Central Michigan University
Bowling Green*
Softball Clinches MAC West Division With Sweep Over BGSU
5/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 7, 2005
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT - Christan Dhondt's walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth inning capped off an exciting day at the Central Michigan University Softball Complex as the Chippewas swept Bowling Green, 3-0 and 3-2 in eight innings.
The victories clinched the Mid-American Conference West Division title for CMU and the Chippewas will enter next's week's MAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed. Marshall, which won the MAC regular season title, will be the No. 1 seed.
Dhondt, who hails from Perrysburg, Ohio, just 15 miles from Bowling Green's campus, provided some clutch, late-game hitting in both contests. In addition to her walk-off homer in the nightcap, she also helped two runs score in the bottom of the sixth inning in game one as her deep fly to center was misplayed by the Falcon center fielder allowing CMU to break a scoreless game.
Jill DeRoche continued her MAC dominance, picking up the win in both games. She tossed the shutout in game one while holding BGSU to three hits. The sophomore then picked up a relief win in the nightcap to improve to 11-0 in MAC action on the year.
CMU is now 26-13 overall, 16-5 in the MAC while BGSU, which clinched a spot in the eight-team MAC Tournament field thanks to losses by other teams around the league, is now 26-28 overall and 11-10 in the conference.
Bowling Green ace Liz Vrabel retired 14 straight batters in game one before giving up a bloop single in the fifth that was almost caught by a diving Allison Vallas in right.
Vrabel then got the first two Chippewas out in the sixth but singles by Karen Hohs and Jacque Benedict put two runners on for Dhondt. That's when she drove one deep to the warning track in center but the Falcon fielder, after camping out under the ball, could not make the play which allowed both Hohs and Benedict to score. Lindsey Calme later followed with an RBI single to make it a 3-0 game.
After hitting the leadoff batter in the seventh, DeRoche got the Falcons to ground into a double play followed by a grounder back at her to end the game.
Vrabel took the loss allowing just four hits and fanning nine.
CMU finished with three errors in the game while BGSU had one. The Falcons left six runners on base, including stranding runners at third base three times.
In the nightcap, both teams scored one run in the second inning, CMU's coming on a Calme homer, her second of the season. Starter Jessica Garvin then loaded the bases with Falcons in the top of the seventh on a pair of bunt singles followed by a hit batter. She then walked in the go-ahead run with nobody out. That's when DeRoche came on in relief and got Vallas, the MAC's second-leading run producer in MAC play, to hit a hard grounder to third where Amy Hudson tagged the runner going home and then dove and tagged third base for an unassisted double play.
DeRoche then struck out BGSU's leading hitter, Gina Rango to end the inning.
CMU got some clutch hitting by its top two hitters when Hudson singled to lead off the seventh, was sacrificed to second by Calme, and scored on a RBI double by Sobeck to tie the score.
That game-tying hit off Falcon starter Emily Gouge forced Bowling Green coach Leigh Ross-Shaw to bring ace pitcher Vrabel in to get the Falcons of the situation. She did that with a strikeout, intentional walk to set up a force play, and then another strikeout.
DeRoche got three of the BG batters she faced to hit infield pop outs in the eighth with a walk thrown in the middle.
With the top of the lineup up to bat for CMU in the bottom of the eighth, Vrabel got the first two Chippewas out but then surrendered the game-winning roundtripper to Dhondt for her fourth homer of the season.
DeRoche picked up the win throwing two hitless innings while Vrabel took the relief loss.
CMU finished with six hits and another three errors while BGSU had seven hits and no errors. The Falcons stranded nine runners in game two.
The two teams will play a single game to close out the regular season on Sunday at 1 p.m.
NOTES:
• Christin Sobeck had two doubles in the nightcap giving her 34 in her career which ties for sixth on CMU's career chart. She finished 3-for-6 on the day.
• The two homers in the nightcap marked CMU's fourth multi-homer game in the last seven contests.
• Jill DeRoche is now 11-0 in MAC play with a 1.51 ERA.
• CMU had three errors in each game which tied the season high.
• The division crown is CMU's fifth since the MAC began utilizing divisional play for the 1998 season. It is CMU's fourth division title in the last five years.
