three shutouts, one save and a 3.28 earned-run average in 102 2/3 innings pitched.

• Beckham and fellow sophomore Madison Wendel have pitched in 21 and 16 games, respectively, while junior Alyvia Roth has appeared in the circle 15 times to date. Beckham has allowed opponents to hit only. 256 against her, and is 5-5 with a 3.34 ERA in 58 2/3 innings of work, with six complete games in seven starts. Wendel is 1-4 with a 4.99 ERA in 54 2/3 innings, while Roth has a 2-6 record and an opponent batting average of .262 in 36 2/3 innings.

• 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. BGSU had four seniors on last year's roster. Two of those four players did not see action in '25, and only one of the four players played in any games after March 8.

• That 2025 club surpassed the overall and MAC win totals for the previous two years combined. BGSU went 16-36 last spring, after posting an aggregate 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.

• 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 Falcons 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).

• Martin was named to the MAC's All-Freshman Team in 2025. She hit 13 homers, the second-highest single-season total in BG history, and became the first player in program history with at least 12 homers and 12 stolen bases in the same season.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
• Massachusetts is 16-26 overall, and the Minutewomen are 7-14 in conference action in their first season in the MAC. Last weekend, UMass took one of three games against league-leading Akron, with a 5-4 win on a walk-off grand slam in the middle game of that series. Odyssey Torres is batting .421 on the season, with a .519 on-base percentage and a .654 slugging pct. Brooke Musch, who hit the aforementioned grand slam, is hitting .315 this spring. In the circle, Hannah Streicher and Kelsey Blanchette have made 20 and 15 starts, respectively. Streicher leads the team in innings (143 1/3), complete games (16) and ERA (3.57). Head coach Danielle Henderson and the Minutewomen went 14-33 overall and 6-16 in the Atlantic 10 Conference in 2025.

• Oakland is 23-16 overall, and the Golden Grizzlies are 7-5 in Horizon League action, heading into a weekend series at Green Bay. Maggie Murphy and Addison Caldwell are batting .436 and .395, respectively, and the Grizzlies are hitting .309 as a team. Kenna Bommarito is 10-7 with a 2.57 ERA in the circle, and has 113 strikeouts in 109 innings. Kama Skrek is 5-0 with a 2.76 ERA. Head coach Chris Stelma's club went 18-28 overall and 9-14 in conference play a year ago. Former Falcon pitcher Taylor Turner is an assistant coach on Stelma's staff.

• The Falcons trail UMass, 4-2, in the all-time series, but the teams have met just once since 1987. The Minutewomen captured that game, 7-6, in February of 2015. The other five meetings all came between 1984 and '87. All six previous meetings were played at neutral sites.

• BGSU leads Oakland, 13-3-1, in that series, but the Grizzlies won the last meeting, 6-0 at the Evansville Invitational four years ago. That snapped an 11-game BG series winning streak, including 6-5 and 8-4 wins in the last meetings at Meserve Field (March 13, 2019). The Falcons are 9-0-1 at home, 3-2 on the road and 1-1 at neutral sites vs. the Grizzlies.

• More information on each series can be found on page 17 of the PDF version of these notes.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the OU twinbill, the Falcons will end the regular season with a three-game series at Miami, facing the RedHawks in a single game on Friday, May 1, followed by a doubleheader the next day.

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.