As if getting shut out by Miami twice Wednesday wasn’t enough for the Bowling Green softball team, now they have to turn around and play eight games in the next five days.
“Everything happens so fast that when it comes here, it comes fast,” BG head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw said.
The Falcons had a few opportunities against Miami to capitalize and split the series. In their second game — a 1-0 loss — the Falcons left five runners on base in the last two innings. Even so, the Falcons were in the game till the last pitch and that has been a trend lately — win or lose.
“Our pitchers have been keeping us in games,” Ross-Shaw said. “Liz Vrabel has thrown the ball very well.”
The games were a showdown of last year’s Mid-American Conference title game, and Ross-Shaw is sure the Falcons could have had a better showing.
“That was a very big letdown,” she said. “We had a chance to show Miami that last year wasn’t a fluke. It’s sad we can’t score one run in two games, I feel like if we could’ve scored a run, we would’ve got the momentum and won the game.”
But the Falcons have a chance to right all their wrongs in the next five days.
They have four double headers in that span against a variety of opponents. They start and finish the eight-game stretch with games against conference foes Ball State and Akron. And sandwiched between those showdowns will be matchups Sunday and Monday against IPFW and Oakland.
If the Falcons hope to come out of the stretch alive, they will have to improve their hitting. They come into tomorrow’s matchup against Ball State batting .235, 16 points lower than they hit as a team last year.
They will also have to lick their wounds and move down the road as well.
“Right now, we’re a little sore and a little tired,” Ross-Shaw said. “The girls are realizing there’s not much season left. But we’ll be fine for these games; we have a deep team and we have strength.”
And the Falcons have been here before. Last season at this time, they were 14-19. This year they are a game off that pace at 13-20. At this same time last season, the Falcons won 13 of their next 17 games and went on to a conference title. Also in that span, the Falcons played their first eight games within a week’s time.
BG is hoping last season’s experiences, coupled with their offseason work can help them overcome this bump in the road and get back to the top of the MAC.
“It’s a wear on our bodies,” Ross-Shaw said. “But that is what all the preseason lifting and training was for.”
The Falcons first games in this stretch will be tomorrow afternoon against Ball State in Muncie. The Falcons will return to the BGSU Softball Field Sunday at 1 p.m. for a double header against IPFW.
