Ball State University Athletics
Softball Visits Butler Wednesday, Opens MAC Play at Miami This Weekend
March 23, 2016 | Softball
GAME 29 - Ball State at Butler
Wednesday, March 23 at 4 p.m.
Live Stats
GAME 30 - Ball State at Miami (MAC Opener)
Friday, March 25 at 3 p.m.
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio | Live Video (Miami PPV)
GAMES 31 & 32 - Ball State at Miami (DH)
Saturday, March 26 at 1 p.m.
Game 1 Live Stats | Game 2 Live Stats | SL Digital Audio | Live Video (Miami PPV)
► CARDINALS VISIT BUTLER AND MIAMI THIS WEEK: The Ball State softball team will play its first game in the state of Indiana Wednesday, when it travels to Butler for a schedule 4 p.m. first pitch at the Butler Softball Field ... The Cardinals open MAC play this weekend with a three-game series at Miami, with the teams playing a single game Friday (3 p.m.) and a doubleheader Saturday (1 p.m.)
► FOLLOW THE ACTION: Ball State softball fans can follow along with live stats for all four of this week's games on BallStateSports.com ... Ball State Sports Link Digital's Mick Tidrow will return to the booth for the Miami series, covering all three games LIVE from the Miami Softball Diamond ... 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 ... Fans can also get regular updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With an 14-14 record so far in 2016, Ball State enters Wednesday's game at Butler with a 935-973-4 (.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 Wednesday's game at Butler riding a three game winning streak ... After closing spring break with an 11-0 (5) win at Jacksonville (March 13), the Cardinals won both games it played at the Maryland Invitational, topping UMass by a score of 2-0 (March 18) and Boston by a score of 5-4 (March 20) ... On the year, junior center fielder Rachel Houck leads the Ball State offense with a .400 batting average, while her 34 hits are first in the Mid-American Conference and her 22 runs scored rank third ... Senior shortstop Emily Dabkowski leads the team and ranks second in the MAC with 30 RBI, and also ranks among the league leaders in triples (3), home runs (7) and doubles (7) ... In the circle, Nicole Steinbach is tied for first in the MAC with 11 pitching wins and owns a 3.13 ERA and a .266 opponents batting average.
► ALL-TIME VS. THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:
- BUTLER: While Ball State holds a commanding 18-3 lead in the all-time series versus the Bulldogs, it was Butler who squeaked out a 6-4 (11) extra-inning thriller at the BSU Softball Complex last April 14 ... The Cardinals are 8-0 all-time in games played at Butler, including a 4-2 victory its latest trip to Indianapolis, March 19, 2014.
- MIAMI: Ball State holds a 54-43 lead in the all-time series versus the RedHawks, including wins in two of the three meetings last season ... Miami hosted the Cardinals for a pair of regular season games in 2015, winning the first meeting 1-0 (May 2), before Ball State rebounded to take the regular season finale 7-6 (May 3) ... The teams met once again in the MAC Tournament, with the Cardinals scoring an 8-5 victory on their way to the event title ... Ball State is 24-18 all-time in games played in Oxford, Ohio, including wins in six of the last seven contests.
BALL STATE SOFTBALL STORY LINES
► The Cardinals look to wrap up one of the longest road swings in program history when it plays at Butler and at Miami this week ... If the team gets all four games in, it will have played its first 32 games of the year on the road, which is the longest stretch of road games in program history ... Entering this season, the longest previous stretch of road games to open a season was 31 in 2012.
► With Mother Nature forcing the cancellation of a pair of games at the Maryland Invitational, Friday's 2-0 victory over UMass marked the halfway point of the 2016 schedule ... The Cardinals currently have 54 games on the regular season docket.
► Ball State is currently 14-14 on the year, which is two games better than last season's record ... In 2015, Ball State went 12-16 through the first 28 games, 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.
► The Cardinals have played one of the toughest schedules in the MAC this season, with 13 of its 28 games coming against teams ranked in the top 100 in the first NCAA Division I Softball RPI rankings ... Kent State, Ohio and Toledo are next on the list, facing 10 top 100 opponents each ... In addition, seven of Ball State's 14 losses have come 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.
► Over the past seven seasons, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 109-31 (.779) league record ... Kent State is second on the list during the same time frame with a 95-48 (.664) record, while this weekend's opponent Miami is third at 90-60 (.600) ... In addition, Ball State has claimed five (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 & 2014) of the last seven MAC Regular Season titles, the first five in program history, and won the 2010 and 2015 MAC Tournament Championships to earn a pair of NCAA Regional berths.
► Ball State is proving the old adage “the early bird gets the worm” right so far this season, boasting a perfect 8-0 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), Jacksonville (9a) and Boston (10:35a) ... The Cardinals are out-scoring opponents 61-to-21 in morning games, and boast a .349 batting average in the contests, including five batters at .400-or-better ... Senior Nicole Steinbach is 6-0 in the circle in such games, boasting a 2.55 ERA and .286 opponents batting average.
► Senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach enters the week ranked fourth in program history with 59 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 121 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 440 career strikeouts are fifth 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 week 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 139 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 28 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 sixth in program history with a .614 career slugging percentage, while her 127 runs scored are tied for seventh and her 128 RBI are eighth ... In addition, she currently holds the 12th-best career batting average in program history at .330.
► 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 150th nationally with a .400 batting average ... In addition, Houck has been directly responsible for the winning run in five of Ball State's 14 victories.
► Rachel Houck enters the week ranked first in the MAC with 34 hits, including a league-high nine doubles ... She is also tied for 11th in the MAC with four home runs and is tied for 10th with one triple, giving her 14 extra base hits this season ... Only two players in the MAC have more extra base hits than Houck this season; NIU's Emily Naegele (20 - 8 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR) and teammate Emily Dabkowski (17 - 7 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR).
► 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 24 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 .387 (24-for-62) batting average and has drawn a MAC-leading 16 walks for a team-best .513 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.
► Madison Lee enters the week having reached base safely in each of the last 13 games, which is the longest streak for a Ball State player this season ... She has had three, three game hitting streaks during the span, while reaching base via the walk in the four other games.
► Since moving to the top of the lineup for the final game at Jacksonville (March 13), senior right fielder Selena Reyna has paced the Ball State offense with a .455 (5-for-11) batting average ... She is currently riding a team-high six game hitting streak and has scored two runs ... Reyna led off the final 48 games of the 2015 season, posting a .339 batting average with 13 doubles, nine home runs and a pair of triples in those games ... Her biggest leadoff hit came in the NCAA Regional opener versus No. 21 Notre Dame, when she opened the game with a home run to help guide the Cardinals to the first NCAA Regional victory in program history.
