KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan softball team took two out of three games from the Bowling Green Falcons to open up the home portion of its schedule over the weekend.

The Broncos earned back-to-back 1-0 wins over Bowling Green on Friday and Saturday afternoon to move their Mid-American Conference record to .500. WMU wasn't able to stop a big offensive third game from the Falcons as Bowling Green took the series finale 7-1 in Saturday's doubleheader.

The Brown and Gold saw stellar pitching from their two freshmen, right-handers Ava Geyer and Hannah Potts. Both newcomers pitched a full seven innings in the two straight shutouts while Potts set a new career high in strikeouts, taking down eight batters in the second game of the series. At the plate, junior shortstop Caitlin Tighe led Western Michigan for the second straight week, going 5-of-9 for a .556 average with a double and an RBI.

In the series and home opener on Friday afternoon, the Bronco offense struck early, scoring the only run of the day in the bottom of the first. Infielder Bella Duncan led off the inning with a double to have WMU in scoring position with no outs on the board. Duncan soon was off to third base with a fly out to right from outfielder Megan Malartsik. And in the Brown and Gold's third at-bat of the game, Duncan scored on a single up the middle from Tighe.

Following that first inning, Western Michigan's defense locked down to not allow a run for the rest of the day. Twice the Broncos took the Falcons down in order and didn't allow more than one hit an inning until the top of the seventh. Bowling Green had a lead off single and two at-bats later put a runner in scoring position at second with only one out. But WMU stranded both Falcon runners to end the game with Geyer's sixth strikeout of the game and a flyout to center.

While the Brown and Gold only scored a run, they connected on six hits across the game. Tighe set a new career-high at the plate, going a perfect three-of-three to reach base in the first, fourth, and sixth innings. Duncan also had multiple hits for Western Michigan as she went two-of-three for her eight multi-hit game of the season. Outfielder Parker Ostach added the Broncos sixth hit of the game.

WMU had almost an identical game the next day to open its doubleheader against Bowling Green. Potts came one at-bat shy of recording the Brown and Gold's first no-hitter since 2006 in her complete game performance. The Falcons only hit of the second game was a double to right center in the top of the fifth. Western Michigan also had a low-hit game, connecting on only three across 20 at-bats. Three separate Broncos recorded hits in Duncan, Tighe, and designated player Emily Yacapraro.

But it was Duncan who again scored the only run of the game for WMU. This time though Duncan brought herself home with her fifth home run of the year. The freshman slugged the long ball over the left center fence at Ebert Field for the first hit of the game. Tighe added her hit to open the fourth with a bunt, while Yacapraro also had a bunt single in the bottom of the fifth. The Brown and Gold cruised to their second straight win behind Potts as she put together her first shutout performance and her third complete game of the season.

Western Michigan had its best game at the plate in the series finale, connecting on a weekend-high of nine hits. But the Broncos weren't able to get runners across the plate in the second game of the day on Saturday, leaving 11 runners on base across seven innings. The only WMU batter with multiple hits was infielder Jordan Smith, recording her second multi-hit game of the season.

The Brown and Gold found themselves down early as Bowling Green scored four runs on four hits to open the game. Western Michigan had an answer at the plate in the bottom of the second after limiting the Falcons to only a hit in the top half of the inning. Back-to-back two out doubles from Ostach and catcher Tristen Head scored a run to avoid a Bronco shutout.

But WMU didn't cross home again over the final five innings of the third game in the series. The Brown and Gold had a runner in scoring position for the final four innings, but all were left on the base paths. Bowling Green continued to grow its lead all the way into the sixth inning, making it a 7-1 final.

Western Michigan won't be away from Ebert Field for long as they host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in two days. The Broncos and Grizzlies will play a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 24 to continue WMU's longest homestand of the season. First pitch for game one is set for 2:00 p.m. from Ebert Field.