Softball Returns To Florida for 13 Games Over Spring Break

- The Ball State softball team opens its 13-game spring break trip to the state of Florida this weekend with five games at the USF Under Armour Invitational (March 3-5) at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex in Clearwater ... The Cardinals begin the tournament Friday with games versus Hartford (11:30a) and Penn (2p).

- The Cardinals will also play three games at the FGCU Softball Complex (March 7-8) and five games in the FAU Parents' Weekend Tournament (March 9-11) at the FAU Softball Stadium over spring break.

- The Cardinals enter spring break with a 946-1002-4 (.486) all-time record ... 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).

- ALL-TIME SERIES PART 1: Ball State is 2-13 all-time versus teams in the USF Under Armour Invitational, with all 15 games being played versus USF ... The Cardinals will be meeting Hartford, Penn, Towson and St. Bonaventure for the first time in the sport of softball this weekend ... USF has won 10 straight games versus the Cardinals, including an 8-2 victory in the most recent meeting March 4, 2001 ... Ball State's last win in the series came March 6, 1992 by a score of 1-0.

- ALL-TIME SERIES PART 2: Ball State is 3-3 all-time versus teams it will play at FGCU, starting with a 2-1 edge versus FIU ... The Cardinals and Panthers last met in 2014, with the Cardinals scoring an 8-6 victory at the Louisville Slugger Invitational hosted by Arizona ... FGCU holds a 2-1 edge in the all-time series versus Ball State, with the teams splitting a pair of games last season ... The Eagles won the first by a score of 9-3 (March 4), while the Cardinals won the rematch 3-2 in eight innings (March 5) ... Ball State and Holy Cross will be playing for the first time in softball.

- ALL-TIME SERIES PART 3: Ball State holds a 5-2 record in teams it will play in the FAU Parents' Weekend Tournament ... The Cardinals are 1-1 versus tournament host FAU with Ball State winning the first meeting 2-0 (March 1, 2013) and the Owls winning the second 9-3 (March 1, 2015) ... The Cardinals hold a 2-1 edge versus LIU Brooklyn, including an 8-1 (5) victory March 4, 2012 ... Ball State also owns wins in the only previous meetings versus Rutgers (7-5 in 8 inn. / March 6, 2010) and Fordham (11-1 / March 7, 2010) ... Ball State and Brown will be playing for the first time in softball.

PLAYER / TEAM NOTES
- Thanks to its 5-2 win over DePaul on Feb. 10, the Ball State softball program improved to 26-17 all-time in season-opening games.

- Last season, Ball State played a 12-game spring break schedule in the state of Florida, finishing the trip with a 4-8 record capped by an 11-0 (5 inn.) win at Jacksonville (March 13).

- Despite opening its 17-game 2017 tour through the Sunshine State with an 0-4 record at last weekend's Citrus Classic I, Ball State's pitchers shined at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, allowing just four earned runs over 25.1 innings of work ... The Cardinals' staff finished the tournament with a 1.11 ERA and a .214 opponents' batting average, while striking out 22 batters and issuing just 10 walks.

- Freshman Darcie Huber turned in the most impressive pitching performance last weekend, throwing a one-hitter versus Oakland (Feb. 24) ... Over 7.0 innings of work, she struck out a career-high seven batters and retired the Golden Grizzlies in order four times ... The only hit against Huber was a leadoff bunt single in the top of the fourth inning ... She finished the weekend with a 1.17 ERA, 12 strikeouts and a .146 opponents' batting average surrendering just five hits to Liberty (Feb. 25).

- Huber's one-hitter versus Oakland was the first one-hitter for a Ball State pitcher since the Cardinals scored a 4-1 win at Bowling Green March 29, 2013 ... In the game, Nicole Steinbach limited the Falcons to just one hit over 7.0 innings of work ... She did not issue a walk or hit a batter, while the Cardinals' defense committed three errors in the game.

- Ball State's last no-hitter came in a 7-0 win versus Buffalo May 12, 2010 in the MAC Tournament ... Elizabeth Milian threw for the Cardinals, striking out 10 of the 22 batters she faced ... The lone blemish was a one-out error in the second inning, spoiling a perfect game.

- Junior pitcher Carolyn Wilmes also turned in a solid performance in her two appearances in the circle at the Citrus Classic, finishing the weekend with a 1.05 ERA, a .263 opponents' batting average and 10 strikeouts ... She struck out five batters in outings versus both Lehigh (Feb. 24) and Georgia Southern (Feb. 25).

- Freshman Janae Hogg paced the Ball State offense with four hits at the Citrus Classic, including her first career three-hit game versus Georgia Southern ... Hogg finished the game against the Eagles a triple shy of the cycle, logging a first inning double, a fifth inning single and her first career home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning.

- Hogg leads the Ball State offense with a .359 batting average for the year, smashing 14 hits over 39 at bats ... She has tallied four doubles and a home run to rank second on the team in multiple base hits, trailing only Rachel Houck's nine (six doubles and three home runs).

- Houck enters the weekend ranked seventh in program history with a .527 career slugging percentage ... She is also 17th in home runs (10) and 20th in on base percentage (.375) over her three-year playing career for the Cardinals ... Houck played the 2014 season at Louisville before transferring to Ball State for the 2015 campaign.

- While she only has a .125 batting average on the season, sophomore catcher Olivia Huffman has been one of Ball State's most consistent players on the base paths, ranking second on the team with a .417 on base percentage ... In addition to her three hits on the season, Huffman ranks fourth in the league in walks (8) and third in the MAC in being hit by a pitch (4).

- Huffman has also been an asset for the Cardinals behind the plate, starting all 14 games at catcher ... She has shown off her arm on numerous occasions, throwing out four runners trying to steal this season ... Huffman's four runners caught stealing are currently fourth in the MAC.

- Five different players have blasted home runs for the Cardinals this season, led by three from Houck ... Senior utility player Amanda Arnett has one homer, raising her career total to 13 ... Hogg and junior transfers Danae King and Brittany Hopper have also belted their first Ball State career home runs.

- The Ball State offense exploded for 17 runs to open play in the Wildcat Invitational with a 17-2 (5 inn.) victory over Drake (Feb. 17) ... It was the team's largest offensive output since a 19-9 home win over Indiana April 21, 2015 ... Ball State's largest run total in a game was a 24-0 victory over St. Leo March 2, 1987.

- In her first career pitching appearance versus DePaul (Feb. 10), sophomore Aeshia Miles became the 27th different Ball State player to earn a save when she limited the Blue Demons to no runs and two hits over 2.0 innings of work ... She also notched her first two career strikeouts in the game.

Softball Returns To Florida for 13 Games Over Spring Break

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Amanda Arnett

Janae Hogg

Brittany Hopper

Rachel Houck

Darcie Huber

Olivia Huffman

Danae King

Aeshia Miles

Nicole Steinbach

Carolyn Wilmes