Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
Softball Wins Regular Season Finale Versus BGSU, 3-2
5/9/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2004
BOWLING GREEN - It was a crazy game, but in the end the Central Michigan University softball team eked out a 3-2 win over Bowling Green on Sunday afternoon.
The Chippewas finish the regular season 32-15 overall and 21-3 in the Mid-American Conference. CMU heads to the MAC tournament this Thursday as the No. 1 seed. Bowling Green also advances to the tournament thanks to Kent State's victory at Marshall on Sunday. The Falcons drop to 29-27 overall and 13-11 in the league.
No.9 hole hitter Allie Hansen drove in the winning run in the top of the seventh when she grounded out to short but speedy Jacque Benedict broke for home and was safe after the Falcons' shortstop checked Benedict quickly and then fired to first. Benedict had waited for the throw to first before breaking for home and she beat the throw to the plate.
The Falcons put the leadoff runner on the bottom of the seventh when Jenifer Kernahan had an 11-pitch at bat before getting hit in the foot on an offering from starter Amber Puchalski. The Falcon's Abby Habicht then sacrificed Kernahan to second, putting the tying run in scoring position.
However, Puchalski got Stephanie Finkel and pinch hitter Ashley Zirkle to both look at strike three to end the game.
Puchalski fanned eight while picking up her 21st victory of the season. BGSU's Jody Johnson, who picked up the win versus CMU yesterday, took the loss while fanning four.
CMU had five hits in the game while the Falcons had four along with a pair of fielding errors.
The Chippewas scored once in the first and once in the third innings to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
Aimee Smith notched an RBI ground out in the first which scored leadoff batter Karen Hohswho reached on an error. In the third, Christin Sobeck had a two-out RBI double off the wall in the right that scored Lindsey Calme who singled.
The Falcons loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth when they had a pair of infield hits sandwiched around a fielder's choice where the runner was safe at second on a sacrifice attempt. Puchalski got the next batter to pop out before fanning another to keep the bases juiced with two down. However, the Chippewa pitcher then threw a wild pitch that went to the backstop and the runner from third came home and was safe at the plate. On the bang-bang play, the ball caromed towards the BGSU dugout and Calme, the catcher, ran it down and tried to throw home to get another BGSU runner who broke for the plate but the throw hit a Falcon player who was not involved in the play. The runner who was on first also came around to score in the melee but the Chippewas appealed to the umpire crew about the interference.
After a conference by the umpires, the second runner was called out because of the Falcon player interfering with the play, thus ending the inning with BGSU scoring just one run.
The Falcons again put a pair of hits together in the sixth to produce another run and that tied the score at 2-2. Leadoff hitter Jeanine Baca singled up the middle, was sacrificed to second and then scored on an RBI single to center by Lindsay Heimrich.
The Chippewas used the bottom of the lineup to score the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh and the defense held on the for the victory.
CMU is the top seed in the MAC Tournament which begins on Thursday (May 13) at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio. The Chippewas will play the winner of the No.4 versus No. 5 game at 7:30 p.m. In addition to CMU and Bowling Green, also making the MAC tournament field are Kent State, Miami, Ohio, and Western Michigan.
Notes:
*Amber Puchalski recorded 13 strikeouts on the weekend to raise her career total to 948.
*Amber Puchalski's 21 wins in the circle this season ties for fifth on CMU's single season chart. Puchalski won a school-record 26 games in 2001 and also tallied 21 in 2002.
*Junior Christin Sobeck batted .429 in the three-game series against Bowling Green, going 3-for-7 with two RBI and a hit in all three games.
