It is now summertime, which means most students will be getting a much-needed rest over the next few months. The same applies to the most of the athletes of the University’s sports teams, but there is still much to reflect on from the end of the last term as well as athletes to continue to support this summer.
The Bowling Green softball and baseball team both played long seasons, with both teams garnering individual player awards. The softball team just barely missed the summer post-season with a record of 23-28-1.
Senior Captain Katie Yoho finished her last season with the orange and brown with All-MAC first team honors for the first time in her career.
Yoho placed top ten in seven different offensive categories this past season and finished second all-time in home runs for Bowling Green with 32 career runs.
There were also a pair of newcomers to earn honors on the year with Chelsea Raker being named to All-MAC second team and All-MAC freshman team and Aspen Searle being named an All-MAC freshman.
The baseball team finished the season with a 25-27 record, earned player awards, and was able to make it into the post-season this summer.
Catcher T.J. Losby and short stop Brian Bien were both named to the All-MAC first team. Losby was also named the Defensive Player of the Year, throwing out 11 out of 24 attempted base stealers along with a team high 312 putouts and just four errors on the season.
He also had a .988 fielding percentage and leads in career putouts with 1,068.
Both players helped the team to the post season, where they played two games last week.
The first was a loss to Kent State University 2-6. The loss put the Falcons in the consolation bracket where they dropped a hard fought game to Western Michigan University 4-7, putting their productive season to an end.
The BG women’s Track and Field team will be the most active this summer with five athletes qualifying for the regional preliminary round.
The qualifiers are Brooke Pleger, Tina Perrine, Kori Reiser, Jeanette Pettigrew and Makenzie Wheat.
Bowling Green will be one of only two teams to have more than three athletes represented at the meet and Pleger is a heavy favorite to move on to the national meet.
This regional round invites the top 48 competitors in each event to compete, and the top 12 in those events go on to the NCAA National Championship meet to compete in a field of 24 athletes for the status of All-American and possibly the national champion. The round begins Thursday, May 29 and will go through Saturday, May 31 in Jacksonville, Fla., and the championship meet will be held June 11-14 in Eugene, Ore.
After the national track meets, the summer sports for the University will end with a series of soccer scrimmages in August.
The women will play two against the University of Illinois at Chicago and Wright State, while the men’s team will play one against the Dixie Soccer Club. All three games will be played in Bowling Green. The time of all three scrimmages is to be announced.
