Bowling Green’s softball team has now out-scored its opponents 28-3 in the last six games. The result has been six consecutive wins and three straight two-game sweeps of their opponents.
Hot bats and good pitching, much like in their four games over the weekend once again keyed two victories (8-1, 3-2) over the Oakland Grizzlies Monday at the OU Softball Field as the team moved up to 19-20 on the season.
The Falcons are now 19-11 in their last 30 games after starting 0-9 and experiencing slumps that lasted up until this previous week.
“I think it has given us some confidence to build on,” head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw said of the win streak. “Each game it seems like we are a little looser at the plate, we are a little more confident at the bat and it’s just been helping us build that confidence. I think this little role has given us the chance to relax and a little bit and feel good about the team we are.”
Once again those confident bats struck for the Falcons as they put up 20 hits in the two games and scored 11 runs. It marked only the sixth time this season they had a double-digit hit game as they strung out 12 hits in an 8-1 opening game win and then added 8 more in a 3-2 come from behind in game 2.
Gina Rango was a perfect 6-6 at the plate on the day as in the first game she drove in two runs on four hits and scored another three before adding two more hits in the nightcap. In the process, the junior out of North Lima, Ohio became BG’s all-time career RBIs leader passing Dena Romstadt (1990-93) after recording RBIs 91 and 92 of her career.
“I feel like she’s on a mission to snap us out of this (slump),” Ross-Shaw said of Rango. “It’s like she stands up there and says; okay you guys just follow my lead. It’s just been great to watch.”
Another key to breaking out the recent slump has been the stellar pitching BG has been getting from freshman Emily Gouge.
Gouge had a great week of work last week, in which she was 3-0 with an ERA of 0.30 only allowing seven hits and one run while appearing in four games. The effort earned her Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.
She continued that stellar pitching in game 1, tying a career-high with eight strikeouts and allowing one unearned run on four hits. She had set her career-high for strikeouts on Sunday in a win over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne.
Her performance was followed by a strong effort from Kristen Anderson in game 2, who pitched five and a third innings giving up only two runs on four hits while recording 3 strikeouts. Liz Vrabel finished in relief allowing no hits and striking out four.
“They did fantastic,” Ross-Shaw said. “Everyday I know that I can count on them (pitchers) — I can count on a consistent performance.”
Ross-Shaw also alluded to her defense which has been stepping up on a consistent basis as well to keep her teams in games.
“I feel the same way about our defense,” she added. “Our defense has been really consistent and they have really been making some big plays — which is good to have because good pitching and defense wins you games.”
After the two wins Monday, theFalcons will look to continue getting a strong performance out of their pitchers and defense as they head to Akron today for a doubleheader. The Falcons are 5-4 in MAC play and sit four games back of Central Michigan for the MAC West lead while Akron is 2-8 and six back of Marshall in the East.
Akron has been lead at the plate by Kelly Quigley who is batting .314 on the year with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. This includes two RBIs in Akron’s win over Buffalo on Sunday when she drove in the eventual game-winning run.
On the mound, the Zips are lead by Tina McCauley (13-10) who comes in with an ERA of 1.85 and has struck out 134 batters on the year. In her lasting outing on Sunday, she picked up a win going all seven while allowing only one run on six hits and striking out four.
It’s a match-up that could prove to be a problem for the Falcon batters as they need to stay confident and continue the big hitting they have doing in the last week.
“We need to be relaxed at the plate and not start pushing after that first or second inning if we don’t have anybody on,” Ross-Shaw said. “In the past we left so many runners stranded on base and were just pushing a little too hard — the last two days we’ve been getting some timely hits with two outs and they’ve been trying to make things happen even two outs.”
The last time the Falcons visited Firestone Stadium in Akron, they walked away with a MAC tournament championship. They’ll look to continue that success today when they take on the Zips starting at 2 p.m. with the second game shortly after.
