Softball hosts conference foes to close out season

April 30, 2013

Emily McClelland fields a ground ball against the IPFW Mastodons on April 23. The Falcons and Mastodons split the doubleheader.

The softball team will look to wrap up its regular season with a doubleheader Friday against Western Michigan and a weekend series with Northern Illinois.

The Falcons have some ground to make up as they look to gain ground for the MAC Championship Tournament. BG is third in the MAC East with a 8-10 conference record and trails second place Miami who has an 11-7 record. If BG wins all four games this weekend, they could move up a spot with some luck and a few Miami losses.

The Broncos will be up first on the Falcons’ to-beat list. Western Michigan sits fifth out of six MAC West teams with a 14-28 (5-11) record.

WMU beat Ohio, Miami and Northern Illinois once and Eastern Michigan twice. BG split series’ with Ohio and Miami and swept Eastern Michigan in two games also.

The Broncos are led by Melissa Palmer, who is batting .331 with 48 hits. Loren Nagy and Sabrina Gamboa both lead WMU in homers with four apiece. The Broncos have allowed 237 runs while scoring only 142 with 53 team errors.

Pitchers Allyson Kus, Becca Shemerger and Mackenzie Shepeck have all seen frequent time on the mound. Shepeck (3-6) has a 6.17 ERA, Shemberger (7-15) has a 4.85 ERA and Kus (3-7) has a 4.38 ERA.

BG is still led by Paige Berger who is batting .369 with 52 hits and five homers. Katie Yoho has seven home runs and Hannah Fulk leads the way in walks with 29. The Falcons have scored 133 runs while allowing 121 with 32 team errors.

Pitcher Paris Imholz was named the MAC Player of the Week for the fourth time this season with her 16-6 record, allowing just a 1.71 ERA. Jamie Kertes (9-12) has also been pitching for the Falcons and has a 2.19 ERA.

Northern Illinois will welcome BG on Saturday and Sunday for a two game series. NIU sits third in the MAC West with a 20-28 (10-8) record.

The Huskies are led by Jennifer Barnett with a .352 batting average, 51 hits and four homers. Ashley Kopp leads the team in home runs with seven. NIU has scored 194 runs while allowing 214.

The duo pitching corps of Jessica Sturm (9-13) and Emily Norton (11-15) do the majority of the pitching for the Huskies. Each has a just above 3.00 ERA.

After the weekend, BG will look forward to the MAC Tournament the following Wednesday, where the team will look to make another title run.