Ball State University Athletics
Softball Heads East For Maryland Invitational
March 17, 2016 | Softball
Game 27 - Ball State vs. UMass
Friday, March 18 at Noon
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio
Game 28 - Ball State vs. North Dakota State
Saturday, March 19 at 3:45 p.m.
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio
Game 29 - Ball State at Maryland
Saturday, March 19 at 8:15 p.m.
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio
Game 30 - Ball State vs. Boston
Sunday, March 20 at 9 a.m.
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio
► CARDINALS TRAVEL TO MARYLAND: The Ball State softball team continues its 34-game road swing to open the 2016 campaign with a stop at the Maryland Invitational this weekend ... The Cardinals open play in the three-day event Friday versus UMass (Noon) ... Saturday, the Cardinals will play North Dakota State (3:45 p.m.) and tournament host Maryland (8:15 p.m.), before closing the event Sunday against Boston (9 a.m.).
► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State Sports Link Digital's Mick Tidrow will call the action LIVE from the Maryland Softball Stadium ... Fans can tune in for FREE on their computer by visiting BallStateSports.com/liveevents ... Fans can listen to the broadcasts on their mobile devices by purchasing the premium upgrade (on-time fee of $4.99) on the BallStSports app found in the iTunes and Android stores ... Ball State softball fans can also follow along with live stats available on BallStateSports.com ... In addition, fans can get updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With an 12-14 record so far in 2016, Ball State enters the Maryland Invitational with a 933-973-4 (.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 Maryland Invitational on a positive note, after ending its 11-day, 12-game spring break road trip to the state of Florida with an 11-0 (5) win at Jacksonville (March 13) ... The Cardinals posted a 4-1 record in bounce-back games on the trip, avenging losses to four of the five teams it faced twice ... On the year, junior center fielder Rachel Houck leads the Ball State offense with a .413 batting average, while her 22 runs scored pace the Mid-American Conference ... Senior shortstop Emily Dabkowski leads the MAC with 30 RBI on the year, and also ranks first the MAC in triples (3) and second in both home runs (7) and doubles (7) ... Houck and Dabkowski also rank first (33) and second (26), respectively, in the MAC in hits ... In the circle, Nicole Steinbach ranks second in the MAC with nine pitching wins and owns a 3.37 ERA.
► ALL-TIME VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:
- UMASS: The Cardinals and Minutewomen will be meeting for just the second time in softball ... UMass won the only previous meeting by a score of 2-0 March 7, 2003.
- NORTH DAKOTA STATE: The Cardinals and Bison will be meeting for the sixth time in softball, with NDSU holding a 3-2 edge ... Saturday's game will mark the third meeting since former Ball State graduate assistant/pitching coach Brynne Dordel joined the Bison staff following the 2013 season ... In 2014, the teams split a pair of games at the Mizzou Tournament, with NDSU winning the first 9-3 (March 21) and the Cardinals taking the second 6-4 (March 22).
- MARYLAND: The Cardinals and Terps will be playing for just the second time in softball ... Maryland won the only previous meeting by a score of 2-1 on March 5, 2004.
- BOSTON: The Cardinals hold a 3-0 lead in the all-time series versus the Terriers ... In the latest meeting, Ball State scored a 3-2 victory March 9, 2010 ... The Cardinals scored 6-5 extra-inning wins in the other two meetings, playing eight frames March 11, 2008 and 10 innings March 11, 2009.
BALL STATE SOFTBALL STORY LINES
► This weekend's tournament will mark the mid-way point in the 2016 season for the Ball State softball program ... The Cardinals are 12-14 so far this season, and Saturday's first game versus North Dakota State will be the 28th game on the team's 56-game schedule.
► At this point last season, the Cardinals also had a 12-14 overall record ... In 2015, Ball State would fall to 12-16 at the midway point, before rebounding to end the season on a 22-9 run, including winning all four of its games in the Mid-American Conference Tournament and defeating 16th-seed and 21st-ranked Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA South Bend Regional.
► This season, the Cardinals have played an extremely tough schedule with seven of its 14 losses coming to teams ranked inside the top 25 of either the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Coaches Poll or the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll ... Of this week's opponents, North Dakota State is currently receiving three votes in each poll.
► 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.
► Ball State is proving the old adage “the early bird gets the worm” right so far this season, boasting a perfect 7-0 record in games started at or before 11 a.m. ... The Cardinals own morning wins over UAB (10a), Iowa State (10a), Western Carolina (10:30a), Valparaiso (10:30a), Stony Brook (11a), Murray State (9a) and Jacksonville (9a) ... The Cardinals are out-scoring opponents 56-to-17 in morning games, and boast a .358 batting average in the contests, including six batters at .400-or-better ... Senior Nicole Steinbach is 5-0 in the circle in such games, boasting a 2.43 ERA and .288 opponents batting average.
► Senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach enters the week ranked fourth in program history with 57 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 119 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 431 career strikeouts are fourth on Ball State's career chart.
► Senior pitcher Kelsey Schifferdecker also looks to continue her climb up the Ball State record books, as she enters the Maryland Invitational ranked seventh in program history with 36 career pitching victories ... Schifferdecker, who owns a 36-15 career record, has been particularly dominating in MAC play, with a 15-2 record in conference action.
► Senior Emily Dabkowski has started the last 137 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 26 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 fourth in program history with 29 career blasts ... She is also fifth in program history with a .621 career slugging percentage, while her 126 runs scored and 128 RBI are both eighth ... In addition, she currently holds the 10th-best career batting average in program history at .334.
► Emily Dabkowski enters the Maryland Invitational ranked first in the MAC and 17th nationally with 30 RBI ... She has had a pair of five RBI games this season, at Houston (Feb. 20) and versus Stony Brook (March 5), as well as a four RBI outing against Louisiana Tech (Feb. 12) ... Dabkowski also ranks 10th in the nation with three triples, while her .824 slugging percentage is 46th among all NCAA Division I players.
► In her first season as a starter for the Cardinals, Rachel Houck has been Ball State's most consistent batter, ranking first on the team, sixth in the MAC and 141st nationally with a .413 batting average ... In addition, Houck has been directly responsible for the winning run in five of Ball State's 12 victories.
► Rachel Houck 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 ... She scored the game-winning run versus Stony Brook (March 5) after reaching base with a one-out double in the bottom of the first ... She also drove in Arnett with a RBI ground out in the first inning of Ball State's 11-0 victory at Jacksonville (March 13) for what stood as the game-winning run.
► 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 22 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 ranks second on team with a .397 (23-for-58) batting average and has drawn a team-high 13 walks for a team-best .507 on-base percentage ... In the win over Valpo (Feb. 28), Lee drove in her first career game-winning RBI with a two-run double to left field ... She currently has six RBI and a pair of home runs on the year.
