BGSU softball has its fifth and final pre-Mid-American Conference (MAC) non-conference week of the season, their second in South Carolina. The Falcons will take on Coastal Carolina in a stand-alone game on Wednesday, with a three-game series against Charleston Southern on Friday and Saturday.
Bowling Green is just one week away from conference play, which starts by hosting Central Michigan in the first home games of the year. A 10-6 team so far this season, BG could have a winning record through pre-MAC play for the first time since 2022.
The team comes off their most difficult series of the season, playing six different teams in three days in Florida. From Friday, Feb. 27, through this weekend’s conclusion on Saturday, March 7, the Falcons will play 10 games in nine days.
Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt)
The Chanticleers won three of four in their last series, one they hosted at their own St. John Stadium. They have lost back-to-back games only once this season against Arkansas and Virginia, those games a part of four losses that came in just the first week of competition.
Now in her 16th year as head coach of Coastal Carolina Softball, Kelley Green has led her team to a 9-4 record since the first week of games, including an impact win over No. 15 Arizona and a respectable 3-2 loss to Baylor.
Their common opponent with Bowling Green is Lipscomb, whom they swept 5-0 and 10-2 (five innings). BG played Lipscomb once, coming back from an 8-5 deficit in the seventh inning to win 9-8.
The week before, shortstop Brie Normandin was named Sun Belt Player of the Week. During that week, she started a streak of 13 games with a hit and holds that streak to the present, scoring seven games of at least two hits and nine games with at least one run.
She is a top-three hitter in the Sun Belt, slashing a league-leading .509 batting average and a 1.190 OPS. In 74 chances in the infield, she has made only two errors, following an eight-error campaign in 61 games last season.
While the Chanticleers are around the middle of their conference in offense, their pitching staff’s ERA is at the bottom, allowing over five runs per game on average.
Their ace is junior Abby Henderson, who has started over half of CCU’s games this year. Claiming nearly half of the rotation’s innings pitched, she leads starters in ERA and allows one of the lower batting averages against.
Pitchers have allowed over four earned runs just once in a win this season. In every other win, 10 of them, Henderson and the staff have allowed four or fewer earned runs. When they allow at least five earned runs, their record is 1-6.
They take on the Falcons in a lone game at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4.
Charleston Southern (Big South)
The Buccaneers have won one game in each of their four series played, their premier victory over Notre Dame in a 5-4 road game in Orlando. Since then, they are 1-8 and have been beaten three times in run rules.
The 4-17 record does not inspire much confidence for a team trying for its first winning record in a full season since 2012. Not to mention, conference play around the corner and their search for a winning conference record, that drought since 2023.
Head coach Christi Musser has been with Charleston Southern since 2021, never seeing a winning record overall, although she’s put together some near-.500 teams. This has been her worst start to any season as head coach but has Bowling Green three times and two more lone games before conference starts next week.
The bottom team in the Big South in both offense and pitching, CSU has not had many bright spots this season. Of the three players hitting at least .300, they have a combined two doubles and two triples, no home runs and under 25 total bases apiece in 21 games started.
All four wins this season have gone to one pitcher for the Bucks, senior Riley Lauffer. She is statistically superior, leading the team in innings, complete games, batting average against and being the only pitcher with more strikeouts than walks. Even she, Musser’s best pitcher, owns a 5.51 ERA, 14th in the Big South.
Their biggest positive this season is team speed, a great baserunning team that also ranks fourth in the conference in stolen bases. This is led by junior Blakley Kingsmore, who is second in the Big South in stolen bases. Eight other players have recorded stolen bases and only two have been caught.
Falcon catchers have allowed only nine stolen bases on 10 attempts this season. BG plays the Buccaneers at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday, their last series before MAC play.
