Softball Heads to CMU for Battle of MAC Leaders

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- It will be a battle of the top two teams in the Mid-American Conference this weekend in Mount Pleasant, Mich., as the Ball State softball team travels north to take on Central Michigan in a pivotal three-game series ... The Cardinals and Chippewas are scheduled to play a single game Friday (3 p.m.) and a doubleheader Saturday (1 p.m.).

- With just two weekends of MAC play remaining, the Cardinals and Chippewas are tied for the top spot in the overall league standings with 13-5 MAC records ... This weekend will also see the top two teams in the MAC East Division battle it out as Miami (12-6 MAC) travels to Ohio (11-7) for a three-game set ... Overall, nine of the league's 12 teams enter the weekend with .500-or-better MAC records.

- Ball State has won all six of its league series this season, including a 3-0 sweep of Miami and 2-1 series victories over Buffalo, Ohio, Northern Illinois, Eastern Michigan and Toledo ... All five of Ball State's league losses have come in the final game of the series.

- Over the past nine seasons, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 130-52 (.714) league record ... Kent State is second on the list over the past nine seasons at 120-64 (.652), while Miami is third at 117-73 (.615) ... Ball State boasts a 402-405-1 (.498) all-time MAC record in 35 years.

- The Cardinals enter the weekend series versus Central Michigan with a 972-1012-4 (.490) all-time record ... Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won five Mid-American Conference regular season titles (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014), six MAC West Division crowns (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), three MAC Tournament championships (1998, 2010 and 2015) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).

- ALL-TIME VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The Chippewas hold a 69-29 lead in the all-time series after taking two of three games between the two teams last season ... CMU scored a 1-0 victory in the 2016 series opener played April 22 in Muncie ... Ball State rebounded with a 2-1 victory to open an April 23 doubleheader, only to see the Chippewas take the rubber game 9-2 ... While the Cardinals are 16-38 all-time in Mount Pleasant, Ball State has won the last five games played at Margo Jonker Stadium, including a doubleheader sweep by scores of 14-7 and 9-5 on March 28, 2015.

PLAYER / TEAM NOTES
- Since starting the season 7-14, the Cardinals have made a dramatic turnaround by going 22-7 over its last 29 games ... Ball State's pitchers have led the charge during the run, combining for a 2.16 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .209 average ... On offense, the Cardinals are connecting at a .279 clip and out-scoring opponents 147 to 68.

- The Ball State enters the weekend ranked 112th in the latest NCAA RPI Rankings ... The Cardinals, who have been ranked as high as 95th this season, have the most Top 150 RPI wins in the league with 12 ... In addition, Ball State has the third-best RPI win in the MAC this season courtesy of a 6-1 victory at No. 39 SIUE (March 18), while its four Top 100 RPI wins are tied for the league lead.

- Starting with her first career complete game shutout versus Brown (March 10), junior Carolyn Wilmes has been one of the most dominating pitchers in the MAC of late, compiling an 11-2 record and 2.03 ERA over 76.0 innings of work ... She has held opponents to a .177 average during the run, while striking out 77 batters ... Of her 11 wins, four have been complete game shutouts, the first four of her career.

-Wilmes checked one more item off her career to-do list last Friday afternoon by throwing her first career no-hitter to help the Ball State softball team to a 2-1 victory over Toledo in the series opener ... With the effort, Wilmes became the first Ball State pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Elizabeth Milian blanked Buffalo in a 7-0 victory May 12, 2010 in the MAC Tournament.

-Wilmes also finished Friday's game versus Toledo with four strikeouts to become just the 12th player in program history to reach 200 career strikeouts ... Wilmes added three more strikeouts in Saturday's game versus the Rockets and enters the weekend ranked 12th in program history with 203 career strikeouts ... Wilmes needs just 27 more Ks to break into the top 10 in program history.

- Wilmes threw three complete game shutouts in consecutive starts to help lead Ball State to wins over Brown (March 10), Northern Kentucky (March 19) and at Buffalo (March 24) ... Add in a pair of scoreless relief appearances and the first inning in the series finale at Buffalo (March 26), Wilmes put together a 22.2 inning shutout streak ... It was the longest shutout streak for a Ball State pitcher since Elizabeth Milian threw 26.2 scoreless innings from May 5, 2010 to May 13, 2010.

- Freshman Alyssa Rothwell has made a major impact in Ball State's pitching rotation, entering the CMU series as the third-toughest pitcher in the league to hit with a .197 average against ... Her team-leading 2.11 ERA is also third in the MAC and 116th nationally ... Rothwell ranks third in the conference and 54th among all NCAA Division I pitchers with 4.93 hits allowed per seven innings ... She is also 102nd nationally and fifth in the MAC with 6.7 strikeouts per seven innings ... Rothwell's 42 hits surrendered and 23 earned runs allowed are the fewest for a MAC pitcher with at least 40.0 innings of work this season.

- Alyssa Rothwell struck out a career-high nine batters in a 9-1 (6) victory at Buffalo (March 24) ... The nine strikeouts are the most for a Ball State freshman pitcher since Steinbach struck out 10 batters versus Creighton (Feb. 22, 2013).

-Darcie Huber enters the week with a 2.43 ERA which ranks eighth in the MAC ... Over 89.1 innings of work, Huber has held opponents to a .252 batting average ... She has struck out 60 batters, including seven in her first career one-hitter versus Oakland (Feb. 24) ... Huber added another one-hitter in a 10-0 (5) win over Towson (March 4).

- Ball State's pitching staff enters the week ranked third in the MAC with a 2.71 ERA ... It's the program's best ERA through the first 50 games of the season since the 2010 squad had a 2.62 ERA ... In addition, Ball State's pitchers have combined to strike out 270 batters this season which ranks third in the conference and is the best start to a season since the 2010 squad struck out 331 batters over the first 50 games.

- Senior outfielder Rachel Houck enters the week as one of the nation's top sluggers, leading the MAC and ranking 11th among all NCAA Division I players with 16 doubles ... Houck's 11 home runs rank third in the MAC and 44th nationally, while her 0.94 runs-per-game average is first in the league and 46th in the nation.

- Houck enters the Central Michigan series ranked sixth in program history with a .557 career slugging percentage ... She is also 10th in home runs (18), 16th in on base percentage (.386) and 17th in batting average (.319) over her three-year playing career for the Cardinals ... Houck played the 2014 season at Louisville before transferring to Ball State for the 2015 campaign.

- Houck also enters the week as the program's all-time leader in career stolen base percentage at .957 (22-for-23) ... Houck is a perfect 15-for-15 in stolen base attempts this year and is looking to become just the third player in program history to finish a season with a perfect stolen base percentage with at least 10 steals ... The only other two are Roshelle Lee in 1998 (13-for-13) and Loren Cihlar in 2013 (11-for-11).

- Junior second baseman Maddy Labrador has made quite the impact in MAC play, tying for first in the league with 23 hits and ranking third in the conference with a .397 batting average ... She opened her MAC career by blasting a 1-2 pitch deep over the fence in center field at Buffalo (March 24) ... She added her second career MAC home run to drive in Ball State's first three runs in the series opener versus Miami (April 1), helping the Cardinals rally from down 5-0 for a 6-5 victory ... Of Labrador's 23 hits in MAC play, she has seven doubles, a triple and two home runs.

- Labrador enters the CMU series having reached base safely in 15 consecutive games, which is the second-longest streak for a Ball State player this season ... Houck owns the longest streak at 16 games.

- Ball State has had a knack for earning free bases this season, as the Cardinals lead the MAC and rank 13th nationally with 188 walks ... In fact, seven of Ball State's nine starting batters rank in the top 15 in the MAC in walks led by sophomore catcher Olivia Huffman and freshman left fielder Haley Dominique who have 24 each.

- Huffman ranks second in the MAC being hit by a pitch a 10 times this season, which has helped her earn a .371 on base percentage ... Overall, Ball State's batters have been hit by a pitch 28 times, giving the Cardinals a total of 216 free bases this season.

- Freshman third baseman Janae Hogg has proven to be a clutch batter for the Cardinals this season, including driving in the eventual game-winning run in five of Ball State's last 13 victories ... She started with a first inning RBI single in the second game at Buffalo (April 24) ... Next up was an eighth inning sacrifice fly at Indiana State (March 29) ... She followed by smashing a walk-off RBI single into right-center field in the series opener vs. Miami (April 1) ... A three-run home run in the fifth inning of the series finale versus the RedHawks (April 2) was next, followed by a fifth inning solo shot in the first game against Northern Illinois (April 4).

- Since working her way into the starting lineup at FGCU (March 7), Dominique has been one of Ball State's main offensive threats ... She is first on the team with a .346 batting average over the last 30 games, with nine of her 27 hits being doubles ... She has also scored 16 runs and contributed 15 RBI ... In addition, she leads the team in walks (23) and on base percentage (.509) since taking over the reins in left field.

- Dominique and Hogg enter the weekend as two of the nation's toughest batters to strike out ... Dominique leads the MAC and is 29th nationally with a 28.7 at bats per strikeout ratio, while Hogg is third in the league and 150th nationally at 15.7 ... Dominique has three strikeouts in 86 at bats, while Hogg has 10 strikeouts in 157 at bats.

- Dominique became the 10th different Ball State player to hit a home run this season when she opened the bottom of the first inning in last Friday's series opener versus Toledo with a solo blast over the fence in right-center field ... The Cardinals and Miami are the only teams in the MAC to have 10 different players hit at least one home run this season.

- The Ball State offense exploded for 17 runs to open play in the Wildcat Invitational with a 17-2 (5 inn.) victory over Drake (Feb. 17) ... It was the team's largest offensive output since a 19-9 home win over Indiana April 21, 2015 ... Ball State's largest run total in a game was a 24-0 victory over St. Leo March 2, 1987.

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Players Mentioned

Haley Dominique

Janae Hogg

Rachel Houck

Darcie Huber

Olivia Huffman

Maddy Labrador

Alyssa Rothwell

Carolyn Wilmes