KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan softball team heads to Bowling Green for a game on Friday and a doubleheader on Saturday. Friday's first pitch is set for 3 p.m., while Saturday's action begins at 1 p.m.
Friday's game can also be watched live on ESPN+.
LAST WEEK
The Broncos dropped the first game of a doubleheader to Buffalo, 6-3, but responded with two straight wins. WMU finished off the second game with a 5-2 victory and then downed the Bulls, 9-7, on Saturday.
In Friday's win, the Broncos jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to RBIs by
Riley Dittmar and
Tristen Head and then a solo home run by Jadeyn Merril.
Kaylee Salyer went the distance, pitching seven innings with a career-high eight strikeouts to earn her first collegiate victory.
Saturday's win saw WMU jump out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings.
Payton Kelly hit a 2-RBI triple in the first inning, while
Analeez Niles hit a 2-run home run to make it 4-0. Head then had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second. Niles drove in another run in the third with a RBI single, followed by
Micaela Booth to make it 7-2. Buffalo got within one in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs to cut the lead to 7-6 but a RBI single by Booth and a solo home run by
Jordan Smith gave WMU the breathing room it needed.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Bowling Green is 5-8 in MAC play and went 1-2 last weekend at Northern Illinois. BGSU opened with a 1-0 shutout, but the Huskies responded with 2-0 and 4-0 shutouts of their own. The Falcons are 6-3 at home this season.
Redshirt freshman infielder Addie Martin is the team's top hitter. Martin has a team-best batting average of .364, leads the team in home runs with 12 and RBIs with 30. She also has a team-best slugging percentage of .754. Hannah Hunt has a team-high nine doubles and is second on the team with 25 RBIs.
Mackenzie Krafcik has seen the most action on the mound with 69 2/3 innings pitched. She has started 10 games and has a 7-6 record in 22 appearances. Scarlet Anderson has pitched in 58 1/3 innings in 20 appearances and has a team-low ERA of 3.84.
BOUNCING BACK
Senior outfielder
Payton Kelly was in a weird spot after the series-opening loss against the Bulls. In all of last season, Kelly went hitless just twice in MAC play and the MAC Tournament. In the opener against Buffalo she was 0-for-4 and the game prior to that she was 0-for-2 against Central Michigan. It's the first time she had back-to-back games in MAC play without a hit since the 2023 season.
Kelly responded by going 2-for-3 in the 5-2 win over Buffalo in the second game of the doubleheader. On Saturday she then want 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a 2-RBI triple.
ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan is back at home next Tuesday for a doubleheader against Ball State and then heads to Akron for three games, with two on Saturday and one on Sunday.
