FIRST PITCH...
• The Bowling Green State University softball team wraps up a six-game road swing with a midweek matchup in South Bend. Head coach Michelle Gardner and the Falcons face the University of Notre Dame on Wednesday evening (April 9). First pitch is set for 8:00 p.m. at Melissa Cook Stadium, and the game is scheduled to be broadcast on the ACC Network.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will return to Mid-American Conference play for the rest of April. BGSU will begin a five-game homestand with a Friday (April 11) contest vs. Western Michigan University. That game will begin at 3:00 p.m. at Meserve Field, and the Falcons and Broncos will meet on Saturday (April 12), in a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader. Friday's WMU matchup is scheduled to be aired by BCSN in the Toledo area, with the stream available on ESPN+. Saturday will be Senior Day at Meserve Field, with the program's seniors recognized between games of the twinbill.

• For BGSU student-athletes, Saturday's WMU is a Meserve Cup event.

ADDIE. MARTIN.
• Redshirt freshman Addie Martin has 12 homers in 2025, tying her for second on the BGSU single-season list. She is just three round-trippers shy of the school record of 15, set by Hannah Fulk in 2012.

• Martin also has a team-leading 12 stolen bases this year to date. She is the first player in school history with both a dozen homers and a dozen steals in the same season.

• In addition to threatening the single-season mark for dingers, she is on pace to break the BGSU record for slugging percentage. Martin currently has a slugging pct. of .754. The school record is .746, set by Hayley Wiemer in 2007.

• Entering Wednesday's Notre Dame game, Martin is ranked in the top 20 on six BGSU single-season lists...
HITTING HER WAY INTO THE RECORD BOOK: ADDIE MARTIN ON THE BGSU SINGLE-SEASON CHARTS
Category      Martin's Total/Avg.  Ranking    The Current Record
Slugging Pct.       754            (First)                  .746
Home Runs            12            T-Second                   15
Runs                 37            T-Seventh                  57
Total Bases          89            14th                      126
Batting Avg.        364            15th                     .439
Stolen Bases         12            T-20th                     53

KRAFCIK BLANKS THE HUSKIES
• Junior Mackenzie Krafcik fired a complete-game shutout on Saturday (April 5), as the Falcons picked up a 1-0 win at Northern Illinois. It was the Falcons' first shutout of the season, and the second of Krafcik's collegiate career.

• Krafcik, who entered the 2025 season with a total of three career wins, has a team-high seven victories this year. She has made 10 starts in the circle this season, tying her for the team lead, and Krafcik has started eight of the Falcons' last 14 games.

ZEROES
• As mentioned, the shutout on Saturday was the Falcons' first this season. It was BGSU's first overall shutout since Krafcik allowed just one hit in an 8-0, five-inning win over Detroit Mercy at Meserve Field just over a year ago (March 30, 2024).

• It was BGSU's first shutout win against a MAC opponent since a 1-0 win over Central Michigan in the 2002 MAC Tournament (May 13, 2022, in Oxford, Ohio).

• The shutout was the Falcons' first in a MAC regular-season contest since just over a week prior to that '22 tourney, when BG picked up a 5-0 victory vs. CMU at Meserve (May 4, 2022).

• BGSU pitching had not recorded a true road shutout since March 11, 2022, when the Falcons posted a 5-0 victory at Lipscomb.

• The Falcons' last shutout against a MAC team on the road came four years ago, also at Northern Illinois and also a 1-0 win (May 7, 2021). Payton Gottshall scattered five hits in that 2021 victory.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• The Falcons enter the Notre Dame game with an overall record of 13-24. BGSU has more than doubled the win total for all of last season, after going 6-38 in 2024.

• BGSU is 5-8 in MAC games this season after going a combined 5-51 in the previous two years.

• The Falcons began the season with five games at the Spartan Classic, hosted by USC Upstate (Feb. 7-9), and the Orange and Brown participated in the Norman Tournament two weeks later. The Falcons turned some heads on the final day of the latter tourney (Feb. 24), battling then #2 Oklahoma into extra innings before falling, 8-5.

• The Falcons then played six games in Conway, S.C. (Feb. 28-March 3), including five at the Chanticleer Showdown, before wrapping up the pre-conference schedule with four games at Hoosier Classic (March 7-8).

• A total of 10 of the Falcons' losses have come against teams currently ranked 57th or better in the latest RPI rankings.

• Head coach Michelle Gardner and her staff – Greg McQuillin, Tegan Cortelletti and Indya Smith – have 14 returning letterwinners, including four positional starters, from the 2024 club. Additionally, five of the seven pitchers from a season ago are on the '25 roster.

• Five Falcons have started all 37 games this season to date. That group includes juniors Hannah Hunt and Katie Hutter, sophomores Taylor Behrendt and Peyton Steffes and redshirt freshman Addie Martin. Junior Kendall Mathews and freshman Hanna Massaro each have made 32 starts. Sophomore Cameron Kaufman started the first 20 games of the season, then missed the next 14 contests due to injury before returning for the NIU series.

• Martin leads the Falcons with a .364 batting average, with Hunt and Behrendt batting .350 and .312, respectively. Hutter is hitting .269 and Steffes .259 on the season.

• Martin leads the Falcons in runs scored (37), hits (43), homers (12), RBI (30), total bases (89), stolen bases (12), on-base percentage (.417) and slugging pct. (.754). Behrendt and Hutter each have walked 18 times.

• A total of eight different Falcons have driven in at least 10 runs, after only three Falcons had double-digit RBI totals last season.

• In the circle, six different players have started at least one game each. Freshman Morgan Beckham and junior Mackenzie Krafcik have made 10 starts apiece, with sophomore Alyvia Roth and freshman Sydney Marshall each having started six contests this year to date.

• Krafcik and senior Scarlet Anderson have pitched in 22 and 20 games, respectively, with Beckham making 19 appearances. Krafcik has a team-high 69 2/3 innings pitched and is 7-6 with a 4.12 ERA. Anderson leads the Falcons in ERA (3.84) and opponent batting average (.275). She has made 17 relief appearances this season.

• In MAC play, junior Delaney Davis is batting .379, while Martin is hitting .349 and Steffes .341. Krafcik has a team-low 3.03 ERA in conference competition to date.

• A total of 10 positional returnees made at least 10 starts last spring. In the circle, Krafcik made 16 appearances, including 12 starts, and threw 58 2/3 innings in 2024, leading the returning pitchers in all three categories.

THE OPPONENTS / THE SERIES
• Notre Dame is 18-21-1 overall, and the Fighting Irish are 6-9 in the ACC. Notre Dame hosts DePaul on Tuesday before facing the Falcons the following night. The Irish captured two of three games vs. Pittsburgh over the weekend. Addison Amaral is hitting a team-high .393, while Brianne Weiss has a team-low 3.46 ERA in the circle. Kris Ganeff is in her first season as head coach after 23 seasons as an assistant with the program. Last season, Notre Dame went 27-23 overall and 9-15 in the ACC.

• Western Michigan is 10-26 overall and 4-7 in the MAC, heading into Friday's series opener at BGSU. The Broncos took the final two games of a series with visiting Buffalo over the weekend. Individually, Riley Dittmar and Tristen Head are hitting .391 and .347, respectively. In the circle, Casey Fazzini has a team-low 4.42 ERA in a team-leading 71 1/3 innings. Last season, head coach Marlee Wilson's team went 27-22 overall and 16-8 in MAC play.

• BGSU trails Notre Dame, 16-6, in the all-time series. Last season, the host Irish captured a doubleheader (March 12, 2024), with a 4-0 win in the opener and a 10-9, extra-innings decision in the nightcap. The Irish have captured 10-straight meetings, all in South Bend, since BGSU's last win on March 30, 1995. The Falcons are 2-2 at home, 3-12 on the road and 1-2 in neutral-site meetings with Notre Dame over the years.

• The Falcons lead Western Michigan, 61-38, in that series, but the Broncos have won the last six meetings, including a pair of shutout wins in Kalamazoo last season (April 30, 2024). In Western's last visit to Meserve Field, the Broncos swept a three-game series. BGSU's last win over the Broncos came on the road in April of 2022, and the Falcons' last home victory over WMU came the previous year, when BG swept a doubleheader in May of 2021. The Falcons are 17-22 at home, 17-36 on the road and 4-3 in neutral-site meetings vs. the Broncos through the years.

DOWN THE ROAD
• Following the WMU series, BGSU will wrap up a five-game homestand with a doubleheader against the preseason MAC favorite. The Falcons will host Ohio in a twinbill at Meserve Field on Tuesday, April 15. First pitch of the opening game is set for 1:00 p.m.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will head to Mount Pleasant for a three-game series against Central Michigan, with a single game on Friday, April 18, followed by a double-dip the following afternoon.