Ball State University Athletics
Softball Sweeps MAC Weekly Awards
March 20, 2012 | Softball
MUNCIE, Ind. - - For the second time this season, the Ball State softball team swept the Mid-American Conference West Division's weekly awards with junior outfielder Amanda Carpenter (Santee, Calif./Santana) earning player of the week and senior Audrey Workman (Wickenburg, Ariz./Wickenburg) garnering pitcher of the week.
The pair helped guide the Cardinals to a 3-1 record at last weekend's Miami Invitational as BSU out-hit its opponents .304 to .212, while posting a 1.62 team ERA compared to an 8.12 mark for opposing pitchers.
"Amanda and Audrey played key roles in our success at the Miami Invitational," said Ball State head coach Craig Nicholson. "Amanda had a great weekend and came through with some big hits for us. Audrey turned in a dominating performance versus Dayton and really set the tone for how we competed the rest of the weekend."
Carpenter, who earns MAC Player of the Week honors for the second time in her career, led the Ball State offense with a .467 batting average over the four games at the Miami Invitational. She finished the tournament 7-for-15, with three multi-base hits including a pair of home runs.
Her two long balls, both coming versus Loyola, moved her into a tie for fourth all-time in program history with 14 career home runs. Carpenter's home run in the second game versus the Ramblers drove in what proved to be the game-winning run.
Carpenter scored six runs in the four games to climb from sixth to fourth in program history with 96 career runs scored. She also finished the tournament with five RBI to raise her career total to 92 which ranks fifth in program history.
Workman, who earns MAC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season and the second time in her career, continued her strong senior campaign by picking up a pair of wins at the Miami Invitational to improve to 8-5 this season.
In Saturday's win over Dayton, Workman put together perhaps her best outing of the season, holding the Flyers scoreless and surrendering just three hits while striking out a season-high eight batters. The effort gave Workman her third complete game shutout of the season.
Sunday versus Loyola, Workman continued to dominate opposing hitters surrendering just one earned run and five hits over seven innings, while striking out five batters. Over BSU's two days at the Miami Invitational, Workman limited opposing hitters to a .154 batting average and surrendered only one multi-base hit.
The Ball State softball team returns to action Friday, when it played both UNLV (12:30 p.m. PST) and Cal Poly (5:30 p.m. PST) on the opening day of the Mustang Classic hosted by Cal Poly.
