Softball Opens MAC Tournament Play Wednesday vs. Kent State

LINKS: MAC Tournament Central | Live Video | Live Stats

- The second season begins Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. when the No. 5 seeded Ball State softball team opens play in the 2017 Mid-American Conference Softball Championship at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, versus No. 4 seed Kent State ... The winner of the game will advance to play the winner of No. 1 Central Michigan vs. No. 8 Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Thursday ... A complete tournament bracket can be found at the end of this release.

- Fans unable to make the trip to Akron can still watch the Ball State softball team in action at the 2017 MAC Softball Championship, as the league will stream all the tournament games LIVE and FREE on the tournament central page: http://mac-sports.com/tournaments/?id=66 ... In addition, Saturday's championship game is slated to be carried live on ESPN3.

- Ball State enters the 2017 MAC Softball Championship with a 24-21 all-time record in league tournament play ... The Cardinals won the event in 1998, 2010 and 2015 with perfect 4-0 marks ... Ball State was also the runner-up in the 2001 tournament with a 3-2 record.

- Three Ball State student-athletes have earned Most Valuable Player honors at the MAC Softball Championship: Hanne Stuedemann (2015), Elizabeth Milian (2010) and Heather Hinkle (1998) ... Overall, 17 different Ball State players have garnered all-tournament accolades.

- The Ball State softball program enters the 2017 MAC Softball Championship with a 973-1017-4 (.489) 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 NCAA Regionals three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).

- Over the past nine seasons, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 131-57 (.697) league record ... Kent State is second on the list over the past nine seasons at 126-64 (.663), while Miami is third at 119-77 (.607) ... Ball State boasts a 403-410-1 (.496) all-time MAC record in 35 years.

PLAYER / TEAM NOTES
- While Kent State holds a 47-30 advantage in the all-time series, the Cardinals hold a 5-1 edge in the MAC Tournament ... The teams have met in the championship game three times, with the Cardinals winning in 1998 (5-3, 8 inn.) and 2010 (5-1) ... The Golden Flashes won the championship game in 2008 (6-3).

- Ball State and Kent State have not played since the 2015 season, with the Golden Flashes taking the lone regular season meeting by a score of 7-3 on April 3, 2015 in Muncie ... The teams also split a two-game series in Muncie in 2013, with Ball State winning the opener 6-5 (8 inn.) May 4 and Kent State picking up a 5-3 victory the next day.

- The Cardinals are 17-14 all-time in MAC Softball Championship games played at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio ... Ball State won both the 2010 and 2015 MAC Softball Championship titles on the field.

- The Ball State enters the week ranked 114th in the latest NCAA RPI Rankings ... The Cardinals, who have been ranked as high as 95th this season, have the third-most Top 100 RPI wins (6) and Top 150 RPI wins (13) in the league.

- Freshman Alyssa Rothwell enters the MAC Softball Championship as one of the toughest pitchers in the league to hit, ranking second in the MAC with a .191 opponents batting average ... She has been even tougher to hit in league play, ranking second in MAC-only games with a .154 opponents batting average.

- In addition to being one of the toughest pitchers to hit in the MAC, Rothwell enters the week ranked fourth in the conference and 87th nationally with an average of 6.8 strikeouts per seven innings ... Over 71.0 innings of work this season, Rothwell has struck out 69 batters which ranks as the 13th-best total in the MAC this season.

- 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 Nicole Steinbach struck out 10 batters versus Creighton (Feb. 22, 2013).

- Junior pitcher Carolyn Wilmes also enters the MAC Softball Championship as one of the nation's strikeout leaders, ranking fifth in the MAC and 98th nationally with a 6.6 strikeouts per seven innings average.

- Wilmes finished the April 21 game versus Toledo with four strikeouts to become just the 12th player in program history to reach 200 career strikeouts ... Wilmes enters the MAC Softball Championship ranked 12th in program history with 207 career strikeouts ... Wilmes needs just 23 more Ks to break into the top 10 in program history.

- Wilmes checked one more item off her career to-do list on April 21, throwing her first career no-hitter to help Ball State earn 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 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.

- Darcie Huber enters the MAC Softball Championship with a 2.25 ERA which ranks fourth in the MAC ... Over 102.2 innings of work, Huber has held opponents to a .249 batting average ... She has struck out 63 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).

- After missing the middle of the season due to injury, Huber is starting to regain her early-season from by leading the squad with a 2-1 record and a 1.78 ERA over the last three league series ... Over a team-high 19.2 innings of work, she has surrendered just 18 hits and five earned runs, while holding opposing batters to a .228 average.

- Ball State's pitching staff enters the week ranked fourth in the MAC with a 2.98 ERA ... It's the program's best ERA this late in the season since the 2013 squad finished its 54-game slate with a 2.74 ERA ... In addition, Ball State's pitchers have combined for 294 strikeouts this season which ranks third in the conference and is the fourth-best single season total in program history, trailing 2010 (396), 2008 (379) and 2009 (302).

- Senior outfielder Rachel Houck enters the MAC Softball Championship as one of the nation's top sluggers, ranking 27th nationally in doubles (16) and 41st nationally in home runs (13) ... Houck also leads the MAC and ranks 53rd nationally in runs per game at 0.91, having crossed the plate 51 times in 56 games this season.

- Houck currently ranks sixth in program history with a .561 career slugging percentage ... She is also ninth in home runs (20), 15th in runs scored (85), 17th in batting average (.319), 19th in on base percentage (.383) and 19th in RBI (67) 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 .958 (23-for-24) ... Houck is a perfect 16-for-16 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 third in the league with 29 hits and ranking fourth in the conference with a .387 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 29 hits in MAC play, she has eight doubles, a triple and three home runs.

- Ball State has had a knack for earning free bases this season, as the Cardinals lead the MAC and rank 18th nationally with 196 walks ... In fact, six of Ball State's nine starting batters rank in the top 15 in the MAC in walks led by junior shortstop Brittany Hopper at 25.

- Sophomore catcher Olivia Huffman is tied for the MAC lead by being hit by a pitch 12 times this season which has helped her earn a .366 on base percentage ... Overall, Ball State's batters have been hit by a pitch 30 times, giving the Cardinals a total of 226 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 14 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), freshman left fielder Haley Dominique has been one of Ball State's main offensive threats ... She is third on the team with a .303 batting average over the last 36 games, with nine of her 28 hits being doubles ... She has also scored 18 runs and contributed 15 RBI ... In addition, she leads the team in walks (23) and on base percentage (.449) since taking over the reins in left field.

- Dominique and Hogg enter the week as two of the nation's toughest batters to strike out ... Dominique leads the MAC and is 17th nationally with a 35.7 at bats per strikeout ratio, while Hogg is third in the league and 147th nationally at 15.7 ... Dominique has three strikeouts in 107 at bats, while Hogg has 11 strikeouts in 173 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 versus Toledo (April 21) 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.

Softball Opens MAC Tournament Play Wednesday vs. Kent State

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Players Mentioned

Haley Dominique

Janae Hogg

Brittany Hopper

Rachel Houck

Darcie Huber

Olivia Huffman

Maddy Labrador

Alyssa Rothwell

Nicole Steinbach

Carolyn Wilmes

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