BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The Bowling Green State University softball team dropped a doubleheader against Ball State University on Saturday afternoon (March 29). The Cardinals captured victories by scores of 14-5 and 10-4  in Mid-American Conference action at Meserve Field.

Redshirt freshman Addie Martin had four total hits on the day for the Falcons (12-20, 4-4 MAC). Martin was 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and three runs batted in in the second game.

The Cardinals (21-8, 6-2 MAC) used the long ball to take the lead in game one. BSU scored three runs in both the second and fifth innings, with all six of those runs scoring via homers.

BSU pitcher Ella Whitney aided her own cause with one of those homers, a three-run shot. Whitney drove in five runs in the game and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning.

BG got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as junior Kendall Mathews doubled to score freshman Hanna Massaro, who had walked. But, the Cardinals blew the game wide open with eight runs in the seventh. The Falcons scored four times in the bottom of the inning, but it was not enough.

The visitors scored at least two runs in each of the first four innings, including a four-run first frame. Martin hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first, then had a two-out, two-run single in the second, and a bases-loaded walk by Massaro plated sophomore Peyton Steffes in the fifth, but BG would draw no closer.

Freshman Sydney Marshall, making her first appearance in three weeks (since March 8), threw four innings of shutout, one-hit ball in game two. Marshall struck out three Cardinals and faced just two batters over the minimum.
 

Gallery: (3-29-2025) 032925 sb v Ball St. - Drake Harlett

BGSU-BSU GAME ONE – HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning of game one, but BGSU junior Mackenzie Krafcik struck out Kaitlyn Gibson to avert any damage. But, BSU would get on the board in the second frame.
• After a Maddie Weaver double with one out, Hayley Urban followed with a homer to left, putting the Cards ahead. Two batters later, McKayla Timmons hit a solo shot to right-center, giving BSU a 3-0 lead.
• After the Timmons homer, neither team had a hit until the fifth, when BSU doubled the lead. Maia Pietrzak led off with a balk, and Timmons was hit by a pitch. 
• Alyvia Roth entered the circle for the Falcons, and got McKenna Mulholland to hit a ground ball to Taylor Behrendt for a force play at third base. But, Kara Gunter followed with a double to right-center. On the play, Timmons held up, thinking the ball would be caught, and she wound up being thrown out at the plate, as second baseman Hannah Hunt's relay to catcher Ava McKee was in plenty of time to cut down the BSU catcher for the second out.
• But, Ella Whitney followed with a three-run homer to left-center, giving the Cards a 6-0 lead.
• Whitney took a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth, but after she walked Hanna Massaro to begin the half-inning, Kendall Mathews drove a ball to the gap in left-center, with Massaro coming all the way around to score.
• Roth set down the Cardinals in order in the sixth, but BSU exploded for eight runs in the seventh. Those eight runs came on just three hits, all doubles, but BSU batters drew three walks in the inning, and an error and a hit batter also contributed.
• In the inning, Whitney and Gibson had back-to-back doubles to score a total of three runs, and Urban's bases-loaded ground ball scored another run. Timmons drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs, and Mulholland followed with a double that scored three teammates.
• BGSU, after being held to just one hit through six innings, had four hits and scored four times in the bottom of the seventh. Mathews led off with a walk, and Addie Martin singled with one out. Behrendt drove a ball to left for a double, with Martin advancing to third, and Hunt's line-drive single to left plated Martin.
• With two down, a flare off the bat of McKee landed just inside the foul line in shallow right field, scoring both Behrendt and Hunt to make it a 14-5 game, but a ground ball would end the inning and the game.
• The Cardinals had a 9-5 advantage in hits, with Gunter and Whitney picking up two hits each. Whitney drove in five runs, and Mulholland and Urban each had three RBI.
• Five different Falcons had one hit apiece. Mathews had a walk in addition to a double, while Massaro and Peyton Steffes each drew two walks in the game.
• Katie Hutter reached base the hard way – twice – as she was hit by a pair of pitches in the game.

BGSU-BSU GAME TWO – HOW IT HAPPENED
• BSU scored in each of the first four innings, including a four-spot in the first frame.
After Maia Pietrzak singled to begin the game, McKayla Timmons doubled down the left-field line. McKenna Mulholland was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and Kara Gunter singled. On the latter play, the ball got past a BGSU outfielder, and all three runners scored as Gunter continued all the way to third base.
• Gunter would score on a wild pitch, but after a hit-by-pitch, BG starter Morgan Beckham then struck out Kaitlyn Gibson before third baseman Taylor Behrendt made a nice catch on a foul pop off the bat of Maddie Weaver. Beckham then struck out Ava McNally to end the inning.
• Addie Martin got the Falcons on the board with one out in the bottom of the first, depositing a Breanna Severino pitch on the other side of the wall in right-center. The homer was Martin's 11th of the season.
• But, BSU responded in the second. Hayley Urban singled and went to second on a bunt single by Pietrzak. A fielder's choice was followed by a Beckham strikeout of Mulholland, but Gunter followed with a two-run single to left.
• Back-to-back Ball State errors aided the Falcons in the bottom of the second, as a one-out walk by Kendall Mathews loaded the bases with just one out. Severino struck out the next batter, but Martin lined a ball to center for a two-out, two-run single to make it a 6-3 game.
• BSU answered in the third, as after a single and a hit batter, Urban's one-out single plated a pair of teammates. And, in the fourth, Mulholland was hit by a pitch, stole second and scored on a Gunter single. Then, a Gibson sac fly allowed another run to score.
• Sydney Marshall, the Falcons' third pitcher of the game, had entered the contest with runners on second and third and no outs in the fourth, and after that Gibson fly ball, she got Weaver to hit a fly ball to Mathews in shallow center. Mathews made the catch and flipped the ball to shortstop Martin to easily double Ashlee Lovett off second base, ending the inning.
• The Falcons got a run in the fifth, after the first two hitters were retired. Peyton Steffes doubled to right-center, and Ava McKee was hit by a pitch. A Delaney Davis bunt single loaded the bases, and a Hanna Massaro walk allowed Steffes to trot home. Severino got an inning-ending strikeout to avoid further damage.
• Meanwhile, Marshall retired the Cardinals in order in the fifth and the sixth, before hitting Lovett with a pitch to start the seventh. Weaver drew a one-out walk, before McNally's drive to shallow center landed just in front of the charging Mathews for a single – the only hit Marshall would allow – to load the bases. But, the Falcon freshman then struck out both Urban and Pietrzak to end the inning.
• But, Severino worked a 1-2-3 seventh to close out the win for the Cards.
• Gunter was 3-for-4 with five RBI for the Cardinals, while Pietrzak and Urban each had two hits.
• For the Falcons, Martin went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and three RBI.
• Marshall, as mentioned, allowed just one hit in her four-inning stint in the circle. She walked one while striking out three, and faced just two batters over the minimum.

UP NEXT
• The Falcons will hit the road for the next six games, beginning with a Tuesday (April 1) twinbill at Akron. The first pitch of the first game is set for 1:00 p.m. at UA's Lee R. Jackson Field.

• Then, the Orange and Brown will head west to play a three-game weekend series at Northern Illinois next weekend (April 5-6), followed by a midweek non-conference game at Notre Dame (April 9). The Falcons' next home game is scheduled for Friday, April 11, when Western Michigan comes to town.

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
• For more information on BGSU softball, follow the Falcons on Twitter/X (@BGAthletics and @BGSUSoftball) and Instagram (@bgsu_softball) as well as on the web right here at BGSUFalcons.com.