Ball State University
Northern Colorado
Softball Shuts-Out Northern Colorado Saturday
March 21, 2010 | Softball
COLUMBIA, Mo. - With Elizabeth Milian (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids) on the mound for Ball State, the Cardinals shutout Northern Colorado, 5-0, in their third game of the DeMarini Invitational in Columbia, Mo. Saturday. This was the team's eighth shutout this season and Milian's seventh.
Due to snow accumulation, the game was played inside Missouri's Devine Pavilion and the inclement weather caused the Cardinals' 11 a.m. meeting with Eastern Michigan earlier in that day to be cancelled.
Ball State is now 2-1 this weekend and 17-6 on the season. Northern Colorado, who suffered an 8-0 loss to Missouri before playing Ball State, dropped to 7-20 this season.
The Cardinals got things started early when Jessie Ware (Phoenix, Ariz./Hamilton), on her first swing of the day, tripled to deep centerfield to drive in Alicia Barkley (Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City) and give Ball State a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Northern Colorado, led by Jessie Schoepflin on the mound, held the Cardinals to three hits in the next three innings combined, but the Ball State batters brought the heat in the fifth inning amassing four runs and five hits.
The first two runs were compliments of a double sent to deep center by Amanda Montalto (Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde), which drove in Barkley and Ware to make the score 3-0. Following this play, Northern Colorado called in Melisa Ryba to relieve Schoepflin in the circle.
Up next for Ball State was Amanda Carpenter (Santee, Calif./Santana) who singled to centerfield on Ryba's first pitch of the game and batted in Nash who was pinch running for Montalto. Then, Jen Moore (Canton, Ohio/Jackson) sent the ball sailing to centerfield for a double hit that drove in Carpenter for the final run of the game.
The win was credited to Milian who threw six strikeouts and is now 13-1 this season. With 124 strikeouts this season and 580 in her career, the ace is just 48 away from owning the school record in this category. She is also ten wins from owning the school record, 77, in career wins. Both of these records currently belong to Bernie Coffman who played from 1986-89.
If Missouri's outdoor facility, University Field, is not cleared for play tomorrow, both of Ball State's scheduled games versus Northern Colorado at noon (CT) and Missouri at 2 p.m. (CT) will be cancelled. Stay tuned to www.ballstatesports.com and/or follow @BallStSoftball on Twitter for updates.
