Ball State University Athletics
Softball Hosts Toledo and Bowling Green
April 03, 2008 | Softball
ABOUT THE GAMES
The Cardinals will host Mid-American Conference play this weekend as they face Toledo in a doubleheader on Friday starting at 1 p.m. . . . The Bowling Green Falcons will travel to the BSU Softball Complex to play the Cardinals on Saturday at 2 p.m., and again on Sunday at 1 p.m. . . . A year ago Ball State swept the Rockets 17-10 and 6-4 . . . They dropped two games against the Falcons 5-0, and 7-3.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals have reached 20 wins for the second straight season . . . Amanda Pick leads the team with a .298 batting average . . . Abby Gross is hitting .271 and leads the team with 25 RBI . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team in runs scored (21), hit by pitch (9), and stolen bases (20) . . . Elizabeth Milian has been consistent at the plate, and on the mound for BSU . . . Milian has nine doubles, two triples, two home runs and 20 RBI . . . She leads the pitching rotation with an ERA of 2.63 and a record of 11-6 . . . Tiffany Garofano is 6-8 with an ERA of 2.24.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS
Toledo has an overall record of 6-11, with a 0-2 mark in Mid-American Conference play . . . The Rockets most recently challenged the Fighting Irish on Wednesday . . . Toledo scored first, but they were unable to hang on as Notre Dame picked up the 2-1 victory . . . Toledo's doubleheader against Buffalo was cancelled, therefore they played Kent State to open conference play . . . The Golden Flashes won both games; 1-0, 6-0 . . . Leslie Strong leads the team with a .365 batting average . . . Strong has four doubles, two home runs and a team-high 10 RBI . . . Megan McCauley also has four doubles and leads the team with three home runs . . . Shana Szypka has had the most success for the Rockets on the mound . . . Szypka is 4-1 overall with a 6.12 ERA . . . Hannah Rockhold has the best ERA on the team at 3.37, and also has the most strikeouts (25) . . . Toledo leads the all-time series against Ball State 39-38.
ABOUT THE FALCONS
Bowling Green is off to a rocky start with a 1-17 record midway through the season . . . They picked up their first win by upsetting conference foe Kent State 8-5 . . . The Falcons will face Miami OH on Friday before making the trip to Muncie, Ind . . . Allison Vallas leads the Falcon offense with a .358 batting average . . . Vallas leads the team with five doubles, one triple and 13 RBI . . . Hayley Wiemer is a double threat with a .283 batting average, and a 2.60 ERA . . . At the plate Wiemer has two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI . . . On the mound she picked up the only win of the season against Kent State . . . Wiemer has only walked five batters through 43 innings, and also has 35 strikeouts . . . Emily Gouge has thrown for the most innings (45), for the Falcons and also has the most strikeouts on the team at 48 . . . Bowling Green leads the all-time series 44-27.
STAR SENIORS
Abby Gross entered her senior season as the career home run leader in Ball State history . . . She also ranks first on the career BSU records list with 100 RBI . . . Gross started the 2008 season with a home run against LSU, Feb. 15 at Tiger Park . . . Gross is hitting .271 with a .430 slugging percentage and 25 RBI this season . . . Amanda Pick has five doubles, three home runs and a batting average of .298 . . . Pick is third on the team with 16 RBI.
FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
Alicia Barkley, Alyssa Collins and Lisa Rozanski have all made an impact for the Cardinals during thier freshmen season . . . Barkley has started all 38 games at shortstop for BSU . . . Barkley is hitting .287 with four doubles and 11 RBI . . . Collins starts in right field and has a batting average of .265 . . . Rozanski starts in center field for the Cards . . . Rozanski is hitting .257 and leads the team with 20 stolen bases.
STEALING THE SHOW
The Cardinals stole a school record 127 bases in 2007 . . . the old record was 98 stolen bases in a single season set by the 1991 team . . . Ball State has 78 stolen bases in 2008 . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team with 20.
MAC WEST PITCHER OF THE WEEK (Feb. 27 & March 19)
Tiffany Garofano went 1-1 at the Panera Bread Tournament with an ERA of 2.00 . . . She recorded 21 strikeouts and only gave up four runs through 14 innings pitched . . . She recorded a career high 12 strikeouts against St. Francis to lead BSU to a 2-1 victory. (Feb. 27) Garofano went 2-0 at the USF Under Armour Tournament. She shut down Long Island leading the Cardinals to a 1-0 victory. Garofano picked up her other win against Georgia Southern. She had an ERA of 1.00 over the weekend and struck out 11. (March 19)
MAC WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK (Feb. 27)
Amanda Pick hit .429 with a slugging percentage of 1.000 at the Panera Bread Tournament . . . She had two doubles, two home runs and five RBI helping the Cardinals to a 4-1 record in the tournament . . . Pick hit her first home run of the season against East Tennessee State . . . She also hit a three-run home run against Lipscomb to lead Ball State to a 5-3 victory.
MILIAN ON THE MOUND
Elizabeth Milian is having another fantastic year on the mound for the Cardinals . . . Milian leads the team with an overall record of 11-6 with an ERA of 2.63 . . . Of her 15 starts, she has thrown 13 complete games and also has three saves . . . Milian has thrown a team-high 114 innings and is second on the team with 61 stikeouts.
ON FIRE
Kate Wilczynski and Elizabeth Milian have been hot at the plate for the Cardinals . . . Wilczynski hit .375 with two doubles and led the team with 8 RBI last week . . . Milian hit .500 with three doubles, two triples, one home run and 6 RBI.
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 scored 37 runs last year which placed her second all-time in the single season BSU record books . . . Eight Cardinals have scored over 10 runs in 2008 pushing the total to 151 . . . Lisa Rozanski leads the team with 21.
STRIKE THREE, YOUR OUT!
Tiffany Garofano has shut down opponents so far this season . . . Garofano has recorded a team-high 94 strikeouts, and has an ERA of 2.24.
UP NEXT
Ball State will continue Mid-American Conference play as they host a doubleheader against Toledo on Friday at 1 p.m. The Cardinals will take play Bowling Green on Saturday at 2 p.m.
