Coming off a third place finish last year at the MAC Tournament, the softball team faced a tough follow-up this spring after losing a lot of experience and talent to graduation. The Falcons’ season came to an end two weeks ago after they lost tournament games to top seed Ball State and Northern Illinois. In the 5-0 loss to the Cardinals, BG produced only three hits. Lack of run support for standout senior pitcher Hayley Wiemer was a recurring theme throughout the year. After falling behind early to the Huskies in an elimination game, the orange and brown’s rally came up short, and they ultimately fell 9-4. Wiemer, BG’s only senior, summed up a trend the Falcons often found themselves on the short end of during the season. ‘The one time a team would knock on the door we would let them in a little bit and then sometimes we just couldn’t recover,’ she said. ‘We gave a lot of teams the momentum and couldn’t get it back.’ While BG finished only 13-33 overall and 8-14 in the MAC, there were a few bright spots in the season. In itself, qualifying for the tournament given the team’s inconsistencies was an accomplishment. Having at one point an eight-game conference losing streak, sophomore catcher Katelynn Boso pointed out the team’s attitude down the stretch was also a highlight. ‘It was important to stay positive so that we could still be in the running and know we could pull off the big win against Eastern and get into the tourney,’ she said. Weimer agreed. ‘The last game of the season at Eastern Michigan was do or die,’ Wiemer said. ‘We came out on top and that was certainly a high for the season.’ Moreover, despite not having the greatest home record, another game to remember was run-ruling eventual MAC East Champ Kent State at Meserve Field. The team also can look forward to experience next year, with the entire team aside from Wiemer returning. Combine that with a strong incoming freshmen class, and the Falcons possess a lot of promise for the future. ‘I think that the class coming in next year is going to potentially have a strong impact,’ Wiemer said. With a deep and competitive lineup comes internal motivation. ‘The best teams have people competing for starting spots because then no one is satisfied and everyone is always working to improve,’ Wiemer said. ‘I think that is going to be a huge plus for next year’s team.’ Boso agreed. ‘It will be good to have more people on the team forcing others to compete and work hard day in and day out,’ she said. The Falcons will also likely have another difficult schedule next season, which will give them an even greater incentive to compete harder. In spite of several things that didn’t fall the Falcons way, like injuries and having people play several different positions, the season was not a loss, but rather a discovery of identity, said Head Coach Shannon Salsburg. ‘The kids hung in there through all the roster changes and injuries,’ she said. ‘We kind of got beat up this year but we will come back next year more experienced.’