BGSU Softball was undefeated in the MAC for about 20 hours, taking their first conference and road victory of the season against Buffalo on Friday and losing two on Saturday. Their 1-2 conference record ties them for sixth in the standing, the 6-17 record tying the Falcon’s 2024-win total about half the games played.
Game schedule:
March 14- Bowling Green def. Buffalo 11-3 (6 inn.)
March 15- Buffalo def. Bowling Green 4-3 (8 inn.)
March 15- Buffalo def. Bowling Green 10-6
Anderson, Krafcik, then pray for rain
There is not much negative to say about senior Scarlet Anderson in the circle this season. Her almost 50 innings pitched leads all Falcons by 20, also holding the lowest ERA, WHIP and batting average. She is statistically a top ten pitcher in the MAC making mainly relief appearances.
She has been amazingly reliable for head coach Michelle Gardner, with only three earned runs in her last seven appearances and about 20 innings pitched. She has only started one game this season and has fallen into the go-to option for Gardner after an “opener” that, whether planned or not, has been pitching nature recently.
An “opener” refers to a pitcher who starts and pitches a very short amount of time at the beginning of the game rather than a reliever at the end of the game. It’s safe to say BG starters have had a rough time this season, with none of the three starters against Buffalo making it through an inning before being relieved.
Junior Mackenzie Krafcik started 2025 struggling, settling in against Buffalo. She pitched 9.2 innings with only one run earned, six strikeouts and three walks, her and Anderson totaling one earned run of the seven for BG against Buffalo.
Being able to find a reliable third arm should give the pitching staff a large boost, also considering they play three games per weekend in conference play. All other BGSU pitchers, besides Anderson and Krafcik, have an ERA north of eight.
Ten of seventeen
The pitching staff of BG has struggled most of the season. However, they got no defensive help during the Buffalo series.
In three games, the combination of Falcon arms allowed seven earned runs in 19.1 innings of work. So, where did the other 10 runs of Buffalo come from?
The first game’s unearned run didn’t matter too much as the Falcons won 11-3, but second baseman Taylor Behrendt made an error in the sixth inning, leading to a run and the pulling of Anderson off the circle for Krafcik.
In the second game, BGSU lost 4-3 in extra innings, and shortstop Addie Martin made a throwing error in the second, leading to two runs that inevitably forced extras and a Falcon loss.
With two outs in the third inning of a 4-3 Buffalo lead in the third game, third baseman Hannah Hunt made a throwing error with the bases loaded, leading to a five-run inning for the Bulls and blowing a massive hole a game BG inevitably lost 10-6.
Without the error in the second game, BG would have won 3-1. Without the error in the third game, BG would have won 6-5 and could have been undefeated through three games of MAC play.
All three of those players mentioned were playing out of position due to the absence of Cam Kaufman as BG’s shortstop. Behrendt (1B-2B), Martin (3B-SS) and Hunt (2B-3B) each made errors playing out of positions that they have played the entire season.
Falcon Standouts
RF Peyton Steffes– 3 GP, 11 ABs, 7 hits, 3 runs, 4 RBIs, 1 SB, 4 PO
Steffes, the best hitter in orange and brown against Buffalo, has emerged as one of the top players in the lineup over the last few weeks. Her .636 batting average led the Falcons with the most RBIs and most runs contributed by any Falcon.
Batting seventh or eighth in the series, Steffes has cemented herself as a top-five hitter with the fifth-best batting average and OPS, adding good speed and fielding behind it.
2B Taylor Behrendt– 3 GP, 12 ABs, 7 hits, 4 runs, 2 RBIs, 1 SB, 6 PO 1 E
Now the batting leader of the Falcons, Behrendt had an outstanding weekend, even playing out of position, her first game at second base. She anchored the three-hole in the lineup, contributing to six of the 20 runs BG scored.
She does not have much power but is very consistent with the bat, with nearly a 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the second-most total hits and fourth-highest OPS. She made an error in the first game she played at second base but went perfect the rest of the weekend.
