Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - Western Michigan Softball enters the 2007 Mid-American Conference Tournament as the sixth seed after capturing a regular-season-ending victory over Bowling Green, 1-0, in eight innings. The Broncos secured their 24th 20-win season with the victory over the Falcons and sixth-straight.
Each team collected three hits and each team committed an error during Sunday's season finale but it was BGSU's (31-10, 14-6 MAC) error in the top of the eighth that proved to be the costliest as it produced the winning run for Western Michigan (20-21, 12-10 MAC).
Becky Bartosz led off the inning with a base on balls. She was sacrificed over to second base on Jenna Stuppy's sixth sac bunt of the season. At that time head coach Kathy Leitke lifted Bartosz for pinch runner Nikolla Griffin.
Griffin advanced to third base on a passed ball, putting the Broncos 60 feet away from victory with one out in the inning and Lauren Fuller stepping into the box. Fuller came through with a single to right field but the Falcons' Susan Sontag had a play to gun down Griffin at the plate. After hesitating on the play Sontag threw home and sailed the ball over the catcher's head. Griffin scored safely and Fuller advanced to second base.
The next two Broncos went down swinging to end the inning with Western Michigan clinging to a one-run lead on the road. Megan Thomas, who earned her sixth win of the season, stepped into the circle to work her eighth inning of the day.
It was the top of the Bowling Green order in the bottom of the inning. Jeanine Baca flied out to Molly Mroczek for the first out. Emmy Ramsey followed with a ground out to Amanda McBride at second and Hayley Wiemer followed suit with a second-straight ground out to McBride at second to end the game.
Thomas scattered three hits during her complete-game victory, while striking out a pair and walking two as well. BGSU's Allison Vallas collected the team's first hit with a single in the second. The other two hits came in the bottom of the third inning and not another Falcon bat connected for a base knock the rest of the game.
Besides Fuller's game-winning RBI-single, Mandi Sayres was responsible for the other two WMU hits. She singled in the top of the first after Mroczek grounded out to lead off the game. She also doubled with one out in the seventh inning, finishing 2-for-3 on the day.
Western Michigan and Bowling Green didn't need to look much further than across the field to find out who their respective opponents will be in this week's 2007 MAC Softball Tournament. Bowling Green, seeded third by virtue of being the next-best team outside of the division winners (East - Kent State; West - Eastern Michigan), will take on the sixth-seeded Broncos in the tournament's first game on opening day (May 9) at 11 a.m. from Currie Field in Midland, Mich.
Click here for tournament information.
