Softball Opens MAC Play at EMU & CMU This Weekend
March 26, 2015 | Softball
► THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a Friday doubleheader at Eastern Michigan (1 p.m.) and single games at Central Michigan Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
► LISTEN LIVE: Audio for all four of this weekend's games will be streamed LIVE and FREE on BallStateSports.com, with Jake Bartelson calling the action 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 found in iTunes.
► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Cardinals fans can also follow the action this week with live stats for all four games on the live stats page of BallStateSports.com (http://BallStateSports.com/livestats) ... Fans can also get updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 12-16 record so far in 2015, Ball State softball enters the week with an 899-950-4 (.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 week with a 387-379-1 (.505) career record, including a 45-35 (.563) 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 weekend with a 12-16 overall record after opening home play with a 2-3 record last week ... The Cardinals swept a Tuesday doubleheader versus IPFW, while dropping all three game versus Western Kentucky over the weekend ... The Cardinals were scheduled to host Butler Tuesday, but the game was postponed to April 14 ... Ball State is batting .291 as a team, with junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski leading the squad with a .345 average, 30 hits and seven home runs ... Junior Nicole Steinbach leads the Ball State pitching staff with a 6-8 record, two saves and a 4.41 ERA ... She has compiled 80 strikeouts over 87.1 innings of work ... Ball State's staff has a combined 5.41 ERA and is holding opponents to a .309 batting average.
► IN THE RPI: Ball State enters the week ranked 115th in the first release of the NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings ... Ball State is the second-highest ranked team from the Mid-American Conference, trailing only Kent State who is 54th ... Eastern Michigan enters the week ranked 195, while Central Michigan is 158.
► STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Based on the first run of the NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings, the Cardinals have played the 82nd-toughest schedule in the nation out of 295 teams ... Of Ball State's 16 losses, 12 have come versus top 46 teams, including LSU (2) and Auburn (4) ... In fact, the Cardinals only have one loss outside the top 150 ... Northern Illinois has the second-toughest schedule among MAC teams at 101, while Central Michigan is at 113 and Eastern Michigan is at 143.
► THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
EASTERN MICHIGAN: The Eagles enter the start of MAC play with an 8-16 overall record after splitting a Wednesday doubleheader at Detroit ... EMU lost the first game 8-7, before rebounding to take the nightcap 11-8 ... Eastern Michigan enters the weekend with a .265 team batting average and have scored an average of 4.00 runs per game ... The Eagles opponents are batting .307 and averaging 6.5 runs per game ... Abi Clark leads the squad with a .364 batting average, while Michelle Kriegshauser owns team-highs of 17 RBI and four home runs ... In the circle, EMU's pitchers have a combined 6.26 ERA, with Lindsay Rich serving as the team's top pitcher making 20 appearances with a 6.15 ERA, a 6-11 record and 50 strikeouts over 79.2 innings of work ... Ball State holds a 58-37 lead in the all-time series versus Eastern Michigan, including wins in 13 of the last 15 meetings ... The Cardinals sweep the weekend series last season, winning the Saturday (May 3) game 8-0 (5) and the Sunday (May 4) contest 11-3 (5) ... The Eagles won the last meeting on its home field, scoring a hard-fought 6-4 win April 27, 2013 in a series which was limited to one game due to weather ... EMU does hold a slim 24-23 edge in games played in Ypsilanti.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The Chippewas enter the start of MAC play with an 8-13 overall record and have not played a game since defeating Yale 2-0 on March 14 ... CMU is scheduled to host Miami for a Friday doubleheader before hosting the Cardinals ... Central Michigan enters the weekend with a .250 team batting average and have scored an average of 3.19 runs per game ... The Chippewas opponents are batting .271 and averaging 4.48 runs per game ... Among CMU's everyday starters, Trista Cox and Lacy Tolfree are tied for the team-lead with .306 batting average, with Cox owning a team-best 11 RBI ... CarolAnn Sexauer has a team-best .379 average, but has not played since Feb. 15 versus Seton Hall ... In the circle, Central Michigan's staff boasts a 4.60 team ERA ... Rachael Knapp paces the staff with a 5-5 record, a 3.06 ERA and 68 strikeouts over 67.2 innings of work ... Central Michigan currently holds a 67-26 lead in the all-time series, including an 8-5 (8) win in the nightcap of a May 2, 2014 doubleheader ... The Cardinals won the first game 8-2 and had won six straight prior to the loss ... In its last trip to Mount Pleasant, Ball State swept an April 26, 2013 doubleheader by scores of 6-4 (10) and 12-0 (5) ... However, the Cardinals are currently 14-38 all-time in games played at Central Michigan.
► 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.
► CLASS OF THE MAC PART 2: Over the past six seasons, the Cardinals have proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 95-26 (.785) league record ... BSU has claimed five (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 & 2014) of the last six MAC Regular Season titles, the first five in program history, and won the 2010 MAC Tournament to earn the program's second NCAA berth ... Kent State has the second-best MAC record over the past six seasons at 78-44 (.639), followed by Miami in third at 77-53 (.592).
► 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 five of Ball State's 12 wins 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 ... She blasted a two run home run in the fifth inning versus Stephen F. Austin (Feb. 28) to give Ball State the 3-1 victory ... In the first game versus IPFW (March 18), Dabkowski opened the third inning with a single, and after stealing second and third, scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a wild pitch ... 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: With a pair of saves at the Purple & Gold Challenge, junior pitcher Nicole Steinbach moved into a tie for first in program history with eight career saves ... She also enters MAC play tied for sixth in program history with 35 career pitching victories ... Steinbach broke into the top 10 on BSU's career strikeouts chart after fanning a season-high nine batters in the win over Eastern Illinois (Feb. 15) ... Steinbach is currently seventh on the list with 286 career strikeouts.
► THE LONG BALL; 2015 EDITION: Senior outfielder Hanne Stuedemann enters the week as Ball State's active career leader with 21 home runs ... The total is currently tied for fifth in program history ... Emily Dabkowski is not far behind, as she is tied for eighth on BSU's all-time list with 13 career home runs, including a team-high seven so far in 2015 ... Junior shortstop Selena Reyna leads Ball State's active players with three career grand slams, while five other players have one ... Reyna is also tied for ninth on Ball State's career list with 12 home runs.
► WELCOME TO THE @BALLSTATESB #BOMBSQUAD: Sophomore outfielder India Steward provided one of the most memorable moments in Ball State's 12-1 (6) win over Detroit (March 3) by blasting her first career home run with a two out, third inning grand slam down the right field line ... India is the ninth player on Ball State's active roster to record a home run, and the sixth to post a grand slam ... The only other active player to record a grand slam as her first career home run is Selena Reyna, with a third inning homer in a 14-0 (5 inn.) victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Feb. 23, 2013.
► STUEDEMANN BECOMES 7TH IN 100/100 CLUB: Hanne Stuedemann became the seventh player in program history to score 100 runs and drive in 100 RBI with a RBI fielder's choice in the first inning versus Jacksonville (Feb. 21) ... She scored her 100th career run in the first inning at Lipscomb (Feb. 8) ... She enters the week ranked sixth in program history in runs scored (117) and seventh in RBI (113).
► CRAFT MAKING A STATEMENT: Catcher Jessica Craft is making the most of her senior year, with career-high of 17 hits, 12 walks, 21 runs scored, 21 RBI and four home runs through 24 games played ... She is also batting .288 and has three stolen bases.
► MAKING A RUN FOR IT: Senior outfielder Loren Cihlar ranks seventh in program history with a .854 (35-for-41) career stolen base percentage ... Cihlar picked up her first stolen base of the 2015 season versus Georgia State (Feb. 13) and is currently 6-for-9 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 is also tied for eighth in program history with 108 career runs scored.
► BURNING UP THE BASE PATHS: So far this season the Cardinals have stolen 49 bases, which is already 20 more then they stole the entire 2014 campaign when they finished the year 29-for-40 ... Emily Dabkowski leads the team at 10-for-11 this year.
► JERSEY WATCH 2015: Ball State is 4-8 in its black jersey, 3-4 in its red jersey and 5-4 in its white jersey this season.
