Ball State University Athletics
Softball Travels To Chattanooga
February 20, 2008 | Softball
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals left the Easton Tiger Classic with a 1-4 record . . . Two of the Cards four losses came to #7 LSU . . . Ball State battled #7 LSU in the first game of the tournament . . . Abby Gross blasted a two-run home run over the fence and out of Tiger Park to tie the game at 2-2 . . . The Tigers were able to get a run back in the fourth inning and increased thier lead to 4-2 by scoring another run in the sixth inning . . . Gross now has 16 career home runs, increasing her lead as the all-time career home run leader in BSU history . . . Elizabeth Milian is 1-2 on the mound for BSU . . . Milian threw 14.1 innings and recorded four strikeouts . . . Tiffany Garofano has nine strikeouts through seven innings pitched.
ABOUT THE BRAVES
The Braves enter the tournament with a 3-2 record . . . Jess Boeger leads the team with a batting average of .615 and four doubles . . . Amanda Clack has one home run on the season and five RBI . . . Ashley Birdsong is an ace on the mound for Bradley . . . Birdsong is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.40 . . . She has recorded 20 strikeouts in just 15 innings pitched . . . Bradley leads the all-time series against Ball State 7-6.
ABOUT THE BISON
The Bison are 2-4 early in the season . . . One of the wins came against #18 Georgia Tech . . . In that game, Abby Keese went 3-3 with a home run, four RBI, and also scored four runs for the Bison . . . Christen Campbell and Alaina Jacobson split time on the mound against GT . . . Campbell threw the first three innings and struck out two Yellow Jackets . . . Jacobson came in for the final four innings and held Georgia Tech to three hits . . .Lipscomb won the game 11-9 . . . This will be the first game between Lipscomb and Ball State in school history.
ABOUT THE COLONELS
The Colonels started the 2008 season 0-2, but then rebounded to sweep Appalachian State to improve to 2-2 . . . Adriel Foxley is hitting .643 for Eastern Kentucky . . . Foxley drove in a school record eight runs against Appalachian State, and leads the team with 11 RBI on the season . . . Michelle Lerner adds to the offense with her .545 batting average, three doubles and five RBI . . . Kalyn Fox and Jenn Bledsoe lead the Colonels on the mound . . . Bledsoe has the best ERA on the team at 4.54 . . . She leads the team with the most innings (12.1), strikeouts (10) and walks (7). Fox is 1-1 on the mound with an ERA of 8.40 . . . This is the first game between the two programs.
ABOUT THE BUCCANEERS
East Tennessee State has a record of 1-6 coming into the Panera Bread Tournament . . . The Buccaneers won their first game of the year against Furman 7-0 . . . The Bucs dropped two contests against #10 Florida . . . Vicki McCoy and Jessie Hackworth have been consistent at the plate for the Bucs . . . McCoy leads the team with a .389 batting average, while Hackworth has a team-high 6 RBI while batting .381 . . . Darci Gilbert has the only win on the mound for East Tennesee State . . . Gilbert has a team-high seven strikeouts and an ERA of 6.75 . . . This will be the first meeting between the two programs.
ABOUT THE BIG GREEN
The Big Green open their season at Martin, Tenn. . . . Alyssa Parker provided power at the plate for Dartmouth with six home runs in 2007, leading her to a team-high 24 RBI . . . Stephanie Trudeau threw a team-high 142.1 innings . . . Trudeau finished with a 10-13 record, and had the best ERA on the team at 3.44 . . . The team finished with an overall record of 16-24 . . . The Big Green defeated BSU last year 4-3 at the Speedline Tournament . . . J.J. Wright went 2-3 in the game with 2 RBI to lead the way for Dartmouth . . . Dartmouth leads the all-time series 1-0.
STEALING THE SHOW
The Cardinals stole a school record 127 bases in 2007 . . . The 2006 team only managed to steal 16 bases . . . the old record was 98 stolen bases in a single season set by the 1991 team . . . Ball State was able to steal six bases during the first tournament of the 2008 season.
MILIAN ON THE MOUND
Freshman Elizabeth Milian made an immediate impact during her freshman season on the mound for Ball State . . . She ended the year with a 14-19 record with an ERA of 2.66 . . . Milian recorded a team-high 113 strikeouts while also leading the team in innings pitched (221).
HOME SWEET HOME
Ball State's first home game at the BSU Softball Complex is scheduled for March 18 against Eastern Illinois . . . The Cards will host Ohio University to start Mid-American Conference play.
SEND HER HOME
The Cardinals broke the runs scored record in 2007 with 221 . . . The old record was 214 set by the 1998 team . . . Allie Pennock returns for her junior season -- Pennock scored 37 runs last year which placed her second all-time in the single season BSU record books.
STAR SENIOR
Abby Gross entered her senior season as the career home run leader in Ball State history with 15 . . . Gross also ranked third on the career BSU records list with 75 RBI . . . Gross started the 2008 season with a home run against LSU, Feb. 15 at Tiger Park . . . She also recorded 6 RBI over the weekend.
FANTASTIC FRESHMAN
Alicia Barkley hit .385 in the Easton Tiger Tournament to lead Ball State . . . Barkley was an all-state shortstop at Putnam City H.S. in Oklahoma . . . She started all five games at shortstop for BSU . . . Barkley scored three runs, stole two bases and recorded five hits in her first tournament as a Cardinal.
UP NEXT
Ball State will travel to Martin, Tenn., to compete in the UT Martin Tournament March 1-2. The Cardinals will face Indiana State, UT-Martin, Minnesota, Northern Iowa and Dartmouth in the tournament.
