After losing its first three games, the Bowling Green softball team rebounded on Sunday with a 3-2 victory over fellow Mid-American Conference school, Eastern Michigan.
“We’re definitely glad to get the win,” head coach Shannon Salsburg said. “It was nice to finish on a high note.”
However, Sunday wasn’t the only day of success for the Falcons. The softball team played well during the Friday doubleheader against Central Michigan, but just couldn’t get a victory.
Bowling Green allowed four earned runs through the two Friday games, with Katie Yoho hitting her 11th homerun, but the seven unearned runs were too much for the Falcons to overcome.
“Friday was a tough day because we had a lot of good things happen we just couldn’t come up with the big play or the big hit,” Salsburg said.
This result on Friday carried over into Saturday, as the Falcons were never able to get on the scoreboard getting shutout for the 12th time this season.
“Saturday we just didn’t come out ready to play,” Salsburg said.
This came at the dismay of Salsburg, as she wants to see the Falcons play their style of softball.
“From our standpoint its about playing our game,” Salsburg said. “If somebody is going to beat us, they’re going to beat us, but we want to play our game and give the best shot we possibly have.”
The Falcons were able to hit the reset button on Sunday, as they were able to notch their seventh victory in conference play, while wearing their pink uniforms in support of breast cancer awareness.
Sophomore pitcher, Braiden Dillow played a critical part in the 3-2 victory as she allowed zero earned runs and registered a career-high, eight strikeouts on the day. Junior pitcher, Jamie Kertes came on for the final five outs, earning four via the strikeout and her fourth save of the season.
“I thought our pitchers did a great job today,” Salsburg said. “[Erika] Stratton calls Braiden’s game so that’s a credit to her, but I thought Braiden had great command of her pitches today.”
For the weekend, the left side of the Falcon infield, freshmen Chelsea Raker and Aspen Searle, collected hits in each of the four games, combining for 10 hits, five RBI, and just two strikeouts. This gives each of them a seven game hitting-streak, both collecting 11 hits apiece over that span.
The Falcons finished the weekend just 1-3 moving their season record to 21-28-1, pushing them into a tie for ninth in the MAC.
BG will now shift their focus to the season finale next weekend against their rival team up north.
“We need to come out and take care of business and then see what happens from there,” Salsburg said. “We’re excited for the opportunity and hopefully things work out for us.”
The Falcons will look to come out strong next weekend against Toledo attempting to keep their MAC-tournament hopes alive. The first game will begin at 6 p.m. on May 3 at Meserve Field.
