The Bowling Green rolled to a win over Akron in the first game of their double header yesterday 9-0, but Akron got the last laugh as they snapped the Falcons’ seven-game winning streak with a 3-0 win to cap off the day.
The fact the Falcons’ (20-21, 6-5) win streak was snapped was not surprising, but the way they lost is what was surprising.
In the first game, they tagged the Zips’ (19-17, 3-9) Tina McCauley for seven runs in her 5.2 innings of work en route to a mercy rule six-inning victory. But in the second game, McCauley came back and threw seven innings of three hit ball.
“She threw unbelievably well in the second game,” BG head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw said. “That’s not to say we didn’t hit her, we just didn’t get the timely hits we got in the first game.”
Game one was all Falcons all the way. BG struck in the first two innings with four runs, then capped the game off with a five run sixth inning. That coupled with Liz Vrabel’s six-hit shutout was far too much for Akron to handle.
But the Zips were able to get the best of BG in the night cap.
The game started out as a pitcher’s duel between BG freshman Emily Gouge and McCauley, but ended with the Zips picking up some timely hits late in the game and taking home the 3-0 win.
“We can’t let the second game let us back,” Ross-Shaw said. “We have to learn from it. We’ve used the last week to build confidence and we can’t let the last game shatter us.”
Aside from the Falcons’ win streak getting snapped, one of Gina Rango’s hit streaks was snapped as well. Rango had reached base 13 consecutive times before a fourth inning pop out in the second game. But still intact is her 18 game hitting streak, a BG record in the nine years that stat has been recorded.
Rango has been a model of consistency in the midst of a season in which hitting has been inconsistent for the Falcons.
“Hitting has been the question,” Ross-Shaw said. “But now we’re starting to get warmed and we’re getting our confidence. And, you know, Gina Rango has been such a good leader this season.”
Surprisingly enough, Ross-Shaw feels BG’s pitching is the reason their hitting should be stronger. The Falcons lead the MAC with a 2.22 E.R.A. but are eighth in the conference with a .236 batting average.
“We’ve got the best pitching staff in the MAC and we’ve seen our pitchers all offseason,” she said. “So it makes me wonder, why haven’t we hit these pitchers? Because I feel like we’ve seen this all offseason.”
The Falcons, with a mix of solid pitching and hitting, will have a chance to make a move in the conference this weekend against Eastern Michigan. The Falcons and Eagles are in a three-way tie for second place in the MAC West and a good weekend could leave the Falcons alone in that position.
“Eastern is more solid than they’ve been in the past,” Ross-Shaw said. “They’re going to give you a good game.
“But, we’re at home and we have better pitching. The question is are we going to swing the bats or not?”
The weekend will kick off with a double header starting at 1 p.m. tomorrow at the BGSU Softball Field.
