Ball State University Athletics
Softball Returns To Alabama For USA Invitational
February 19, 2015 | Softball
► THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team returns to the state of Alabama for the second consecutive weekend, when it competes in this weekend's South Alabama Invitational in Mobile ... The Cardinals play Sam Houston State (1:30 p.m. CT) and Chattanooga (3:45 p.m. CT) Friday ... Ball State will battle Jacksonville (9 a.m. CT) and No. 22/23 South Alabama (1:30 p.m. CT) Saturday, before closing the tournament with a second game versus Chattanooga (9 a.m. CT) Sunday.
► LISTEN LIVE: Audio for all five of this weekend's games will be streamed LIVE and FREE on BallStateSports.com, with Torey Fox returning for his third season as the play-by-play announcer for the Cardinals ... Fans can tune in by calling up http://BallStateSports.com/liveevents on their computer web browser or purchasing the premium upgrade ($4.99) on the BallStSports app.
► MORE WAYS TO FOLLOW THE ACTION: Cardinals fans can also follow the action at the South Alabama Invitational with live stats for all five games on the live stats page of BallStateSports.com (http://BallStateSports.com/livestats) ... Fans can also get regular updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 5-4 record so far in 2015, the Ball State softball program enters the South Alabama Invitational with an 892-938-4 (.487) all-time record in 40-plus seasons of play ... Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won five Mid-American Conference regular season titles (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014), two MAC Tournament championships (1998 and 2010) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice (1998 and 2010).
► HEAD COACH TYRA PERRY: After leading Ball State to a 12-4 league record, the 2014 MAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the 2014 MAC Softball Tournament, Tyra Perry became the first first-year coach in program history to earn MAC Coach of the Year accolades ... A two-time Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year (2009 & 2013), Perry was named the eighth head coach in Ball State softball history Aug. 6, 2013 ... Perry enters the South Alabama Invitational with a 380-367-1 (.509) career record, including a 38-23 (.623) ledger at Ball State ... Prior to Ball State, Perry had six-year head coaching stints at both Western Kentucky (2008-13) and Birmingham-Southern (2002-07) ... In 2013, Perry guided WKU to the program's first-ever NCAA Regional appearance and to a final ranking of 26th in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the highest final ranking in program history ... The Lady Toppers also posted the program's first 40-plus win season (43-18) under Perry's tutelage in 2013, and earned its first SBC regular season title with a 20-3 league record.
► SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the South Alabama Invitational with a 5-4 overall record ... At last weekend's Tiger Invitational hosted by No. 17 Auburn, the Cardinals opened play with losses to Georgia State (10-4) and the host Tigers (12-1/5 inn.) ... After rebounding for a win over Mercer (9-1/5 inn.), Ball State was defeated by Winthrop (10-1/5 inn.) ... The Cardinals closed the tournament with a victory over Eastern Illinois (4-3) ... Ball State is batting .281 as a team, with senior catcher Jessica Craft boasting a team-best .364 average ... The Cardinals have combined for nine home runs this season and lead the Mid-American Conference with four triples ... Junior Nicole Steinbach leads the Ball State pitching staff with a 3-1 record and a 3.55 ERA ... She has compiled 25 strikeouts over 23.2 innings of work, both of which rank second in the league ... Ball State's staff has a combined 5.16 ERA and ranks second in the conference with 53 combined strikeouts.
► THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
SAM HOUSTON STATE: The Bearkats enter the weekend with a 4-7 overall record, including a 14-4 (5 inn.) loss at No. 2 Oregon Wednesday ... Peyton Webb leads the squad with a .529 batting average, with four of her 18 hits being home runs ... Haley Baros is SHSU's ace in the circle, with a 3.13 ERA and a 1-4 record over 31.1 innings of work ... The Bearkats are batting .290 as a team, while holding a 6.00 team ERA ... SHSU has won both games in the all-time series, including a 1-0 win March 15, 2008, and a 3-1 victory March 12, 1994.
CHATTANOOGA: The Mocs enter the weekend with a 6-4 overall record after going 2-3 at last weekend's Dot Richardson Invitational ... UTC capped the event with a 7-3 win over Arkansas ... Sarah Beth Roberts leads the squad with a .414 batting average, including three home runs ... Taylor Deason is the Mocs ace in the circle with a 1.15 ERA and a 3-2 record over 36.2 innings of work ... Deason has struck out 44 of the 141 batters she has faced this season ... Chattanooga is batting .268 as a team, while holding a 2.61 team ERA ... The all-time series is currently tied at 1-1, with Ball State winning the first meeting 4-1 (March 8, 1996) and Chattanooga taking the second 9-0 in five innings (Feb. 16, 2008).
JACKSONVILLE: The Dolphins enter with week with a 5-6 overall record after going 3-2 at their own invitational last weekend ... Jacksonville capped the event with a 3-2 win over Bethune-Cookman ... Danielle Baker leads the squad with a .306 batting average and has collected a team-high four doubles ... Victoria Brown is JU's ace in the circle with a 3.15 ERA, a 3-4 record and 17 strikeouts over 40.0 innings of work ... Jacksonville is batting .234 as a team, while holding a 3.99 team ERA ... Ball State holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series, despite a 7-5 win by the Dolphins in the latest meeting, March 3, 2013.
SOUTH ALABAMA: The Jaguars enter the week ranked 22nd in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll and 23rd in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll ... USA owns an 8-2 record on the year, including a 7-2 win over Nicholls State Wednesday ... Stephanie Pilkington leads the team with a .435 batting average and has also drawn a team-high 14 walks for a .658 on-base percentage this season ... Devin Brown is the Jaguars ace in the circle, with a 2.12 ERA, a 4-1 record and 62 strikeouts over 33.0 innings of work ... South Alabama is batting .320 as a team, while holding a 1.51 team ERA ... This will be just the second meeting between the two programs, with USA winning the first by a score of 3-0 (March 2, 2012).
► OFF TO AN EARLY START: Ball State's thrilling 11-8 (9 inn.) win over South Dakota Feb. 6 marked the earliest start to a season in program history ... The previous mark for earliest start was set last season, when Ball State scored a 7-2 win at Texas State on Feb. 8 in the Century Link Classic ... Prior to the Tyra Perry era, the earliest Ball State had played a softball game was Feb. 12, 2005, when it picked up an 8-0 (6 inn.) victory over Southern Illinois at the Ole Miss Tournament.
► CLASS OF THE MAC: Ball State's three-member senior class, which includes Jessica Craft, Hanne Stuedemann and Loren Cihlar, are in the position to do what no Mid-American Conference senior class has ever done, finish their careers as four-time MAC regular season champions ... In fact, the three comprise one of only two classes in league history to win three consecutive titles, joining last season's Ball State senior class of Audrey Bickel, Jennifer Gilbert, Taylor Rager and Lauren Schroeder.
► PICKING UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF: Junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski has picked up right where she left off the 2014 season, providing the game-winning run in three of Ball State's five wins so far this season ... Dabkowski smashed a ninth inning three-run home run to give BSU the win over the South Dakota (Feb. 6) ... Her eighth inning sacrifice fly versus the IUPUI (Feb. 7) drove in the game's final run ... Dabkowski's three-run homer in the third inning versus Mercer (Feb. 14) provided what proved to be the game-winning run ... Last season, Dabkowski tied for first on the team by helping account for 13 game-winning runs ... She scored the winning run eight times, while adding five game-winning RBI.
► STEINBACH MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Junior pitcher Nicole Steinbach enters the South Alabama Invitational ranked eighth in program history with 32 career pitching victories ... She is also tied for second in program history with six career saves ... Steinbach broke into the top 10 in program history for career strikeouts after fanning a season-high nine batters in last Sunday's win over Eastern Illinois ... Steinbach is currently ninth in program history with 231 career strikeouts.
► THE LONG BALL; 2015 EDITION: Senior outfielder Hanne Stuedemann enters the South Alabama Invitational as Ball State's active career leader with 18 home runs ... The total currently ranks seventh in program history ... Junior shortstop Selena Reyna leads Ball State's active players with three career grand slams, while Stuedemann, Emily Dabkowski and junior utility player Sammi Cowger each have one ... Reyna is 13th on Ball State's career list with 10 home runs, while Dabkowski is tied for 14th with eight.
► STUEDEMANN CLOSING IN ON ELITE STATUS: Hanne Stuedemann became the eighth player in program history to reach 100 career runs scored when she crossed the plate in the first inning at Lipscomb (Feb. 8) ... She enters the South Alabama Invitational with 102 career runs scored ... Stuedemann also has 98 career RBI, and is looking to become just the seventh player in program history to score 100 runs and drive in 100.
► MAKING A RUN FOR IT: Senior outfielder Loren Cihlar ranks first in program history with a .909 (30-for-33) career stolen base percentage ... Cihlar picked up her first stolen base of the 2015 season versus Georgia State (Feb. 13) and is currently 1-for-1 on the year ... She went 9-for-10 in stolen base attempts last season, after finishing the 2013 campaign as one of only two players in program history to finish a year with a perfect stolen base percentage (min. 10 attempts), going 11-for-11 ... Cihlar also ranks 10th in program history with 94 career runs scored.
► MAKING A RUN FOR IT PART 2: Sophomore outfielder India Steward enters the week ranked first in the Mid-American Conference with 11 runs scored ... Ball State's leadoff hitter, Steward has reached base safely 10 times this season; by hit (5), walk (2) or hit by a pitch (3), while also reaching once on a fielder's choice ... In addition, Steward has been placed on second twice in extra-innings and went on to score the game-winning run on both occasions; versus South Dakota (Feb. 6) and IUPUI (Feb. 7).
► JERSEY WATCH 2015: Ball State is 1-2 in its black uniform, 2-2 in its red uniform and 2-0 in its white uniform this season.
