Ball State University Athletics
Softball Heads To Miami Invitational This Weekend
March 14, 2012 | Softball
►HEADING TO OXFORD: The Ball State softball team will make its first of two trips to Oxford, Ohio, this season when it plays in the Miami Invitational this weekend . . . BSU opens the event Saturday versus Loyola-Chicago (3 p.m.) and Dayton (5 p.m.) . . . Sunday, the Cardinals will play Loyola-Chicago (10 a.m.) and Niagara (Noon).
►FOLLOW LIVE: Ball State fans can follow the action this weekend with live stats for all four games at the Miami Invitational through the Tournament Central link above.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After posting a 5-0 record last week, the Ball State softball program moved its all-time record to 790-889-4 (.471) in 37-plus seasons of play . . . Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won two Mid-American Conference regular season titles (2009 and 2010), two MAC tournament championships (1998 and 2010) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (1998 and 2010).
►HEAD COACH CRAIG NICHOLSON: The fastest coach in program history to eclipse the 100-win mark, Craig Nicholson picked up his 900th collegiate coaching victory with last Sunday's 9-5 victory over Northern Colorado . . . In his sixth season as Ball State's head coach, Nicholson has amassed a 177-136 (.565) record at BSU, including a 13-6 record so far in 2012 . . . 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 a 900-226 (.799) career coaching record including his 723-90 mark in 11 years at Central Arizona.
►LEADING THE MAC: The Cardinals enter the week with the best record in the Mid-American Conference at 13-6 (.684) . . . Bowling Green is second based on winning percentage at 10-7 (.588), while Miami is third at 11-9 (.550) . . . Northern Illinois (9-9) and Western Michigan (8-8) are right behind BSU in the MAC West Division.
►A GLIMPSE AT THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:
LOYOLA-CHICAGO enters the week with a 3-8 record after posting a 1-3 mark at the Mizuno Classic hosted by Oklahoma State last week . . . The Ramblers started the tournament with a 15-1 (5) win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, before losing to Oklahoma State by a score of 4-3 (8) and dropping a pair of contests to Nebraska ; 8-0 (5) and 4-2 . . . Tarran Shaffer paces LUC with a .419 batting average, including a team-best four doubles . . . Amanda Ciran has a team-best 4.95 ERA and an 0-5 record in six starts on the mound . . . Loyola has a .276 team batting average and has scored 47 runs in its 11 games . . . Ramblers' opponents are batting .316 and have scored 67 runs . . . The Cardinals hold a 3-0 advantage in the all-time series, including a 3-0 victory in the latest meeting March 25, 2006.
DAYTON enters the Miami Invitational with a 7-9 record and a five-game winning streak after sweeping a doubleheader from Eastern Kentucky (5-3 and 2-1) Tuesday in Richmond, Ky. . . . Alysha Isaacson leads the team with a .483 batting average and has also posted a 1-4 record on the mound with a 4.32 ERA in nine appearances . . . Sarah Wedel has a team-best 3-2 record from the circle with a 5.43 ERA . . . As a team, Dayton owns a .267 batting average and has scored 68 runs in 16 games . . . Flyers' opponents are batting .331 and have scored 86 runs . . . Including its 6-3 victory over Dayton at the Frost Classic Inspired by Memorial (Feb. 25), Ball State is a perfect 8-0 all-time versus the Flyers.
NIAGARA enters the week with a 4-9 overall record after posting a 3-1 mark at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County Dawg Pound Invitational last week . . . The Purple Eagles scored wins over Seton Hall (8-4), Coppin State (6-1) and host UMBC (3-2), while losing to Mt. St. Mary's (6-2) . . . Jen Hare paces the Niagara regulars with a .297 batting average, while posting six RBI and a pair of doubles . . . Julie DiMatteo has a team-best 3.80 ERA and a 1-2 record from the mound . . . As a team, the Purple Eagles are batting .234 with 41 runs scored in 13 games . . . Niagara's opponents are batting .282 with 73 runs scored . . . This will be the first meeting between Ball State and Niagara in softball.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: With wins in its last seven games, the Ball State softball team enters the Miami Invitational with a league-best 13-6 overall record . . . In the five wins last week, the Cardinals averaged 11.4 hits and 8.2 runs per game while out-scoring its opponents 41-12 . . . Reigning MAC West Division Player of the Week senior catcher/designated player Amanda Montalto leads the team with a .436 batting average, while sophomore first baseman Taylor Rager is second at .400 . . . As a team, the Cardinals are second in the league with a .315 batting average, including a MAC-best 19 home runs . . . On the mound, senior right-hander Audrey Workman has a 1.57 ERA and a 6-5 record over 71.1 innings of work, while classmate Kim Mazzapica is 7-1 on the mound with a 2.44 ERA in 51.2 innings of work . . . As a staff, the Cardinals have a 1.92 ERA, while limiting opposing hitters to a .222 batting average and just 34 earned runs in 124 innings of work . . . Combined, BSU has out-scored its opponents 110-54 so far this season.
►THE STREAK IS ON: The Cardinals enter the week with two student-athletes riding double-digit hitting streaks . . . Amanda Montalto has a team-best 12 game hitting streak, while freshman outfielder/designated player Hanne Stuedemann has tallied a hit in each of the last 10 games . . . Montalto is batting .459 over her streak with four doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs . . . Stuedemann is batting .542 over her streak with two doubles, a triple and three home runs . . . In addition to her 12-game hitting streak, Montalto has now reached base safely in each of her last 23 games played dating back to last season.
►SPEAKING OF STREAKS: During BSU's current seven-game winning streak, the Cardinals are batting .366 as a team, including 23 multi-base hits . . . BSU's opponents are batting .222 with five multi-base hits during the span.
►MONTALTO DOUBLES UP: Amanda Montalto enters the Miami Invitational ranked first in the MAC and 56th nationally with a 0.42 double-per-game average this season . . . Montalto smashed her 40th career double at Troy (Feb. 19) to become BSU's all-time career doubles leader, passing the previous record of 39 set by Kate Shae (2000-03) . . . With eight doubles so far this season, Montalto enters the week with 46 career two-baggers . . . Montalto entered the 2012 season as BSU's career home runs leader and has tagged three long balls so far this year to up her career total to 26 . . . Montalto also ranks second on BSU's all-time career list for RBI (115) and third for walks (85).
►"O CANADA": For the past three years, sophomore outfielder 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.
►GILBERT CIRCLING THE BASES: Jennifer Gilbert enters the week with a team-high 17 runs scored, having crossed the plate at least once in 13 of BSU's 19 games . . . Gilbert, who has scored 56 career runs, has also collected 15 RBI so far this season and ranks ninth in program history with 78 career RBI . . . Over her career, Gilbert is averaging a little over one RBI per game having played in 77 career contests.
►CARDS DEALING: FROM THE CIRCLE: The Ball State pitching staff enters the week ranked second in the MAC with a 1.92 team ERA . . . Senior right-handed pitcher Audrey Workman is third in the league at 1.57, while senior right-hander Kim Mazzapica is seventh at 2.44 . . . Mazzapica leads all MAC pitchers with a 7-1 record, while Workman is third in innings pitched (71.1) and fourth in opponent batting average (.217).
►CLIMBING THE CHARTS: With four RBI in the first game of last Wednesday's doubleheader at North Florida, junior outfielder Amanda Carpenter climbed to fifth in program history for career RBI . . . She added a solo home run in BSU's first win over Northern Colorado to raise her career RBI total to 87 entering the Miami Invitational . . . Carpenter has also scored 90 career runs to rank sixth in program history.
►WEEKLY WINNERS: Four different Cardinals have claimed MAC West Division Player of the Week awards: sophomore first baseman Taylor Rager (Feb. 21), sophomore first baseman Audrey Bickel (Feb. 29), freshman outfielder/designated player Hanne Stuedemann (March 11) and senior catcher/designated player Amanda Montalto (March 13) . . . Senior pitcher Audrey Workman was also named the MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week Feb. 21 . . . Both Rager and Montalto went on to earn College Sports Madness MAC Player of the Week honors for their efforts.
