Softball Hosts NIU in Tuesday Doubleheader

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- The Ball State softball team looks to extend its four-game winning streak Tuesday when it hosts Northern Illinois in a 1 p.m. Mid-American Conference doubleheader at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex ... The Cardinals then travel to Ohio for a three-game weekend series against the MAC East Division leading Bobcats ... The teams are scheduled to play a 3 p.m. single game Friday and a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.

- By virtue of its three-game series sweep of Miami, the Ball State softball team enters the week tied with Ohio for the top spot in the MAC standings ... Both teams enter the week with 10-1 records over their last 11 games to tie as the hottest teams in the conference ... The Cardinals' lone loss in the run was at Buffalo (March 26), while the Bobcats closed last weekend with a loss to Western Michigan (April 1).

- Over the past nine seasons, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 122-48 (.718) league record ... Kent State is second on the list over the past nine seasons at 114-58 (.663), while Miami is third at 108-70 (.607) ... Ball State boasts a 394-401-1 (.496) all-time MAC record in 35 years.

- The Cardinals enter Tuesday's doubleheader versus Northern Illinois with a 964-1008-4 (.489) 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 VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: If one team has been the Cardinals' nemesis of late, it's been the Huskies who hold a 44-27 lead in the all-time series, including ending the Cardinals' season in both the 2013 and 2014 MAC Tournaments ... Overall, NIU has won eight of the last 10 meetings, including a three-game series sweep last season ... The Huskies took both ends of an April 5 doubleheader in DeKalb by scores of 10-0 (6) and 5-4, before finishing the series with a 12-4 (6) victory in Muncie on April 14 ... Northern Illinois even holds a 17-9 all-time advantage in games played in Muncie.

- ALL-TIME VS. OHIO: The Cardinals hold a 45-35-1 lead in the all-time series versus the Bobcats, including a three-game series sweep last season in Muncie ... Ball State opened the 2016 season series with a 2-1 victory on April 1, before sweeping both ends of an April 2 doubleheader by scores of 3-2 and 8-6 ... Overall, the Cardinals have won 15 of the last 19 games in the all-time series, including an April 24, 2015 doubleheader split in its last trip to Athens ... Ohio won the first game 6-1, before the Cardinals rebounded for a 4-1 victory ... Overall, the Bobcats hold a slim 18-15-1 advantage in games play on their home field.

PLAYER / TEAM NOTES
- Ball State enters the week with a 10-1 record over its last 11 games to tie with Ohio as the hottest team in the MAC ... The Cardinals pitchers have led the charge during the run, combining for a 1.75 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .189 average ... On offense, the Cardinals are connecting at a .261 clip and out-scoring opponents 62 to 22.

- Ball State's run of 30 consecutive road games to open the 2017 season is the third-longest in program history ... The Cardinals played a program-record 32 straight road games to open last season, while starting the 2012 campaign with 31 straight road games.

- From Feb. 24 through March 11, the Ball State softball team played 17 straight games in the state of Florida ... It's the longest streak of games played in the same state in program history ... The previous record was 16 games played in the state of Indiana to end the 2007 season.

- Junior pitcher Carolyn Wilmes played a pivotal role in helping the Cardinals climb to the top of the MAC standings by posting a perfect 3-0 record last week, including a pair of wins in a three-game sweep of defending MAC Tournament Champion Miami ... Her most impressive performance came in the series opener versus the RedHawks ... After giving up five runs in the first two innings, Wilmes found her grove and retired 14 straight batters and 16 of the final 17 she faced to help the Cardinals rally for a 6-5 win.

-Wilmes opened league play by picking up her third consecutive complete game shutout victory after limiting Buffalo (March 24) to six hits over 7.0 innings of work ... With the effort, Wilmes extended her shutout streak to 21.2 innings ... Wilmes also held Buffalo scoreless in the first inning of the March 26 game, extending her streak to 22.2 innings without surrendering a run ... Unfortunately, the Bulls snapped it with a run in the second inning of the contest.

- Over the last 14 games, Wilmes leads the Cardinals pitching staff with a 7-1 record ... Over nine appearances and 35.0 innings of work, she has surrendered just 11 earned runs for a 2.20 ERA ... She is also holding opposing batters to a .187 average, allowing just 23 total hits (19 singles, three doubles and one home run) ... She has also struck out 31 batters and thrown three complete game shutouts during the run.

- In her first appearance in the circle since March 11, freshman Darcie Huber did not miss a beat in last Saturday's nightcap versus Miami, limiting one of the MAC's top offensive teams to just three hits and one unearned run to improve to 6-5 on the year ... She also struck out a career-high eight batters, while issuing just two walks in the game.

- Huber enters the week with a team-leading 2.11 ERA which ranks fourth in the MAC ... Over 73.0 innings of work, Huber has held opponents to just 66 hits for a .237 batting average against which is ninth in the MAC ... She has also struck out 54 batters, including seven in her first career one-hitter versus Oakland (Feb. 24) ... Huber added another one-hitter in a 10-0 (5) victory over Towson (March 4).

- Huber's one-hitter versus Oakland (Feb. 24) was the first one-hitter for a Ball State pitcher since 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.

- 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.

- Freshman pitcher Alyssa Rothwell led the Ball State pitching staff with 13 strikeouts the week of March 20, starting with four in her relief appearance versus non-conference rival Butler (March 22) ... She followed with a career-high nine strikeouts at Buffalo (March 24) ... Her nine strikeouts are the most for a Ball State pitcher since Nicole Steinbach struck out 10 at Bowling Green (April 11, 2015) ... Rothwell's nine strikeouts are also the most for a Ball State freshman pitcher since Steinbach struck out 10 batters versus Creighton (Feb. 22, 2013).

- Ball State's pitching staff enters the week ranked fourth in the MAC with a 2.91 ERA ... It's the program's best ERA through the first 38 games of the season since the 2012 squad had a 2.77 ERA ... In addition, Ball State's pitchers have combined to strike out 193 batters so far this season which ranks third in the conference and is the best start to a season since the 2010 squad struck out 267 batters over the first 38 games.

- Senior outfielder Rachel Houck enters the week as one of the nation's top sluggers, leading the Mid-American Conference and ranking sixth among all NCAA Division I players in doubles (13) and 22nd in home runs (10) ... Houck also ranks 18th nationally in runs per game, with her 1.11 average topping the MAC.

-Houck enters Tuesday's doubleheader versus Northern Illinois ranked sixth in program history with a .584 career slugging percentage ... She is also ninth in batting average (.334), 10th in home runs (17) and 10th in on base percentage (.401) 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.

- Houck also enters the week tied for fifth in the MAC with a team-leading 11 stolen bases ... Houck is a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen base attempts this year and is the first Ball State player to steal at least 11 bases over the first 38 games of the season since Alicia Barkley went 15-for-17 in 2011 ... Only two players in program history have finished a season with a perfect stolen base percentage with at least 10 steals.

- Junior second baseman Maddy Labrador has made quite the impact in her first two weekends of MAC play, leading all league players with 13 hits and a .591 batting average ... She opened her MAC career by blasting a 1-2 pitch deep over the fence in center field at Buffalo (March 24) ... She added her second career MAC home run to drive in Ball State's first three runs in the series opener versus Miami (April 1), helping the Cardinals rally from down 5-0 for a 6-5 victory ... Of Labrador's 13 hits in MAC play, four have been doubles and two have been home runs.

- Ball State has had a knack for earning free bases this season, as the Cardinals lead the MAC and rank 12th nationally with 139 walks ... In fact, eight of Ball State's nine starting batters rank in the top 15 in the MAC in walks, led by sophomore catcher Olivia Huffman who has a league-high 22 free passes.

- Huffman has also been hit by a pitch a league-leading eight times, which has helped her earn a .385 on base percentage this season ... Overall, Ball State's batters have been hit by a pitch 20 times, giving the Cardinals a total of 159 free bases this season.

- Freshman third baseman Janae Hogg has proven to be one of the nation's toughest batters to strike out, fanning just five times in 119 at bats ... Her average of 23.8 at bats per strikeout ranks Hogg as the second-toughest player in the MAC and the 56th-toughest in the nation to strikeout.

- Since working her way into the starting lineup for the March 7 game at FGCU, freshman outfielder Haley Dominique has been one of Ball State's main offensive threats ... She is second on the team with a .333 batting average over the last 18 games, with seven of her 15 hits being doubles ... She has also scored 11 runs and driven in eight ... In addition, she leads the team in walks (14) and on base percentage (.500) since taking over the reins in left field.

- 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 ... Miles added her second career save versus Holy Cross (March 8), entering with a runner at first in the top of the seventh and getting the force play at second for the game's final out.

- 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.

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Players Mentioned

Haley Dominique

Janae Hogg

Rachel Houck

Darcie Huber

Olivia Huffman

Maddy Labrador

Aeshia Miles

Alyssa Rothwell

Nicole Steinbach

Carolyn Wilmes