There’s good news and there’s bad news for the Bowling Green softball team.
The good news is pitcher Liz Vrabel became the school’s career leader in strikeouts, beating Liz Caputo’s record of 506 careers “Ks.”
“In three years, she has broken the record,” BG head coach Leigh Ross-Shaw said. “We are very happy for her.”
The bad news was the game was the first of two losses for the Falcons on the day as BG (23-26) dropped a pair to Ohio State (24-14) Wednesday in Columbus.
“The bottom line again is that we did not hit,” Ross-Shaw said.
The opener started well for the Falcons as Vrabel struck out a pair in the first inning to earn her record. Vrabel ended the day with 509 career punch outs, but the Buckeyes would take it from there.
In the second inning, OSU tacked up a pair of runs on the scoreboard and that was enough as the Buckeyes ran away with a 5-0 victory.
“We had two hits,” Ross-Shaw said. “How can you win a game with two hits unless it’s two home runs?”
Unfortunately for the Falcons, those two hits were not home runs and their hitting woes continued in the second game.
The Falcons struck first, scoring a run in the top of the first to take an early lead, but the Buckeyes finished strong, scoring 7 runs in their last two at bats to take home a 9-3 win in the night cap.
But the focus of the Falcons is not on games against Big Ten opponents; their major concerns are aimed directly at Mid-American Conference games.
That is what they’ll be looking at this weekend when they host three games against Buffalo. The Buffalo Bulls and the Falcons are both in the thick of things in the race for the MAC tournament.
The Bulls sit at 8-5 in the league and are third in the East division while the Falcons are 8-8 and fourth in the West. If the tournament were to start today, both teams would be in. But a lot can change.
The tournament will accept the top three teams from each division and will accept the next two teams with the best records regardless of division. As of now, the Falcons sit at the eighth and final spot in the race. Needless to say, this weekend poses a challenge for BG.
The Bulls are an up and coming team in the MC and relies heavily on their pitching. Part of that is because they’re hitting .191 as a team and part is because their pitching is so strong.
Stacey Evans comes into the game with a 2.24 ERA and teammate Sophie Barstad brings a 2.30 ERA to the pitching circle.
But the Falcons are worried more about themselves than with the competition at this point.
“It’s not about who we play,” Ross-Shaw said. “It’s about how we’re going to play.”
And concentrating on playing well is what will get BG to the MAC tournament, where anyone could win.
“I think our teams are pretty evenly spread, so the eight teams that are going to be there should be pretty even,” Ross-Shaw said.