Ball State University Athletics
Softball Back on the Road To ISU/Miami
April 17, 2006 | Softball
After enjoying the friendly confines of the BSU Softball Complex, Ball State returns to the road this week. The Cardinals, 11-19 overall and 5-7 in Mid-American Conference play, travel to Indiana State for a twinbill Thursday and then to Miami for a league matchup Saturday. BSU returns home to Muncie next Monday for a single game against Indiana at 4 p.m. and then a doubleheader Tuesday against IPFW beginning at 3 p.m.
ON DECK: Ball State is back on the road for a pair of doubleheaders this week . . . The Cardinals cross the state to Terre Haute to face Indiana State in a double dip Thursday beginning at 2 p.m. . . . BSU resumes MAC play Saturday with a doubleheader at Miami . . . Action gets underway in Oxford at 2 p.m. . . . Saturday's games can by followed on Gametracker by going to www.miamiredhawks.com, choosing softball from the sports menu and then schedule and results on the softball page.
RADIO COVERAGE: For the second-straight season, Ball State's student station, WCRD 91.3, will provide expanded coverage of softball games . . . This season's package includes 14 regular-season games plus all MAC Tournament competition . . . Karl Mandik will provide play-by-play for the games . . . The broadcasts can be heard locally or via the internet at www.ballstatesports.com . . . The package includes Thursday's games at Indiana State.
THE TERRI LAUX SHOW: The second Terri Laux show of the season will air Tuesday (tomorrow) from 6-7 p.m. . . . The one-hour show will run weekly throughout the remainder of the season . . . Karl Mandik, the play-by-play voice for BSU's games, and Kelly Schroering, team manager for the Cardinals, co-host and produce the show.
HEAD COACH TERRI LAUX: Terri Laux (Ohio State '84) is in her 10th season at the helm of Ball State's softball program . . . The sixth coach in the 32-year history of the sport at the university, Laux has guided four of her teams to berths in the MAC's post-season tournament . . . She reaped MAC Coach of the Year accolades after leading the 1998 team to BSU's first-ever league title, a berth in the NCAA Championship Tournament, a school record 39 wins and the program's first national ranking of 31st in the Final USA Today/NFCA Softball Poll . . . Laux is the winningest coach in school history . . . She has tallied a 220-272-1 mark at BSU and a 372-520-3 overall ledger in her 19 years as a collegiate head coach.
RECAPPING THE WEEKEND: Ball State tallied its first series sweep of the campaign with 4-3 and 3-2 victories over Toledo Saturday and Sunday . . . The Cardinals dropped their series -- 4-0 and 7-0 -- to Bowling Green Friday . . . Ball State came from behind in both games versus Toledo . . . After UT led 2-0 in game one, BSU cut its deficit with one run in the second and then three in the third . . . Laura Masch struck out a career-high eight UT batters to earn the first MAC win of her career . . . Kelli Jeziorski led the way with two hits . . . In Sunday's game, Toledo held a 2-0 lead before BSU tied the score in the sixth and then won the game after a single by Jeziorski in the seventh . . . Amanda Pick tied her career high with eight K's to pick up the win . . . Jeziorski and Katie Pilger had two hits each for the Cardinals . . . Ball State mustered just six hits to Bowling Green's 23 in falling twice to the East Division leaders . . . The Cardinals gave way to a .377 batting average over the two games for their opponent.
SCOUTING THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: Indiana State enters the week 18-20 overall . . . Katie Armour is one of three players hitting over .300 with her .377 mark . . . Darcy Wood paces the pitching staff with a 1.77 ERA, 192 strikeouts and 15 wins . . . Miami enters the week 16-28 overall and 3-9 in Mid-Am play . . . Halle Popson leads the league with a .405 batting average and is second with 45 hits . . . Leslie Macedo and Christine Bills are averaging .336 and .313, respectively, from the plate . . . Cortney Salmon tops MU with a 3.30 ERA and 93 strikeouts plus ties for first with six wins.
• BSU is 31-22 in its all-time series with Indiana State, which began in 1978 . . . The Cardinals won both games last season . . . BSU won 10 of 11 against ISU from 1993 through 1999, including a string of seven at one point . . . BSU owns a 39-31 advantage in its all-time series against Miami, which began in 1980 . . . The Cardinals handed the RedHawks two-straight losses last spring . . . BSU is 20-14 versus MU in games played in Oxford.
THIS AND THAT: Amanda Pick continues to be the ONLY player in the MAC to rank in the top 10 in both batting average and ERA . . . Her .341 batting average places No. 6, while her 2.24 ERA is ninth . . . Taylor Yancey ties for third in the league in triples . . . In MAC games only, Pick is eighth in ERA and tied for 10th in hits . . . She also places among the leaders in wins, innings pitched and shutouts . . . Yancey ties for first in triples, while Abby Gross ties for sixth in RBI . . . Kelli Jeziorski ties for first in runs scored, ties for fourth in stolen bases and ties for sixth in walks.
• BSU's pitchers and defense held Toledo -- which came into the weekend ranked No. 2 in the MAC in team batting -- to a .191 batting average compared to a .277 mark for the Cardinals . . . BSU outhit UT 13-9 and Cardinals' pitchers fanned a total of 16 Rockets.
• Amanda Pick tops Ball State with eight multiple hit games, including three with two or more . . . Abby Gross is second with seven multiple-hit outings . . . Pick and Gross also lead the Cardinals in multiple RBI games with three each . . . Gross and Kelli Jeziorski tie for first with one single-game five RBI contest each.
• Four BSU opponents are either ranked or the recipients of votes in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 Poll -- No. 8 Oregon State, No. 14 Washington and No. 24 Fresno State . . . Notre Dame received five votes . . . DePaul has dropped out, but was ranked 25th three weeks ago.
