Heroes Aplenty as Falcons Sweep CMU Friday

Friday, April 8

Bowling Green, OH

12:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

15-23, 3-6

Central Michigan

15-19-1, 2-6-1

Central Michigan

Bowling Green

Chelsea Raker homers vs CMU - April 8 2016 - Amanda Cutcher photo

Chelsea Raker (center) is congratulated after her first-inning homer in Friday's opener

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

April 08, 2016 | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

BGSU picks up a pair of wins over the Chippewas at Meserve Field

By: BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (BGSU Athletic Communications)

The Bowling Green State University softball team got contributions from multiple players in all facets of the game Friday afternoon (April 8), sweeping Central Michigan University at Meserve Field. The Falcons downed the Chippewas by scores of 4-2 and 5-1 in Mid-American Conference action.

GAME ONE STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
GAME TWO STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
PHOTO GALLERY: Amanda Cutcher, BGSU Athletic Communications

Head coach Sarah Willis and her staff got strong performances up and down the lineup on Friday. Redshirt sophomore Chelsea Raker homered in the first game, while junior Haley Schrock went deep in the second, opening the scoring in each case. Sophomore Morgan Evangelista had three hits, including a two-run single, to open up a four-run lead in the second game. Several players made highlight-reel catches in the field. And, senior Braiden Dillow and freshman Kiley Sosby each earned a complete-game victory in the circle.

Dillow took a shutout into the seventh inning of the first game, before the Chippewas attempted to mount a rally. CMU scored twice in that final inning to cut BG's four-run lead in half, but senior leftfielder Marisa Shook made a running catch in foul territory to end the game.

In the nightcap, Sosby allowed just three hits, and the only run she surrendered was unearned.Sosby did walk five hitters, and a walk and a hit batter gave the visitors two baserunners with no outs in the seventh. But, Schrock gloved a line drive toward third base, and threw to second to double up the runner, before catcher Evangelista grabbed a foul pop just in front of the screen behind the plate.

"The big difference today from recent games was that we came out ready to play," said Willis. "The intensity was there, the focus was there. They were still the same lighthearted, goofy group, which is great, but the intensity was there and they were on a mission. We changed up some things in our approach at practice the last few days, trying to get them in play mode and competition mode. When this team comes to compete, good things happen and it was great to see.

"People were coming up with big hits and stringing hits together, and both of our pitchers were consistent on the mound. It was night and day from what we saw on Tuesday at Miami, and at this point in our program, it's about consistency. Again, when we show up and compete, good things happen."

In the opener, Dillow set down the Chippewas in order in the first inning, with two ground balls to the left side of the infield followed by a fly ball to senior Molly Holliday in center.

In the bottom of the first, Holliday drew a walk against CMU starter Hanna Warren with one out, and Raker followed by turning on a pitch and lining a ball over the fence in left field for a two-run homer. Entering the game, the Falcons had been outscored by a 49-3 count in the first inning this season, but BG had a 2-0 lead.

"It feels like we haven't been scoring many runs before the fourth or fifth inning lately," said Raker, who is second on the team with five homers this season. "Molly put me in a good spot getting on base, and I just tried to hit a line shot, and it worked out in my favor."

Central actually outhit the Falcons, 7-5, in game one, but Dillow and the BG defense kept the Chippewas off the board through the first six innings. In the second inning, Sydney Heath and Sara Hansen had back-to-back singles with one out. But, Dillow got Maison Kalina to hit a soft liner to Schrock at third, and Chelsea DeLamielleure hit a soft liner of her own that sophomore shortstop Katee Hinkle caught just above the ground for the third out.

Hanson, the CMU centerfielder, robbed Hinkle of a hit with a diving catch of a liner to end the second, but Dillow got CMU to hit three harmless infield grounders in the third. Then, the Falcons doubled the lead.

With one out in the home half of the third, Holliday singled up the middle, and Raker drew a walk. Holliday was erased on a fielder's choice off the bat of Shook, but Schrock walked to load the bases, and Dillow doubled to right-center to score Raker and Shook and give the Falcons a 4-0 lead.

After helping her own cause with her bat, Dillow did the same with her glove, grabbing a liner off the bat of CarolAnn Sexauer to begin the fourth. She then struck out reigning MAC Player of the Year Katelyn Rentschler, but hit Heath with a pitch. But, Heath was gunned down attempting to steal, with Evangelista firing a strike to Hinkle.

Central loaded the bases in the fifth, but Dillow got out of the jam. Hansen beat out a slow roller to second, and one out later, Rachel Vieira's excuse-me single through the left side put two runners aboard. Shook ran a long way to track down a Taylor Lewallen fly ball near the left-field line for the second out, but the Chippewas executed a double steal, and Lacy Tolfree walked to load the bases. But, Dillow got Allison Curtis to hit a grounder back to the circle, and the senior fired the ball to Raker at first for the final out.

BG did not score in the fifth, but the Falcons hit several pitches hard. Raker's drive to right had home-run distance but was foul by a few feet. Shook's soft liner was caught in right, and Schrock followed with a liner that caromed off of Warren for a two-out hit. But, the CMU hurler got a grounder to second to end the inning.

In the sixth, Dillow retired Sexauer and Rentschler on one pitch apiece, and after Heath singled up the middle, Hansen grounded out to end the inning.

Evangelista led off the home half of the sixth, and fouled off seven-straight pitches before third baseman Lewallen smothered her hard-hit ball near the bag and fired to first. Hinkle singled up the middle with two outs, but Warren got a foul pop to Lewallen to send the game to the seventh.

In that final frame, Central mounted a rally. Kalina led off with a single, and pinch-runner Andrea Perlberg took second on a passed ball. Rachel Vieira singled to put runners at the corners, and pinch-hitter Kristen Goodall walked to load the bases with no outs. Tolfree's fly ball to left was gloved by Shook for the first out, with Perlberg tagging and scoring CMU's first run.

Dillow got Curtis to hit a grounder back to the circle, and the senior fired to first for the second out, with the runners taking second and third. Sexauer walked to load the bases and bring the potential go-ahead runner to the plate in the form of Rentschler, and a wild pitch advanced all three runners, with Vieira scoring. Now, runners were on second and third, with pinch-runner Courtney Streich – the potential tying run – at second base. With the count at 2-1, Rentschler lofted a ball down the left-field line, and Shook ran it down and made the catch in foul territory to end the game.

Heath and Vieira each went 2-for-2 at the plate for the Chippewas, while Hansen also had a pair of hits in the game. But, Dillow held the top-four players in the batting order to a combined 0-for-13 in the game.

Dillow's complete game was her fifth of the year and her third in MAC play. She improved to 4-6 overall and 2-3 in conference contests. And, at the plate, she and Raker each had two RBI.

Five different Falcons had one hit apiece, with Holliday, Raker and Schrock each reaching via both a walk and a hit in the game. Raker scored two of the Falcons' four runs.

In the second game, Sosby and Warren matched zeroes on the scoreboard until the fourth inning. Each team got a baserunner in the first, as Sexauer walked with two outs for the visitors, while Holliday singled through the left side of the infield with one out for the hosts. But, both starters got out of the inning unscathed.

Heath began the second inning by lining a ball that caromed off of Sosby. Hinkle kept the ball from leaving the infield, but had no play at first. But, Sosby struck out Hansen, got DeLamielleure to hit a foul pop to third, then made Vieira swing and miss for an inning-ending strikeout.

CMU shortstop Sexauer made a nifty diving catch of a flare by Schrock in the bottom of the inning, grabbing the ball with a headlong effort near the third-base line. The play proved to be all the more important when Dillow walked and Evangelista lined a single up the middle. But, with those runners at first and second, Warren got a strikeout and a fly ball to right, ending the inning.

Danielle Marlink and Sosby engaged in a battle to begin the third inning. Marlink's at-bat took 12 pitches, and included seven foul balls, but Sosby final got her to swing and miss for strike three. Tolfree reached on an error, but was erased on a fielder's choice. Then, Sexauer lofted a ball down the right-field line in foul territory. Freshman Hannah Giammarino made a long run and grabbed the ball just before she reached the fence, retiring the side on a nifty play.

"Hitting can be contagious, and defense can be contagious, and we saw that today," said Willis. "It's part of them buying in and believing they can do it. Shook made a great diving play in the second game, and Hannah Giammarino was a madwoman in right field. She went after a foul ball, almost hit the chain-link fence and made the catch on one of their best hitters. Plays like that give us a ton of momentum, and obviously take the momentum away from our opponents."

Warren allowed only a two-out walk to Raker in the BG half of the third, but Sosby gave up just a one-out base on balls to Heath in the fourth. Sosby was aided by a great diving catch by Shook, who charged in and made the grab of Hansen's fly ball in shallow left. Sosby then struck out DeLamielleure for the third out.

Schrock led off the Falcon fourth, taking a pitch out of the strike zone before turning on Warren's second pitch and driving it to left for a solo homer and a 1-0 BGSU lead.

"We had seen the pitcher a couple times before, and so I was feeling pretty comfortable," said Schrock. "Leading off the inning, I was just trying to get on base, but it just happened to go out of the park, and I'll take it."

One out later, Evangelista doubled to right-center, prompting the Chippewas to replace Warren with Laura Vaccaro in the circle. Giammarino bunted Evangelista to third, but Hinkle's line drive was grabbed by the second baseman for the third out.

CMU knotted the score in the fifth. Sosby whiffed Vieira, but Marlink doubled, and Tolfree walked. Curtis hit a ball just over the outstretched arm of a leaping Hinkle, with pinch-runner Perlberg stopping at third. Tolfree, however, rounded second and was caught in a rundown as Shook quickly fired the ball to Raker. Raker ran toward Tolfree while keeping an eye on Perlberg, and Raker wound up tagging Tolfree for the second out of the inning.

But, the next hitter, Sexauer, reached on an error that scored Perlberg and put runners at second and third. On the next pitch, however, Sosby got Rentschler to pop up to second baseman Kayla Gregory.

After giving up the tying run, the Falcons answered quickly. BG scored four times in the bottom of the fifth.

Gregory hit a drive to left-center that was just out of the reach of a diving Hansen for a leadoff double. Holliday bunted Gregory to third, and both runners were safe when the throw toward first was wild. Gregory rounded third and scored on the play, with Holliday winding up at second.

Then, Raker drew a walk to put two runners aboard. Shook just got under a ball and hit a fly to right for the first out, but Schrock – after homering in the previous inning – crushed a ball to left-center. The ball hit the fence about two feet from the top, and Holliday scored easily as Raker took third and Schrock took second. The run-scoring double made it a 3-1 BG lead.

"My teammates had done a great job to get into scoring position for me, so I just wanted to do my job and move the runners," said Schrock. "In both at-bats (the fourth-inning homer and fifth-inning double), I just wanted to put the ball in play and hit a line drive somewhere."

Vaccaro got a ground-ball out with the runners forced to hold, but Evangelista's liner went between third baseman Vieira and the third-base line. The single scored both pinch-runner Sami Parave and Schrock, and the Falcons were ahead by four runs.

Sosby gave up a one-out walk, but retired the Chippewas on three fly balls to the outfield in the sixth. Warren, who had reentered the game after Evangelista's two-run single in the fifth, worked around a Gregory single in the sixth.

For the second-straight game, Central entered the seventh inning down by four runs, but looked to mount a rally. Marlink was hit by a pitch, and Tolfree walked to send pinch-runner Streich to second. But, Schrock grabbed a Curtis liner and fired a strike to Hinkle to double Streich off second, and when Evangelista squeezed Sexauer's foul pop, the Falcons had the win and the doubleheader sweep.

Evangelista was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate to pace BG's eight-hit attack in the second game. Schrock was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, while Gregory was 2-for-4 in the win. Three different players had one hit apiece for the Chippewas.

Sosby improved to 9-5 with the win, throwing her team-leading seventh complete game of the year. She allowed just one unearned run and three hits. Sosby did walk five batters, but struck out six.

BGSU outhit Central by a 13-10 margin in Friday's two games. But, six of the Falcons' 13 hits went for extra bases, compared to just one of CMU's 10. BGSU had a slugging percentage of .479 in the DH, while the Chippewas' slugging pct. was just .220.

"The energy was up from the get-go, and everyone was feeding off of each other today," said Raker. "We were feeding off of each other off of hits, off of diving plays in the field ... it was just an all-around good day today."

Schrock echoed her fellow corner infielder's thoughts.

"From the very start, Hinkle made a great play in the field, and we got a couple more outs that set the tone for us. And, scoring early obviously helps. It just felt like the team had great energy today. It was a very positive dugout and we just tried to keep that going, because we know when we have positive energy, we typically tend to do better."

Weather permitting, the Falcons and Chippewas will attempt to complete their three-game weekend series on Saturday (April 9) at 1:00 p.m. at Meserve Field.

"We need to finish a series," said Willis. "We need to bring that level of play and consistency through an entire series. We played well today, and we want to take the next step and continue to do the things we did today throughout the third game of this series, and hopefully in our upcoming games against the rest of the MAC as well."