Ball State University
8-11
Florida Atlantic
16-3
Softball Suffers 9-3 Setback To Florida Atlantic
March 01, 2015 | Softball
BATON ROUGE, La. - - In a game which saw just about everything, the Ball State softball team closed play in the Purple & Gold Challenge hosted by No. 7 LSU with a 9-3 loss to Florida Atlantic Sunday morning at Tiger Park.
With the loss, the Cardinals finished play in the three-day tournament with a 2-3 record and fall to 8-11 overall on the year.
In Sunday's loss to the Owls (16-3), junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski (Plainfield, Ind./South Putnam) and junior shortstop Selena Reyna (Houston, Texas/South Houston) each tallied a pair of hits for the Ball State offense, with Dabkowski driving in two of the Cardinals three runs.
Ball State's other run came off the bat of senior catcher Jessica Craft (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) who opened the scoring in the game with a leadoff solo home run to center field in the bottom of the second inning. It was Craft's third home run of the season and the ninth of her career.
FAU countered with single runs in each of the next three innings to pull ahead 3-1.
Ball State cut the Owls' advantage to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, when senior left fielder Loren Cihlar (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) was hit by a pitch with two outs and Dabkowski followed with a double off the top of the left-center field wall to just miss her fourth home run of the tournament by a couple of inches.
Unfortunately, FAU added another run in the top of the sixth and capitalized on a number of Ball State miscues for five more runs in the top of the seventh to pull ahead 9-2.
The Cardinals tried to mount an epic comeback in the bottom of the seventh, as sophomore pinch hitter Rachel Houck (Greenfield, Ind./Mt. Vernon/Louisville) and Reyna opened the inning with back-to-back singles up the middle. Following a Cihlar groundout which advanced both runners, Dabkowski came through with her second RBI of the game on a single just over the FAU shortstops head. The rally ended there, however, as the FAU defense came up with a game-ending double play.
Overall, the Cardinals scored three runs on seven hits while committing four errors. The Owls logged nine runs on 11 hits with no errors.
The Ball State softball team continues its 13-game spring break road trip Tuesday with games versus Detroit (3 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. CT) and Southeastern Louisiana (5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT). Both games will be played at Southeastern's North Oak Park in Hammond, La.
For the most up-to-date news on Ball State softball, follow the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB and @TyraPerry13 / Instagram: ballstatesb / Facebook: BallStateSoftball
- BallStateSports.com –
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hanson, Kylee (5-0)
L: Steinbach, Nicole (4-5)
Batting:
2B: Thompson, Carnesha 1 ; Miller, Alex 1
RBI: Southall, Kiley 2 ; Mann, Laura 3 ; Bell, Mickey 1 ; Buckley, Tatum 1
SH: Rickey, Delaney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Martinez, Christina 1 ; Southall, Kiley 1 ; Lochten, Emily 3 ; Miller, Alex 3 ; Rickey, Delaney 1
SB: Shell, Lindsey 1 ; Lochten, Emily 3 ; Rickey, Delaney 1
CS: Shell, Lindsey 1
Batting:
2B: Dabkowski, Emily 1
HR: Craft, Jessica 1
RBI: Dabkowski, Emily 2 ; Craft, Jessica 1
SH: Scamihorn, Shelbie 1 ; Bailey, Julia 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cihlar, Loren 1 ; Craft, Jessica 1 ; Steward, India 1
SB: Reyna, Selena 1 ; Stuedemann, Hanne 1
CS: Reyna, Selena 1 ; Cooley, Taylor 1
HBP: Cihlar, Loren 1
