Leigh Ross
Leigh Ross just completed her eighth season as head coach of the Falcons where she became the winningest coach in school history while turning BGSU into a perennial Mid-American contender. Her 2004 team posted the first MAC Tournament title in school history and advanced to NCAA Regional play, and both the 2005 and 2006 squads won a pair of games en route to a top-four finish at the league tourney.
Through the 2006 campaign, Ross has an overall record of 237-198-2 (.545). The Falcons’ final win of 2003, vs. Northern Illinois in the MAC Tournament, made Ross the winningest coach in school history. In 2004, she also became the school's leader in MAC victories, and she is also first in league winning percentage with a league mark of 114-72 (.613).
Ross was the fastest coach in Falcon annals to get to 100 overall wins as well as 50 MAC victories. BGSU’s final victory of 2005, against Western Michigan in the conference tourney, made Ross the first coach in Falcon softball history to reach 200 career wins.
BGSU tied the school record for wins last season, going 37-23 overall. The Falcons finished MAC play with a 16-6 record, good for a second-place finish, just one-half game out of first, in the East Division.
The 2006 squad set a BGSU school record with 29 home runs, and advanced to the MAC Tournament for the eighth time in nine seasons. The team had a total of five All-MAC selections, including three first-team picks.
In 2005, Ross and the Falcons finished 12-10 in MAC action. BGSU, with just one senior on the roster, won a pair of games in the MAC Tournament, before succumbing to the eventual tourney champ. The 2005 Falcons, under Ross's direction, had both the MAC Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year.
Ross's 2004 squad had an overall record of 34-30, and posted a MAC record of 13-11 to finish third in the West Division and in a fifth-place tie overall. BGSU was seeded sixth for the six-team MAC Tournament, and the Falcons lost to Western Michigan, 3-0, to open tourney play. But, BGSU knocked off each of the top-four seeds, in order, advancing through the loser's bracket to win the tournament with five consecutive victories and advance to NCAA play.
In 2003, the Falcons opened conference play with a 0-5 record, but BGSU reeled off a school record-tying 10 consecutive wins, all in league play, to get back in the race. The Falcons finished fourth in the West Division, but fifth overall, to return to the league tourney, en route to a 26-26-1 overall mark.
Ross is also the only coach in BGSU history to string together three consecutive winning seasons in MAC play. The Falcons, who also had a winning league record in Ross' last year as an assistant (1998), posted four-consecutive winning MAC marks for the first time ever from 1998-2001, and have now matched that mark, with winning records in each of the last four seasons (2003-06).
The original streak ended in 2002, as BGSU ended with a 22-25-1 record and a MAC ledger of 11-13. The Falcons finished in a tie for third place in the MAC's East Division and just missed out on a trip to the league tournament.
In 2001, the Falcons captured the East Division title outright, going 19-5 in league play, including a 15-1 mark against divisional rivals. BGSU went 35-19 overall, with the win total tying for the second most in BGSU history at the time. Ross' coaching peers in the league named her the MAC Coach of the Year.
In the spring of 2000, the Falcons tied for the East title with a 13-7 record and made the school's third consecutive MAC Tournament appearance. Then, after dropping the opening game, the Falcons ran off three-consecutive elimination-game victories, advancing all the way to the championship game before posting a runner-up finish. The team's 33 overall wins in 2000 marked the fourth-highest single-season total in BGSU history at the time.
In her first year as head coach, 1999, Ross guided the Falcons to the MAC Tournament and led the team to its best record in six years. BGSU, after contending for the MAC's East Division title until the final weekend of the regular season, finished second in the division.
As the previous paragraph would attest, there has been a noticeable increase in the Falcons' power numbers since Ross assumed the head-coaching helm. In the first 20 years (1979-98) of BGSU varsity softball, no Falcon team had a double-digit homer total. The school single-season record was eight when Ross assumed the job. BGSU has amassed double-digit homer totals in seven of Ross's eight seasons, with at least 19 round-trippers in six of those years.
The first 20 Falcon teams combined for a total of 80 homers, an average of 4.00 per year. In Ross' eight-year head-coaching tenure, BGSU hitters have hit a total of 152 homers, an average of exactly 19.00 per season.
In 1998, as the assistant coach, Ross helped the Falcons to a 15-13 MAC record and a spot in the league tournament. BGSU won the opening game of the tourney.
In her first year with the BGSU program, Ross helped the 1997 Falcons win 11-of-13 games down the stretch.
Ross, a native of Ottawa Lake, Mich., came to the Falcon program after serving as the head coach at Notre Dame Academy in Toledo for four seasons (1993-96). During her tenure, she was named the top coach in the City League three times. Ross' teams compiled an overall record of 70-15 and won three league titles. She also served as the assistant athletic director and development coordinator at Notre Dame Academy.
Ross was very familiar with the MAC upon her arrival at BGSU in the fall of 1996. A four-year starter in the outfield at the University of Toledo, she graduated in 1992 with a degree in business administration/marketing. Ross helped the 1989 UT squad to the MAC title and a seventh-place finish at the College World Series.
In 1991, Ross led the nation with an average of 0.83 stolen bases per game en route to All-America Second-Team honors. Additionally, her .447 batting average that season ranked her fifth nationally and still stands as the MAC record.
Ross also holds the MAC career marks for batting average (.398), at-bats (744) and hits (296). She is tied for second in runs scored (143) and ranks third on the MAC stolen-base list (107).
A three-time All-Mideast Region selection, she set 11 school records during her UT career and twice was a First-Team All-MAC selection. In February of 2001, Ross was inducted into the UT Athletics Hall of Fame.
Ross participated in the 1994 USA Softball Olympic Team Trials. She finished in the top 150 among over 500 participants in the Level I tryouts. At the Level II trials, Ross was named an alternate to the 35-player national team.
A 1987 graduate of Whiteford High School, Ross led her high-school squad to three Michigan state championships and was named all-state three times. She was the valedictorian of her graduating class.
Ross has a son, Jared, and a daughter, Teagan.
