Ball State University Athletics
Softball Travels To Indiana Wednesday, Hosts CMU This Weekend
April 19, 2016 | Softball
GAME 45 - Ball State at Indiana
Wednesday, April 20 - 6 p.m.
Live Stats | Live Video
GAME 46 - Ball State hosts Central Michigan
Friday, April 22 - 3 p.m.
Live Stats | SL Digital Audio | Live Video
GAME 47-48 - Ball State hosts Central Michigan
Saturday, April 23 - 1 p.m.
Live Stats: Game 1 / Game 2 | SL Digital Audio | Live Video
► THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team closes the non-conference portion of its 2016 regular season schedule Wednesday, when it travels to Indiana for a scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch at Andy Mohr Field ... The Cardinals then return home for a pivotal Mid-American Conference series versus Central Michigan ... Ball State will hosts the Chippewas in a 3 p.m. game Friday and a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex.
► FOLLOW THE ACTION PART 1: Wednesday's game at Indiana will be carried live online by BTN Plus on http://btn2go.com ... Fans wishing to watch the game must purchase a monthly “school pass” to follow Indiana for a cost of $9.95.
► FOLLOW THE ACTION PART 2: When the Cardinals return home this weekend, Ball State Sports Link Digital will provide live audio for all three games versus Central Michigan ... 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 (one-time fee of $4.99) on the BallStSports app found in the iTunes and Android stores ... A LIVE one-camera video feed of the Central Michigan series will also be available for FREE on BallStateSports.com/liveevents and will be linked with the SL Digital broadcast.
► FOLLOW THE ACTION PART 3: Live stats will be available for all four games this week at BallStateSports.com/livestats ... Fans can also get regular updates by following the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB, Instagram: @BallStateSB and Facebook: BallStateSoftball.
► CARDINALS ALL-TIME: With an 18-26 record so far in 2016, Ball State enters Wednesday's game at Indiana with a 939-985-4 (.488) 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: The Ball State softball team looks to snap its current four-game losing streak Wednesday when it travels to Indiana for a scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch ... After losing the series finale to Northern Illinois last Wednesday, the Cardinals dropped all three games of its weekend series at Eastern Michigan ... Freshman third baseman Aeshia Miles led the Ball State offense with a .444 (4-for-9) batting average last week, while also drawing a walk for a .500 on base percentage ... Senior outfielder Selena Reyna was second on the team with a .385 (5-for-13) average over the span, while junior outfielder India Steward had team-highs of three runs score and three RBIs ... Senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach was the pitcher of record in all four games, pitching 14.2 of the 24.0 innings over the four games ... She struck out 15 batters over the span, while holding opponents to a .302 batting average.
► ALL-TIME VS. INDIANA: While Indiana holds a 39-32 lead in the all-time series versus Ball State, the Cardinals have been making up ground as of late, winning 10 of the last 14 games in the series ... In the last meeting, Ball State cruised to a 19-9 (5) home victory over the Hoosiers April 21, 2015 ... In its last trip to Bloomington, the Cardinals split an April 16, 2014 doubleheader, losing the first game 3-2, before rebounding to win the nightcap 6-3 ... Ball State is 15-24 all-time in games played at Indiana, including a 2-1 mark at Andy Mohr Field ... The Cardinals also earned a 5-2 victory in the Andy Mohr Field dedication game April 23, 2013.
► ALL-TIME VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: While Central Michigan holds a commanding 67-28 lead in the all-time series, the Cardinals have won eight of the last nine games in the series ... Last season, Ball State swept a March 28, 2015 doubleheader in Mount Pleasant by scores of 14-7 and 9-5 ... CMU's last win in the series came in game two of a May 2, 2014 doubleheader in Muncie by a score of 8-5 (8) ... Ball State won the opener, 8-2 ... The Chippewas also hold a 24-10 edge in games played in Muncie, and are 6-4 in the last 10 games played at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex
BALL STATE SOFTBALL STORY LINES
► The Cardinals played the first 32 games of the 2016 season on the road, which is the longest stretch of road games in program history ... Entering this season, the longest previous road swing was a 31-game stint to open the 2012 campaign.
► The Ball State softball team needs a win Wednesday at Indiana to finish the non-conference portion of its regular season slate with a .500 record ... The Cardinals enter the game with a 14-15 record in non-conference play in 2016, including a 4-5 mark on the road and a 10-10 ledger at neutral fields ... Junior outfielder Rachel Houck leads the Ball State offense in non-conference play with a .398 batting average, while senior shortstop Emily Dabkowski has driven in a team-best 30 RBIs outside of league play.
► Since the beginning of the 2009 season, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 113-42 (.729) league record ... Kent State is second on the list during the same time frame with a 103-54 (.656) record ... This weekend's opponent Central Michigan is seventh at 82-77-1 (.516).
► With her 62nd career pitching victory in the win over Buffalo (April 9), senior pitcher Nicole Steinbach moved into a tie for third on Ball State's career wins list with Cheri Ball (1995-98) at 62 ... She needs 15 more wins to reach second place, which is held by Bernie Coffman (1986-89) at 77.
► Nicole Steinbach, who is just the fourth player in program history to record 50-or-more wins as a pitcher for the Cardinals, earned her 50th career win when she guided the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over UAB (Feb. 14) to close play in the Sand Dollar Classic earlier this season.
► With her first save of the 2016 season in the second game victory over Ohio (April 2), Nicole Steinbach took over sole possession of the Ball State program record for career saves with her ninth ... Steinbach also enters the week ranked fifth in program history with 489 career strikeouts.
► Nicole Steinbach has made 135 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.
► 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 36-17 career record, has been particularly dominating in MAC play, with a 15-4 record in conference action.
► Senior Emily Dabkowski has started the last 155 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 44 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 30 career blasts ... She is also fifth in program history with a .599 career slugging percentage, while her 135 runs scored are tied for sixth and her 133 RBIs are seventh ... In addition, she currently holds the 13th-best career batting average in program history at .324.► Emily Dabkowski enters the week tied for third in the MAC with 22 extra base hits this season ... She is tied for the league lead with four triples, is tied for fourth in the conference with 10 doubles and is tied for 10th in the MAC with eight home runs ... Northern Illinois' Emily Naegele (27 - 9 2B, 2 3B, 16 HR) and Kent State's Maddy Grimm (23 - 9 2B, 1 3B, 13 HR) are the only league players with more extra base hits this season.
► 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 40 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 first on team with a .349 (38-for-109) batting average and is tied for sixth in the MAC with 21 walks for a team-best .458 on-base percentage ... In the win over Valpo (Feb. 28), Lee drove in her first career game-winning RBI with a two-run double.
► Over the last nine games, sophomore catcher Leigh McAnally leads the Ball State offense with a .360 (9-for-25) batting average ... She reached base safely in the first seven games, before being held off the bases in Saturday's opener at EMU (April 16) ... She responded with her first career three-hit game in the nightcap, scoring twice and driving in a run.
► Senior outfielder Selena Reyna enters the week ranked fifth in program history with 42 career doubles ... She needs 10 more doubles to move past Amanda Carpenter's (2010-13) career total of 51 for fourth on Ball State's all-time list ... Reyna, who is also seventh in program history with 22 career home runs, is 11th on Ball State's career chart with a .493 slugging percentage.
► Ball State's favorite jersey to wear this season appears to be home white, as the Cardinals are 8-9 this season in their white tops ... The Cardinals are 3-5 in red tops, while owning a 7-12 mark in black jerseys.
