Ball State University
Buffalo (DH)
Softball Sweeps Buffalo, 3-2 and 8-4, On The Road
April 17, 2010 | Softball
Game 1 - Ball State 3, Buffalo 2
With two of the Cardinals fastest base runners, Lisa Rozanski (Tampa, Fla./Alonso) and Jessie Ware (Phoenix, Ariz./Hamilton), on second and third in the first inning, Buffalo's second baseman Andi Saucier committed an error that sent Ware and Rozanski home and saw Alyssa Collins (Fortville, Ind./Mt. Vernon) safely to first base.
Led by Elizabeth Milian (Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc) in the circle, Ball State held this early 2-0 lead until Buffalo's Alyssa Ward tripled in the fourth inning and drove in Sharon Barr who represented Milian's first walk of the game.
Buffalo evened the score in the next inning when Kristin Waldron doubled to left field and drove in Alex Bejarno who was on base after singling to left center.
Making the momentum changing play for the Cardinals was Kate Wilczynski (Tucson, Ariz./Canyon Del Oro) who drilled a home run over the left field wall to regain Ball State's lead. The Cardinals would load the bases before the end of the inning, but to no avail as Alicia Barkley (Oklahoma City, Okla./Putnam City) lined out to the third baseman who turned the out into a double play by tagging out Hannah Zimmerman (Indianapolis, Ind./Scecina Memorial) for leaving third base.
Milian was able to hold Buffalo in the bottom of the seventh inning and put down all three batters. This was the second inning in the game that the ace was credited with three consecutive strike outs. Milian, now 20-2 this season tallied 10 strikeouts against the Bulls.
Game 2 - Ball State 5, Buffalo 3
Ball State repeated its early presence from game one, but this time took a 5-0 lead on Buffalo before the sky opened up and brought a rain delay that lasted slightly more than two hours.
With Barr on the mound for the Bulls in the first inning, both Ware and Rozanski were walked. Then, Barkley hit a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. With one out and two on base, Amanda Carpenter (Santee, Calif./Santana) launched a three RBI home run over the centerfield fence. Wilczynski followed Carpenter's lead and tallied her second home run of the day with Amanda Montalto (Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde) on base from a single to left field.
When the Bulls stepped up to bat against Ball State's Audra Sanders (Lynnville, Ind./Tecumseh), they were looking to even the gap made by the Cardinals offense. While Sanders struck out two batters, Buffalo scored three runs in the inning on consecutive doubles hit by Waldron and Jessica Griffin.
Immediately following the first inning, the teams headed to their dugouts to wait out what would be a two hour rain delay.
After the delay, neither team was able to produce a run until the sixth inning when Buffalo's Diaz tripled to right center with zero outs in the inning. This play caused a Ball State pitching change and Milian entered the circle for Sanders. With Diaz waiting to run on third base, Ward singled to left field and drove Diaz home to close the gap to 5-4.
Ball State's defense would hold the Bulls at four runs for the remainder of the game.
The Ball State batters found their stride in the top of the seventh when Rozanski, Barkley and Carpenter strung together single hits to load the bases for the Cardinals. Then, Collins singled to the first baseman to draw an out while Rozanski crossed home. Next up, Montalto struck out for the second out of the inning and Wilczynski stepped up to bat.
Wilczynski, already credited with two home runs today, again pulled through for the Cardinals and hit a double that drove in Barkley and Carpenter. The inning ended with Alyssa Freiling (Bixby, Okla./Sequoyah) flying out to left field and the Cardinals up 8-4.
Ball State resumes MAC play Saturday and Sunday in Kent, Ohio when they take on Kent State at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively. Live stats will be available on www.ballstatesports.com and inning-by-inning updates will be provided by @BallStSports on Twitter. Game notes for the weekend series against Kent State will be available Saturday morning on www.ballstatesports.com.
