Ball State University Athletics
Softball Returns To Action Wednesday At Purdue
March 31, 2015 | Softball
► THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team has five games on slate this week, starting Wednesday with a 5 p.m. match up at in-state rival Purdue ... The Cardinals host MAC East Division co-leader Kent State for a Friday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m., before battling Buffalo in single games Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.).
► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Cardinals fans can follow the action this week with live stats for all five 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.
► LISTEN LIVE: Audio for all four of this weekend's MAC games will be streamed LIVE and FREE on BallStateSports.com, with Sports Link Radio's Mick Tidrow calling the play-by-play action and Jake Bartelson providing the color commentary ... Fans can tune in by visiting http://BallStateSports.com/liveevents on their computer web browser or purchasing the premium upgrade ($4.99) on the BallStSports app found in iTunes.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 14-16 record so far in 2015, Ball State softball enters the week with a 901-950-4 (.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 389-379-1 (.507) career record, including a 47-35 (.573) 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 week with a 14-16 overall record, including a 2-0 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... Last week, the Cardinals saw its Tuesday game versus Butler rescheduled and its Friday doubleheader at Eastern Michigan canceled, before sweeping a Saturday doubleheader at Central Michigan ... The Cardinals rallied from down 6-0 to win the opener 14-7, before scoring a 9-5 victory in the nightcap ... Ball State is batting a league-best .294 as a team, with junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski leading the squad with a .368 average, 35 hits and eight home runs ... Junior Nicole Steinbach leads the Ball State pitching staff with a 7-8 record, two saves and a 4.23 ERA ... She has compiled 85 strikeouts over 94.1 innings of work ... Ball State's staff has a combined 5.27 ERA and is holding opponents to a .311 batting average.
► IN THE RPI: Ball State enters the week ranked 106th in the latest NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings ... The Cardinals were 115th in the rankings last week ... Ball State is the second-highest ranked team from the Mid-American Conference, trailing only Kent State who is 56th ... Purdue enters the week ranked 57th, while Buffalo is 230th.
► STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Based on the latest NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings, the Cardinals have played the 86th-toughest schedule in the nation out of 295 teams ... Of Ball State's 16 losses, 12 have come versus top 50 teams, including LSU (2) and Auburn (3) ... In fact, the Cardinals only have two losses outside the top 150 ... Central Michigan has the second-toughest schedule among MAC teams at 110, while Kent State is at 168 and Buffalo is at 147 ... Kent State does own the MAC's only Top 25 wins, with victories over Michigan (4) and UCF (22).
► THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS
PURDUE: The Boilermakers enter the week with a 23-11 overall record, including a 4-2 mark in Big Ten play ... Last weekend, Purdue split a Saturday league twinbill versus Rutgers (L, 0-5 / W, 11-8), before dropping the rubber game 2-1 (10 inn.) Sunday ... The Boilermakers enter the week with a .299 team batting average and have scored an average of 4.59 runs per game ... Ashley Burkhardt leads the squad with a .406 batting average, 30 runs scored, 35 RBI and eight home runs ... In the circle, Purdue's pitchers have a combined 1.78 ERA, with Lilly Fecho serving as the team's top pitcher making 25 appearances with a 15-7 record, a 1.19 ERA and 183 strikeouts over 141.0 innings of work ... Purdue holds a 19-10 lead in the all-time series, despite the Cardinals scoring a 6-5 road victory last season (April 9) ... Overall, Ball State owns a 3-8 all-time record in West Lafayette.
KENT STATE: The Golden Flashes enter the week with a 21-6 overall record, including a 2-0 mark in MAC play ... KSU enters the week on a nine game winning streak, including sweeping Buffalo last weekend in a Sunday doubleheader ... Kent State won the first game 6-4 and the second 7-3 ... The Golden Flashes enter the week ranked fourth in the league with a .284 batting average and are averaging 5.00 runs per game ... Kim Kirkpatrick leads the team with a .357 average and has scored 21 runs while driving in 11 RBI ... Pitching has been the key to Kent State's success this season, including a pair of wins over Top 25 RPI opponents ... As a team, the Golden Flashes enter the week with a 1.54 team ERA, with senior ace Emma Johnson owning a 10-3 record, a 1.14 ERA, six complete game shutouts and 146 strikeouts over 86.1 innings of work ... Kent State owns a 46-30 lead in the all-time series, including a 5-3 win in the last meeting (April 5, 2013) ... The Cardinals picked up a 6-5 (8) victory one day earlier (April 4, 2013) ... Last season's series at Kent State was snowed out ... Ball State does hold a 17-16 lead in games played in Muncie.
BUFFALO: The Bulls enter the week with a 7-22 overall record, including an 0-2 mark in league play ... Buffalo dropped both ends of a doubleheader last Sunday at Kent State by scores of 6-4 and 7-3 ... The Bulls are scheduled to play a Friday doubleheader at Miami before coming to Muncie to close out the weekend ... The Bulls enter the week ranked second in the MAC with a .286 team batting average and are averaging 3.90 runs per game ... Savanna Norcio leads the team with a .418 average and has scored 17 runs and driven in 11 RBI ... Buffalo's pitching staff ranks 11th in the MAC with a 6.31 team ERA ... Bobbi Langlois has thrown a team-high 76.1 innings, producing a 3-9 record, a 6.24 ERA and 33 strikeouts ... Ball State holds a commanding 16-3 lead in the all-time series, including 12 straight wins ... With last season's games at Buffalo canceled due to weather, the teams have not met since the Cardinals swept a May 3, 2013 doubleheader, winning the games 3-2 and 5-3 to win the 2013 MAC Regular Season Championship outright ... Ball State holds a 9-1 edge in games played in Muncie, with Buffalo's lone win coming in the first-ever meeting between the two teams May 5, 2004 by a score of 5-0.
► 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-plus seasons, the Cardinals have proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 97-26 (.789) 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 span at 80-44 (.645), followed by Miami in third at 79-53 (.598).
► 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 six of Ball State's 14 wins this season ... She has driven in four game-winning runs, with three provided via home run (South Dakota, Feb. 6 / Mercer, Feb. 14 / Stephen F. Austin, Feb. 28) and the other a sacrifice fly (IUPUI, Feb. 7) ... She has also scored a pair of game-winning runs (IPFW, March 18 / Central Michigan, March 28) ... 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 (Feb. 27-March 1), junior pitcher Nicole Steinbach moved into a tie for first in program history with eight career saves ... She also enters the week ranked sixth in program history with 36 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 291 career strikeouts.
► THE LONG BALL; 2015 EDITION: With a home run in each of Saturday's games at Central Michigan (March 28), senior outfielder Hanne Stuedemann took over sole possession of fifth place on the Cardinals' career home run list ... Ball State's active career home run leader, Stuedemann drove in what proved to be the game-winning run in each contest last weekend with her 22nd and 23rd career blasts ... Emily Dabkowski is eighth on BSU's all-time list with 14 career home runs, including a team-high eight 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 10th on Ball State's career list with 12 home runs.
► 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 (122) and seventh in RBI (118).
► TRIPLE THREAT: After collecting her first career triple in the series finale versus Western Kentucky (March 22), senior catcher Jessica Craft finds herself tied for third in the league with three triples this season after adding two more in the 14-7 victory at Central Michigan (March 28) ... She nearly had her fourth triple of the season later in the day, but was thrown out by inches on a two-run double in the 9-5 win over the Chippewas.
► 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 eighth in program history with 111 career runs scored.
► BURNING UP THE BASE PATHS: So far this season the Cardinals have stolen a league-high 50 bases, which is already 21 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, while sophomore outfielder India Steward is second at 7-for-8.
► THE BIG INNING: Ball State has scored 11 runs in an inning twice this season, once in the fourth inning versus IPFW (March 18) and once in the seventh inning at Central Michigan (March 18) ... The effort stands as the second-best single-inning output in program history, trailing only the 16-run seventh inning at Toledo (April 13, 2007) ... Ball State also had an 11-run seventh inning versus Grambling State (Feb. 22, 2013) ... The Grambling State game marks one of only two games in program history the Cardinals have scored 20-or-more runs, as they won the contest 20-3 ... The other game was a 24-0 victory over St. Leo March 2, 1987.
► JERSEY WATCH 2015: Ball State is 4-8 in its black jersey, 5-4 in its red jersey and 5-4 in its white jersey this season.
