Ball State University Athletics
Softball Moves On To Northern Illinois Saturday
March 29, 2012 | Softball
►LEAGUE PLAY BEGINS FRIDAY: The Ball State softball team opens league play Friday, when it travels to Kalamazoo, Mich., to face defending Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament champion Western Michigan . . . The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. . . . The Cardinals will then travel to DeKalb, Ill., to battle Northern Illinois in single games Saturday (2 p.m. CT) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
►FOLLOW LIVE: Ball State fans can follow the action this weekend with live stats for all four games at the following link: http://ballstatesports.com/livestats.
►SCHEDULE UPDATE: The Cardinals will be hosting Purdue in a 3 p.m. doubleheader on Thursday, April 12 . . . The contest was originally scheduled as a single game, but rainouts on both teams' schedules have allowed it to be played as a twinbill.
►CARDINALS ALL-TIME: After posting a 3-2 record last week, the Ball State softball program moved its all-time record to 796-892-4 (.472) 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 versus Northern Colorado (March 11) . . . In his sixth season as Ball State's head coach, Nicholson has amassed a 183-139 (.568) record at BSU, including a 19-9 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 906-229 (.798) career coaching record including his 723-90 mark in 11 years at Central Arizona.
►LEADING THE MAC: The Cardinals ended pre-conference play with the best record in the Mid-American Conference at 19-9 (.679) . . . Miami was second at 17-10 (.630), followed by Bowling Green at 15-10 (.600) . . . In the MAC West Division, Central Michigan is second behind BSU at 13-11 (.542), followed by defending MAC regular season and tournament champion Western Michigan at 11-10 (.524).
►A GLIMPSE AT THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:
WESTERN MICHIGAN enters Friday's league-opener with a 11-10 overall record after suffering a 5-3 loss at Notre Dame Tuesday . . . Prior to Tuesday, the Broncos had not played since March 18, when it earned wins over Norfolk State (4-1) and Delaware (6-3) . . . Grace Barstad leads WMU at the plate with a .405 batting average, while Meredith Whitney is second at .385 . . . Whitney, who also has team-highs of 13 RBI and 25 hits, is also WMU's top pitcher with a 7-6 record and a 3.15 ERA . . . Over 80.0 innings of work, Whitney has surrendered just 37 runs (36 earned) while striking out 73 batters . . . Of the 70 hits Whitney has allowed this season, 30 have been multi-base hits including 12 home runs . . . Western Michigan holds a 59-45 edge in the all-time series versus Ball State including wins in two of the three meetings last season . . . The teams last played in the 2011 MAC Tournament, with WMU pulling out an 8-4 victory.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS enters the start of league play with a 12-16 overall record, having lost three games so far this week . . . NIU suffered a 5-0 setback to Illinois State Tuesday, while dropping both games of a doubleheader at Loyola-Chicago Wednesday by scores of 10-3 and 9-1 (6) . . . Stephanie Tofft leads the Huskies with a .411 batting average and ranks second on the team in runs scored (22) and RBI (20) . . . Nicole Gremillion is second on the team in batting (.387) and leads the squad with 24 runs scored . . . Megan Dortch is NIU's top pitcher with a 9-10 record and a 2.64 ERA . . . In 103.1 innings of work, Dortch has allowed 54 runs (39 earned) while striking out a 133 batters . . . Northern Illinois holds a 35-22 lead in the all-time series versus the Cardinals, including a pair of wins last season to end the regular season and keep BSU from winning the league crown.
►SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: The Cardinals enter MAC play with a league-best 19-9 overall record after posting a 3-2 mark at last weekend's Mustang Classic hosted by Cal Poly . . . Senior catcher/designated player Amanda Montalto leads the team with a .400 batting average, while junior outfielder Amanda Carpenter is second at .351 . . . As a team, the Cardinals are first in the league with a .308 batting average, including a MAC-best 28 home runs . . . On the mound, senior right-hander Audrey Workman has a 1.72 ERA and a 10-6 record over 101.2 innings of work, while classmate Kim Mazzapica is 9-3 in the circle with a 2.30 ERA over 82.1 innings . . . As a staff, the Cardinals rank second in the league with a 1.97 ERA, while limiting opposing hitters to a .223 batting average and just 52 earned runs in 185 innings of work . . . Combined, BSU has out-scored its opponents 161-74 this season.
►GOING, GOING, GONE: In addition to leading the Mid-American Conference, the Cardinals enter the week ranked 21st in the nation with a 1.00 home runs per game average . . . Sophomore first baseman Taylor Rager leads BSU's sluggers and ranks 65th nationally with a 0.25 hpg average, having blasted seven homers this season . . . The Cardinals are on pace to shatter the school record for home runs in the season set last year at 44 . . . Through the first 28 games this season, BSU has already tallied 28 home runs, compared to 13 in the same span in 2011.
►DOUBLING UP: As impressive as the home run total is, the Cardinals are even better when it comes to two-base hits, ranking first in the nation with a 1.82 doubles per game average . . . Amanda Montalto and sophomore outfielder Jennifer Gilbert each have a MAC-best 10 doubles entering league play to tie for 17th nationally with a 0.36 double-per-game average . . . BSU has collected 51 two-base hits so far in 2012, with the school record standing at 93 set in 2010.
►DON'T FORGET THE TRIPLES: Amanda Montalto also owns a team-best three triples this season, which ranks second in the MAC and 20th nationally . . . BSU players have combined for six triples so far this year, which ranks the squad 61st in the nation in triples per game (0.21).
►MONTALTO IN THE RANKINGS: Amanda Montalto enters the start of league play as one of the greatest sluggers in MAC history . . . BSU's career leader in home runs (28) and doubles (48), she ranks second in both categories in MAC history . . . Akron's Kelli Metzger (1996-99) is the MAC's all-time home runs leader at 57, while Ohio's Jenn Morris (1996-99) is the league's all-time doubles leader with 55 . . . Montalto also ranks second on BSU's all-time career list for RBI (124), which ties for fifth in the conference, and third for walks (89), which is fourth in league annals.
►"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.
►CARDS DEALING: FROM THE CIRCLE: The Ball State pitching staff entered the week ranked second in the MAC with a 1.97 team ERA . . . Senior right-handed pitcher Audrey Workman was fourth at 1.72, while senior right-hander Kim Mazzapica was ninth at 2.30 . . . Workman's 10 wins tied as the best in the MAC this season, while Mazzapica's nine wins tied for fourth . . . Workman was also second in complete games (12), third in innings pitched (101.2), fourth in strikeouts (73) and fourth in opponent batting average (.212) . . . Mazzapica was also fifth in complete games (8) and sixth in innings pitched (82.1).
►CARDINALS SHOWING THE GLOVE: With BSU ranking in the top 30 nationally in nearly every offensive category, including its .308 team batting average being 30th, it's easy to forget about the Cardinals' top-notch defense . . . BSU enters the week ranked 29th among the 289 NCAA Division I teams with a 0.972 fielding percentage . . . In addition, the Cardinals have turned a MAC-best 15 double plays and rank ninth in the nation with a 0.54 double plays-per-game average.
►HOW SWEEP IT IS: For the second straight week, and third time this season, the Ball State softball team swept the Mid-American Conference West Division weekly honors with Amanda Montalto picking up player of the week and senior pitcher Kim Mazzapica earning pitcher of the week . . . Overall, the Cardinals have won all six MAC West Division Player of the Week awards since opening play the second week of the season . . . Montalto is the first two-time winner, picking up the honors March 13 and March 27, and is joined by Taylor Rager (Feb. 21), sophomore third baseman Audrey Bickel (Feb. 29), freshman outfielder/designated player Hanne Stuedemann (March 11) and Amanda Carpenter (March 20) . . . BSU has also claimed three of the six MAC West Division Pitcher of the Week honors since opening the season, with Mazzapica being joined on the list by Audrey Workman who has earned the honor twice (Feb. 21 & March 20).
