The BG women’s softball team (23-6, 8-2 MAC) finished a long weekend with a perfect 4-0 record defeating conference opponents Miami (15-31-1, 5-6) and Ball State (15-25, 6-6) two times each.
“It was a great weekend,” coach Shannon Salsburg said, “It was a great team effort.”
Friday, in game one, the Falcons held a narrow lead the entire game and eventually won 2-1.
Hayley Wiemer recorded the first RBI by scoring Jeanine Baca on a sacrifice fly in the first inning. In the fourth, Ashley Zirkle scored on a Carly Riepenhoff single.
Emily Gouge pitched 6.2 innings and struck four batters en route to her 10th win of the year. Wiemer recorded the last out of the seventh for her first save.
Wiemer made quick work of the first three Miami batters in game two by striking out the side in the first inning.
BG followed with a Baca walk and stolen base from the leadoff spot and Allison Vallas scored her with a double. Vallas’ two-run home run in the third and Susan Sontag’s solo shot gave the Falcons their final runs of the game.
Miami threatened in the sixth scoring three runs, but that was all they would get as the BG won the game 4-3. Wiemer pitched a complete game striking out 10 batters.
On Saturday, Vallas put on an offensive show going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a home run as BG shut out Ball State 5-0.
“I was able to make good contact and get good solid hits,” Vallas said.
“Allison had one of those days where, as a hitter, you are locked in,” Salsburg said.
Gouge allowed only two hits for the game, and they both came in the first inning. Vallas scored Wiemer on her first double of the game in the bottom of the inning.
Back to back doubles by Wiemer and Vallas brought in two more runs in the third. Vallas scored on a Dawnjene DeLong hit to make it 4-0. Vallas’ fourth inning home run was the last score of the game.
In the fourth game on yesterday, the Falcons found themselves behind before the game even started. Snow covered the field in the morning and it was up to the team to clear the field before the 1 p.m. game time.
“At the beginning, we are a little frustrated because of all the snow we had to pick up this morning,” Baca said.
After the first inning, the Falcons found themselves down by two, but they quickly gained back the lead. Wiemer’s two-run home run and Sontag’s two-run single led BG’s offense to a 4-0 lead after three.
In the fifth, BG added three more runs. Zirkle scored on an error after being advanced to third by a DeLong double, and Lauren Hoffman doubled in two more to make it 7-2. BG added their final run in the sixth.
After the weekend, BG is just one home run shy of breaking the team’s season record and is batting .286.
“Our team works so hard in practice [on hitting] and it’s great to have it pay off in games,” Vallas said.
“It’s a huge accomplishment for this team,” Salsburg said.
The Falcons travel to Detroit Mercy for a doubleheader tomorrow and then to Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan for the weekend.
