Ball State University Athletics
Softball Heads South For WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling
February 25, 2016 | Softball
Game 11 vs. Southeast Missouri
Friday, Feb. 26 - 4:15 p.m. CT
Live Stats
Game 12 vs. Western Carolina
Saturday, Feb. 27 - 9:30 a.m. CT
Live Stats
Game 13 at Western Kentucky
Saturday, Feb. 27 - 11:45 a.m. CT
Live Stats
Game 14 vs. Valparaiso
Sunday, Feb. 28 - 9:30 a.m. CT
Live Stats
► CARDINALS BACK IN ACTION: The Ball State softball team returns to action Friday, when it opens play in the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling with a 4:15 p.m. CT contest versus Southeast Missouri ... Ball State is scheduled to play Western Carolina (9:30 a.m. CT) and tournament host Western Kentucky (11:45 a.m. CT) Saturday, before closing the event versus in-state rival Valparaiso (9:30 a.m. CT) Sunday.
► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State softball fans can follow the Cardinals at the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling with live stats available on BallStateSports.com ... Fans can also get updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 4-6 record so far in 2016, Ball State enters the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling with a 925-964-4 (.490) all-time record in 41-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), six MAC West Division crowns (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), three MAC Tournament championships (1998, 2010 and 2015) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).
► SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the weekend with a 4-6 overall record, with four of the losses coming versus ranked teams ... The Cardinals suffered a pair of setbacks to 24th-ranked Texas, surrounding a loss to Iowa State, at last weekend's Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational ... However, Ball State responded by winning its final two games at the event; a 10-0 (5) victory over host Houston and a 6-4 (8) victory in a rematch versus Iowa State ... Rachel Houck leads the Ball State offense with a .379 batting average, while her 11 runs scored are the most in the MAC so far this season ... Emily Dabkowski is batting .333 on the year and leads the MAC in RBI (12) and triples (2), while her three home runs are tied for second ... In the circle, senior Nicole Steinbach leads the pitching staff with a 3-2 record, a 4.08 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 34.1 innings.
► ALL-TIME VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: The series between Ball State and Southeast Missouri is tied at 2-2, with the Cardinals owning wins in the last two meetings, including an 11-2 (6) victory Feb. 23, 2014 at the Blues City Classic ... Western Kentucky holds a 4-1 lead in the all-time series with the Cardinals, including three wins in Muncie last season ... Ball State holds a 7-1 advantage in the all-time series with Valparaiso, including a 4-3 victory in the last meeting played March 18, 2009 in Muncie ... Ball State will be playing Western Carolina for the first time in softball.
BALL STATE SOFTBALL STORY LINES
► Ball State will be looking to extend its current winning streak to three games when it plays Southeast Missouri Friday to open the Holiday Inn Spring Fling hosted by Western Kentucky ... After dropping its opening three games of the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational last weekend, the Cardinals closed the tournament with wins over host Houston (10-0 / 5 inn.) and Iowa State (6-4 / 8 inn.).
► The WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling will mark the first tournament Ball State has not faced a ranked team this season ... Of Ball State's six losses, four have come to teams from inside the Top 25 of either the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll or the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll ... Last season, Western Kentucky finished the year receiving votes in both polls.
► While the Cardinals are 0-4 versus ranked teams this season, Ball State has defeated a ranked opponent in each of the previous three seasons (2013-15) ... In 2015, Ball State opened NCAA regional play with a 6-3 victory over No.21 Notre Dame (May 15), who also entered the tournament as the No. 16 national seed ... Ball State shutout No. 3 Arizona State for a 3-0 victory March 2, 2014 and collected a 3-1 win over No. 24 North Carolina March 16, 2013.
► The highest-ranked team Ball State has ever defeated is No. 3, which has happened twice ... The Cardinals defeated No. 3 Missouri by a score of 2-1 on March 19, 2010, and earned a 3-0 victory at No. 3 Arizona State March 16, 2013.
► Senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach enters the week ranked fourth in program history with 51 career pitching victories ... She earned her 50th career win when she guided the Cardinals to a 3-2 win over UAB (Feb. 14) to close play in the Sand Dollar Classic ... Steinbach is just the fourth player in program history to record 50-or-more wins as a pitcher for the Cardinals ... Third on Ball State's career wins list is Cheri Ball (1995-98) at 62.
► Nicole Steinbach has made 108 career appearances in the circle for the Cardinals, with her 100th coming in the 2015 NCAA Regional opener versus No. 21 Notre Dame ... She guided Ball State to its first-ever NCAA regional win by limiting the Fighting Irish to six hits and two earned runs to earn the complete game victory ... Steinbach is also tied for first in program history with eight career saves, while her 387 career strikeouts are sixth on Ball State's career chart.
► Nicole Steinbach is also responsible for the other two ranked wins the Cardinals have earned over the previous three seasons ... As a freshman in 2013, Steinbach led Ball State to a 3-1 victory over No. 24 North Carolina (March 16), holding the Tar Heels to one run, six hits and a walk over seven innings ... As a sophomore, Steinbach earned her first complete game shutout victory of the 2014 season at No. 3 Arizona State (March 2), holding the Sun Devils to just six hits over seven innings of work while striking out three batters in a 3-0 victory.
► Senior pitcher Kelsey Schifferdecker also looks to continue her climb up the Ball State record books, as she enters the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling tied for seventh in program history with 35 career pitching victories ... Schifferdecker, who owns a 35-13 career record, has been particularly dominating in MAC play, with a 15-2 record in conference action.
► After seeing limited action as a freshman, playing in 25 games with just two starts, senior Emily Dabkowski has started the last 121 games for the Cardinals ... Dabkowski started all 111 games over the 2014 and 2015 seasons at second base ... This season, she has started the first 10 games at shortstop, a position she looks to play the entire season.
► A 2015 First Team All-MAC selection, Emily Dabkowski is Ball State's active career home run leader and ranks fifth in program history with 25 career blasts ... She is also fifth in program history with a .602 career slugging percentage, while her 113 runs scored and 110 RBI are both eighth ... In addition, she currently holds the 13th-best career batting average in program history at .328.
► Emily Dabkowski enters the weekend ranked first in the Mid-American Conference with 12 RBI this season ... Her biggest game came in Ball State's 10-0 (5) victory over Houston (Feb. 20), when she drove in five runs and fell a single shy of the cycle ... She drive in what proved to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the first with a triple down the right field line ... Two innings later, she slashed a two-run double to left-center field ... She capped her day with a two-run home run to right-center field in the fourth.
► Three Ball State players finished the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational with .400 batting averages ... Junior leadoff batter Amanda Arnett went 6-for-15 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI ... Junior three-hole batter Rachel Houck went 6-for-15 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, three RBI and a team-high six runs scored ...Senior Emily Dabkowski went 6-for-15 from the cleanup spot, with all six of her hits going for multiple bases ... She logged a pair of doubles, a triple and three home runs, while scoring four runs and driving in eight.
► In her first season as a starter for the Cardinals, Rachel Houck has been Ball State's most consistent batter and leads the team with a .379 average ... In addition, she has been directly responsible for the winning run in three of Ball State's four victories ... She drove in the game-winning run versus Louisiana Tech (Feb. 12) with a RBI single to center field ... She helped produce all of Ball State' runs versus UAB (Feb. 14), blasting a two-run home run in the third inning and pushing across the game-winning run from second base in the fifth inning with a hard shot the Blazers' second baseman misplayed ... In the extra-inning thriller versus Iowa State (Feb. 21), Houck's infield single to third base allowed Amanda Arnett to come around and score from third.
► In Ball State's 6-4 (8) win over Iowa State (Feb. 21), Rachel Houck became the second Ball State player to fall a hit shy of a cycle this season, finishing the game with a single, double and home run ... The last time a Ball State player recorded a cycle was April 30, 2010 when Jessie Ware (2010) logged a third inning double, a fourth inning home run, a sixth inning triple and a 10th inning single in a 10-7 (10) victory in the first game of a doubleheader versus Northern Illinois.
► Freshman Madison Lee made the most of her first career at bat versus No. 25 South Alabama (Feb. 13), splitting the outfielders in left-center field for a pinch hit double ... Since then, Lee has started the last six games as either the designated player or at catcher ... In her first at bat versus No. 24 Texas (Feb. 19), Lee blasted her first career home run in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1 at the time ... Overall, Lee is batting .313 (5-for-16) this season and has drawn three walks for a .421 on base percentage.
► MORE FIRSTS FOR BALL STATE FRESHMEN: Becca Rodriguez was the first Ball State freshman to reach base in 2016, drawing a walk in her third career plate appearance versus No. 11 Louisiana Lafayette (Feb. 12) ... Rodriguez also recorded the first hit for a Ball State freshman in 2016, with an infield single to shortstop in the fourth inning versus Southern Miss (Feb. 13) ... Aeshia Miles also collected her first career hit against Southern Miss with a fifth inning single down the third base line ... Madeline Porter's first career hit came in the win over UAB (Feb. 14), when she tallied a leadoff double down the right field line in the seventh inning.
► Speaking of firsts, sophomore Elise Sandberg made her first career start as the designated player versus Iowa State (Feb. 19) and launched her first career home run in the fourth inning, a two-run blast to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead at the time ... Sandberg would also start the next three games, driving in a pair of runs versus Houston (Feb. 20) and adding her second career home run in the rematch versus Iowa State (Feb. 21) ... The home run was a key play in the game, as it tied the score at 4-4 with one out in the top of the seventh to force extra innings.
► CARDINALS BACK IN ACTION: The Ball State softball team returns to action Friday, when it opens play in the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling with a 4:15 p.m. CT contest versus Southeast Missouri ... Ball State is scheduled to play Western Carolina (9:30 a.m. CT) and tournament host Western Kentucky (11:45 a.m. CT) Saturday, before closing the event versus in-state rival Valparaiso (9:30 a.m. CT) Sunday.► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State softball fans can follow the Cardinals at the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling with live stats available on BallStateSports.com ... Fans can also get updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With a 4-6 record so far in 2016, Ball State enters the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling with a 925-964-4 (.490) all-time record in 41-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), six MAC West Division crowns (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015), three MAC Tournament championships (1998, 2010 and 2015) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).
► SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the weekend with a 4-6 overall record, with four of the losses coming versus ranked teams ... The Cardinals suffered a pair of setbacks to 24th-ranked Texas, surrounding a loss to Iowa State, at last weekend's Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational ... However, Ball State responded by winning its final two games at the event; a 10-0 (5) victory over host Houston and a 6-4 (8) victory in a rematch versus Iowa State ... Rachel Houck leads the Ball State offense with a .379 batting average, while her 11 runs scored are the most in the MAC so far this season ... Emily Dabkowski is batting .333 on the year and leads the MAC in RBI (12) and triples (2), while her three home runs are tied for second ... In the circle, senior Nicole Steinbach leads the pitching staff with a 3-2 record, a 4.08 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 34.1 innings.
► ALL-TIME VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS: The series between Ball State and Southeast Missouri is tied at 2-2, with the Cardinals owning wins in the last two meetings, including an 11-2 (6) victory Feb. 23, 2014 at the Blues City Classic ... Western Kentucky holds a 4-1 lead in the all-time series with the Cardinals, including three wins in Muncie last season ... Ball State holds a 7-1 advantage in the all-time series with Valparaiso, including a 4-3 victory in the last meeting played March 18, 2009 in Muncie ... Ball State will be playing Western Carolina for the first time in softball.
BALL STATE SOFTBALL STORY LINES► Ball State will be looking to extend its current winning streak to three games when it plays Southeast Missouri Friday to open the Holiday Inn Spring Fling hosted by Western Kentucky ... After dropping its opening three games of the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational last weekend, the Cardinals closed the tournament with wins over host Houston (10-0 / 5 inn.) and Iowa State (6-4 / 8 inn.).
► The WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling will mark the first tournament Ball State has not faced a ranked team this season ... Of Ball State's six losses, four have come to teams from inside the Top 25 of either the USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches Poll or the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll ... Last season, Western Kentucky finished the year receiving votes in both polls.
► While the Cardinals are 0-4 versus ranked teams this season, Ball State has defeated a ranked opponent in each of the previous three seasons (2013-15) ... In 2015, Ball State opened NCAA regional play with a 6-3 victory over No.21 Notre Dame (May 15), who also entered the tournament as the No. 16 national seed ... Ball State shutout No. 3 Arizona State for a 3-0 victory March 2, 2014 and collected a 3-1 win over No. 24 North Carolina March 16, 2013.
► The highest-ranked team Ball State has ever defeated is No. 3, which has happened twice ... The Cardinals defeated No. 3 Missouri by a score of 2-1 on March 19, 2010, and earned a 3-0 victory at No. 3 Arizona State March 16, 2013.
► Senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach enters the week ranked fourth in program history with 51 career pitching victories ... She earned her 50th career win when she guided the Cardinals to a 3-2 win over UAB (Feb. 14) to close play in the Sand Dollar Classic ... Steinbach is just the fourth player in program history to record 50-or-more wins as a pitcher for the Cardinals ... Third on Ball State's career wins list is Cheri Ball (1995-98) at 62.
► Nicole Steinbach has made 108 career appearances in the circle for the Cardinals, with her 100th coming in the 2015 NCAA Regional opener versus No. 21 Notre Dame ... She guided Ball State to its first-ever NCAA regional win by limiting the Fighting Irish to six hits and two earned runs to earn the complete game victory ... Steinbach is also tied for first in program history with eight career saves, while her 387 career strikeouts are sixth on Ball State's career chart.
► Nicole Steinbach is also responsible for the other two ranked wins the Cardinals have earned over the previous three seasons ... As a freshman in 2013, Steinbach led Ball State to a 3-1 victory over No. 24 North Carolina (March 16), holding the Tar Heels to one run, six hits and a walk over seven innings ... As a sophomore, Steinbach earned her first complete game shutout victory of the 2014 season at No. 3 Arizona State (March 2), holding the Sun Devils to just six hits over seven innings of work while striking out three batters in a 3-0 victory.
► Senior pitcher Kelsey Schifferdecker also looks to continue her climb up the Ball State record books, as she enters the WKU Holiday Inn Spring Fling tied for seventh in program history with 35 career pitching victories ... Schifferdecker, who owns a 35-13 career record, has been particularly dominating in MAC play, with a 15-2 record in conference action.
► After seeing limited action as a freshman, playing in 25 games with just two starts, senior Emily Dabkowski has started the last 121 games for the Cardinals ... Dabkowski started all 111 games over the 2014 and 2015 seasons at second base ... This season, she has started the first 10 games at shortstop, a position she looks to play the entire season.
► A 2015 First Team All-MAC selection, Emily Dabkowski is Ball State's active career home run leader and ranks fifth in program history with 25 career blasts ... She is also fifth in program history with a .602 career slugging percentage, while her 113 runs scored and 110 RBI are both eighth ... In addition, she currently holds the 13th-best career batting average in program history at .328.
► Emily Dabkowski enters the weekend ranked first in the Mid-American Conference with 12 RBI this season ... Her biggest game came in Ball State's 10-0 (5) victory over Houston (Feb. 20), when she drove in five runs and fell a single shy of the cycle ... She drive in what proved to be the game-winning run in the bottom of the first with a triple down the right field line ... Two innings later, she slashed a two-run double to left-center field ... She capped her day with a two-run home run to right-center field in the fourth.
► Three Ball State players finished the Houston Hilton Plaza Invitational with .400 batting averages ... Junior leadoff batter Amanda Arnett went 6-for-15 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI ... Junior three-hole batter Rachel Houck went 6-for-15 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, three RBI and a team-high six runs scored ...Senior Emily Dabkowski went 6-for-15 from the cleanup spot, with all six of her hits going for multiple bases ... She logged a pair of doubles, a triple and three home runs, while scoring four runs and driving in eight.
► In her first season as a starter for the Cardinals, Rachel Houck has been Ball State's most consistent batter and leads the team with a .379 average ... In addition, she has been directly responsible for the winning run in three of Ball State's four victories ... She drove in the game-winning run versus Louisiana Tech (Feb. 12) with a RBI single to center field ... She helped produce all of Ball State' runs versus UAB (Feb. 14), blasting a two-run home run in the third inning and pushing across the game-winning run from second base in the fifth inning with a hard shot the Blazers' second baseman misplayed ... In the extra-inning thriller versus Iowa State (Feb. 21), Houck's infield single to third base allowed Amanda Arnett to come around and score from third.
► In Ball State's 6-4 (8) win over Iowa State (Feb. 21), Rachel Houck became the second Ball State player to fall a hit shy of a cycle this season, finishing the game with a single, double and home run ... The last time a Ball State player recorded a cycle was April 30, 2010 when Jessie Ware (2010) logged a third inning double, a fourth inning home run, a sixth inning triple and a 10th inning single in a 10-7 (10) victory in the first game of a doubleheader versus Northern Illinois.
► Freshman Madison Lee made the most of her first career at bat versus No. 25 South Alabama (Feb. 13), splitting the outfielders in left-center field for a pinch hit double ... Since then, Lee has started the last six games as either the designated player or at catcher ... In her first at bat versus No. 24 Texas (Feb. 19), Lee blasted her first career home run in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1 at the time ... Overall, Lee is batting .313 (5-for-16) this season and has drawn three walks for a .421 on base percentage.
► MORE FIRSTS FOR BALL STATE FRESHMEN: Becca Rodriguez was the first Ball State freshman to reach base in 2016, drawing a walk in her third career plate appearance versus No. 11 Louisiana Lafayette (Feb. 12) ... Rodriguez also recorded the first hit for a Ball State freshman in 2016, with an infield single to shortstop in the fourth inning versus Southern Miss (Feb. 13) ... Aeshia Miles also collected her first career hit against Southern Miss with a fifth inning single down the third base line ... Madeline Porter's first career hit came in the win over UAB (Feb. 14), when she tallied a leadoff double down the right field line in the seventh inning.
► Speaking of firsts, sophomore Elise Sandberg made her first career start as the designated player versus Iowa State (Feb. 19) and launched her first career home run in the fourth inning, a two-run blast to give the Cardinals a 3-1 lead at the time ... Sandberg would also start the next three games, driving in a pair of runs versus Houston (Feb. 20) and adding her second career home run in the rematch versus Iowa State (Feb. 21) ... The home run was a key play in the game, as it tied the score at 4-4 with one out in the top of the seventh to force extra innings.
