Ball State University Athletics
Softball Opens Season At Quality Inn Classic Friday
February 14, 2012 | Softball
►GAME TIME: The Ball State softball team opens the 2012 season Friday, when it begins play in the 2012 Quality Inn Classic (hosted by Troy University) with a 9 a.m. (CT) first pitch versus East Tennessee State . . . The Cardinals will also battle No. 5/6 Missouri at 2 p.m. (CT) on the opening day of the three-day tournament . . . On Saturday, the Cardinals are slated to face Nicholls State (8:30 a.m. CT) and host Troy (4 p.m. CT) . . . BSU closes out the event with a 9 a.m. (CT) game versus Eastern Kentucky Sunday.
►FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans can follow the Cardinals with live stats throughout the 2012 Quality Inn Classic . . . The live stats links can be found on the tournament central home page: http://troytrojans.com/sports/2012/1/18/SB_0118121816.aspx
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: The Ball State softball program enters its 38th season of play with a 777-883-4 (.468) all-time record . . . Established as a varsity program in 1975, the program has won two Mid-American Conference regular season titles (2009 and 2010) and two MAC tournament championships (1998 and 2010).
►HEAD COACH CRAIG NICHOLSON: The fastest coach in program history to eclipse the 100-win mark, Craig Nicholson enters his sixth season as Ball State's head coach with a 164-130 (.558) record at BSU . . . Under his guidance, the program won its first-ever Mid-American Conference regular season championship in 2009 with the best league record in program history (18-3) and repeated the feat in 2010 . . . The 2010 squad, which set program records for wins in a season (43) and winning percentage in a season (.729), also captured just the second MAC Tournament title in program history to advance to the NCAA Tournament . . . Nicholson owns an 887-220 (.801) career coaching record including his 723-90 mark in 11 years at Central Arizona.
►A GLIMPSE AT THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:
East Tennessee State opened the 2012 season last week, going 0-4 at the Georgia State First Pitch Classic . . . ETSU hit .296 over the four games, but allowed its opponents to go .357 at the plate . . . Ball State is 2-2 all-time versus East Tennessee State, with the Cardinals scoring a 5-0 victory at the Under Armour Invitational in the most recent meeting last season (March 6, 2011).
Missouri will open its 2012 season Friday, when it faces Ball State in the Quality Inn Classic . . . The only top 25 team not to play a game last week, the Tigers are ranked fifth in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll and sixth in the latest NFCA/USA Today Top 25 Poll . . . BSU is 1-5 all-time versus Missouri, with the Cardinals scoring a 2-1 victory in the last meeting March 19, 2010.
Nicholls State opened the 2012 season last week by going 1-4 at the Southeastern Louisiana Lion Classic, including a 9-8 loss to MAC member Northern Illinois and a 5-1 win over MAC member Akron . . . The Colonels hit .250 over the five games, while allowing its opponents to bat .333 . . . Nicholls State holds a 5-0 lead in the all-time series versus Ball State with the last meeting being a 5-4 win Feb. 15, 2008.
Troy opened the 2012 season with a perfect 5-0 record at the Lion Classic, including wins over Nicholls State (3-0), Northern Illinois (10-2) and Akron (9-2) . . . The Trojans hit .298 in the tournament, while its pitching staff limited opponents to a .169 batting average . . . Troy won the only previous meeting between the two teams with a 2-0 victory March 19, 2004.
Eastern Kentucky will open its 2012 slate Friday, when it squares off versus Nicholls State . . . Last season, the Colonels posted a 24-27 overall record . . . EKU won the only previous meeting versus Ball State by scoring a 3-0 victory Feb. 23, 2008.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Ball State softball team returns 15 letterwinners, including five position starters and four pitchers, from last season's squad which posted a 34-24 (13-8 MAC) record . . . Highlighting the list are a pair of sluggers who accounted for 27 of BSU's school-record 44 home runs last season . . . Sophomore designated player Jennifer Gilbert belted a Ball State single-season record 15 homers last season, while senior catcher Amanda Montalto added 12 to become the program's all-time leading slugger with 23 career long balls . . . On the mound, junior Audra Sanders posted an 18-16 overall record with a 3.10 ERA in 200.2 innings of work . . . She also chalked up 156 strikeouts.
►MORE ON MONTALTO: In addition to being Ball State's career home run leader, senior Amanda Montalto enters the Quality Inn Classic needing two more doubles to become Ball State's all-time career leader in the category, as she currently has 38 which is one behind Kate Shea's (2000-03) career total of 39 . . . Montalto also ranks third on BSU's all-time career list for RBI (104) and walks (73).
►"O CANADA": For the past three years, Jennifer Gilbert has played in numerous international competitions as part of the Canadian National Team Program . . . This past December, Gilbert (who was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) helped guide the Canadian Junior Women's National Team to a fifth-place showing at the ISF IX Junior Women's World Championship in Cape Town, South Africa (Dec. 6-17) . . . In the event, Gilbert hit .411 with 14 hits in 34 at bats, including a grand slam . . . Gilbert also played for the 2010 Canadian Junior Women's National Team and the 2009 Canadian Women's U16 National Team.
►BSU HITS FOR AVERAGE: The 2011 squad finished the year with a school-record .320 batting average, topping the previous mark of .303 set in 2010 . . . The Cardinals' .320 average ranked 20th in the nation among 300 teams in the NCAA Division I statistical database.
