Ball State University Athletics
Softball Opens Hawkeye Classic with Two Wins
March 25, 2006 | Softball
Softball vs. SDSU
Ball State opened the first day of competition at the Hawkeye Classic in Iowa City, Iowa, with a pair of wins. The Cardinals scored a 5-3 victory over South Dakota State in the opener and then registered their first shutout of the campaign with a 3-0 decision over Loyola in the nightcap. BSU, 6-8 overall, wraps up the weekend against North Dakota State Sunday at 1:30 p.m. and then a date with host Iowa to follow at 3:30.
BSU matched South Dakota State in hits with five apiece, but the Cardinals took advantage of two SDSU miscues to jump out to a 4-0 lead after one inning. Sarah McGregor's single to right center plated three runners in the bottom of the first. Amanda Pick, Katie Pilger, Abby Gross and Taylor Yancey added one hit apiece. Quincy Duran went the distance to earn her first decision on the mound this spring. She yielded just one earned run, while striking out three batters.
In game two, Nicki Hellem and Abby Zollman combined to produce Ball State's first shutout of the campaign. Zollman earned her first collegiate victory, throwing the final four innings and scattering just two hits. Hellem started the game and, like Zollman, scattered a pair of hits.
Offensively, the Cardinals hammered out eight hits, including two by Gross, whose second home run of the season -- in the fourth inning -- gave BSU a 2-0 edge. Gross' single in the sixth plated Kelli Jeziorski for the Cardinals' final run and margin of victory. The win gave BSU head coach Terri Laux a 1-0 series record against the school she spent nine years at as head coach before taking over the Ball State's program.
