Ball State University Athletics
Softball Set To Host Butler Tuesday
April 13, 2015 | Softball
► THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team returns home this week for five games, starting Tuesday with a 3 p.m. first pitch versus Butler ... The Cardinals also host Western Michigan in a 1 p.m. doubleheader Friday, while Northern Illinois visits the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex for 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: Ball State Sports Link Radio is scheduled to stream all of this week's action LIVE and FREE on BallStateSports.com, with Mick Tidrow calling the action ... Fans can tune in by visiting http://BallStateSports.com/liveevents on their computer or purchasing the premium upgrade ($4.99) on the BallStSports app found in iTunes.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 21-19 record so far in 2015, Ball State softball enters the week with a 908-953-4 (.488) 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 396-382-1 (.509) career record, including a 54-38 (.587) 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.
► PERRY PICKS UP 50TH WIN AT BALL STATE: With a 7-2 victory in the first game of last Tuesday's doubleheader versus Eastern Illinois, Ball State head coach Tyra Perry became the second-fastest coach in program history to reach 50 wins ... Perry accomplished the task in 87 games (50-37), which is just two slower than the pace set by Ruth Crowe (1993-1996) who picked up her 50th career win in 85 games (50-35) ... Perry currently owns a 54-38 record at Ball State, which is the same record Crowe had through 92 games ... The best coaching record through 100 games is held by Terri Laux (1997-2006) at 59-41.
► SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the week with a 21-19 overall record, including a 7-2 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The Cardinals opened last week by sweeping a Tuesday doubleheader versus Eastern Illinois, winning the first game 7-2 and the second 4-3 (8) ... Ball State went on to split a Friday twinbill at Toledo, winning the first game 1-0 and losing the second 7-8, before sweeping a pair of games at Bowling Green by scores of 5-0 Saturday and 9-0 (5) Sunday ...The Cardinals enter the week ranked second in the MAC with a .296 team batting average, with junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski leading the squad with a .376 average, 50 hits and 10 home runs ... Junior Nicole Steinbach leads the Ball State pitching staff with an 11-10 record, two saves and a 3.90 ERA ... She has compiled 127 strikeouts over 136.1 innings of work ... Ball State's staff has a 4.69 ERA and is holding opponents to a .304 average.
► IN THE RPI: Ball State enters the week ranked 97th in the latest NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings ... The Cardinals were 114th last week ... Ball State is the second-highest ranked team from the MAC, trailing only Kent State who is 62nd ... Butler enters the week ranked 185th, while Western Michigan is 161st and Northern Illinois is 138th.
► STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Based on the latest NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings, the Cardinals have played the 90th-toughest schedule in the nation out of 295 teams ... Of Ball State's 19 losses, 15 have come versus top 70 teams, including LSU (2) and Auburn (3) ... In fact, the Cardinals only have two losses outside the top 150 ... Buffalo has the second-toughest schedule among MAC teams at 110.
► SERIES VERSUS BUTLER: Ball State holds an 18-2 lead in the all-time series versus Butler, including wins in each of the past two years ... Last year, the Cardinals scored a 4-2 win at Butler March 19 ... In the Bulldogs' last trip to Muncie, Ball State earned an 11-2 (5 inn.) win April 9, 2013 ... Butler's last win in the series came in the nightcap of a March 25, 2008 twinbill by a score of 4-3 (8 inn.) ... Ball State is 8-2 all-time versus Butler at home.
► SERIES VERSUS WESTERN MICHIGAN: Despite winning the last four meetings, Ball State trails Western Michigan 60-49 in the all-time series ... Last season, the Cardinals swept an April 12 doubleheader in Kalamazoo, Mich., by scores of 5-2 and 4-1 ... In the last games played in Muncie, Ball State scored a 13-0 (5 inn.) win April 6, 2013 and a 10-4 victory the following day ... WMU holds a slim 30-27 edge in games played in Muncie.
► SERIES VERSUS NORTHERN ILLINOIS: Northern Illinois holds a 40-26 advantage in the all-time series, including wins in four of the last five games ... The Huskies have ended the Cardinals season in each of the last two years with 3-2 wins in elimination games of the MAC Tournament ... In the 2014 regular season, NIU won the first game of an April 11 doubleheader by a score of 2-0, while Ball State rebounded to take the nightcap 7-4 ... Northern Illinois is 15-8 all-time in games played in Muncie, despite Ball State winning the last two games played on its home field by scores of 9-2 and 5-3 on April 5, 2013.
► 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 102-28 (.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 span at 85-46 (.648), followed by Miami in third at 84-56 (.600).
► 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 ... With three wins last week, Steinbach climbed into a tie for fifth in program history with 40 career victories ... Steinbach broke into the top 10 on BSU's career strikeouts chart after fanning nine batters in a win over Eastern Illinois (Feb. 15) ... Steinbach is currently sixth on the list with 333 career strikeouts.
► SHUTTING DOWN THE OPPOSITION: In three appearances in the circle last week, junior Nicole Steinbach picked up a pair of complete game shutout wins, while not issuing a single earned run over 20.0 innings of work ... She started the week by limiting Eastern Illinois to four hits and two unearned runs over 6.0 innings Tuesday (April 7) ... She followed by throwing back-to-back four-hit complete game shutouts at Toledo (April 10) and at Bowling Green (April 11) ... Steinbach tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts in the win over Bowling Green, while posting 18 strikeouts for the week compared to just two walks ... It marks the third time in her Ball State career Steinbach has thrown back-to-back complete game shutouts, with the other two both coming her freshman year.
► 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 eight of Ball State's 21 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 four game-winning runs (IPFW, March 18 / Central Michigan, March 28 / Buffalo Game 1, April 4 / Eastern Illinois Game 2, April 7) ... 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.
► THE LONG BALL; 2015 EDITION: Senior outfielder Hanne Stuedemann enters the week as Ball State's active career leader with 24 home runs, including a two-run blast in the second game of the doubleheader versus Buffalo (April 4) ... Stuedemann's 24 career home runs also rank fifth on Ball State's all-time list and are just one shy of fourth which is held by Audrey Bickel (2011-14) at 25 ... Emily Dabkowski is eighth on BSU's all-time list with 16 career home runs, including a team-high 10 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 ninth on Ball State's career list with 15 home runs.
► THE LONG BALL; 2015 EDITION PART 2: Freshman third baseman Julia Bailey became the ninth different Ball State player to smash a home run this season when she launched her first career blast in the sixth inning of last Saturday's 5-0 win at Bowling Green ... The Cardinals enter the week ranked second in the MAC with 35 home runs this season, trailing only Kent State which has 36.
► 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 fifth in program history in runs scored (128) and seventh in RBI (124).
► 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 first in the league with four triples this season.
► MAKING A RUN FOR IT: Senior outfielder Loren Cihlar ranks ninth in program history with an .844 (38-for-45) career stolen base percentage ... Cihlar picked up her first stolen base of the 2015 season versus Georgia State (Feb. 13) and is currently 9-for-13 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 seventh in program history with 119 career runs scored.
► BURNING UP THE BASE PATHS: So far this season the Cardinals have stolen 62 bases, which is already 33 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 seniors Loren Cihlar and Hanne Stuedemann have nine each.
► 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 7-9 in its black jersey, 6-5 in its red jersey and 8-5 in its white jersey this season.
