Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Memphis
Softball Opens 2018 Season Friday at FGCU Kickoff Classic
February 07, 2018 | Softball
LIVE STAT LINK - ALL 5 GAMES
- The Ball State softball program opens its 44th season of play Friday, when it battles Memphis (12:15 p.m.) and LIU Brooklyn (4:45 p.m.) at the FGCU Kickoff Classic ... The Cardinals then play NC State (2:30 p.m.) and Georgetown (7 p.m.) Saturday, before closing out the event Sunday versus tournament host FGCU (1:30 p.m.).
- Fans unable to attend this weekend's games can follow the action with live stats for all five games at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/ballstate/softball/ ... In addition, fans can follow @BallStateSB on twitter for game updates throughout the season.
- Ball State is 4-6 all-time versus the FGCU Kickoff Classic Field ... The Cardinals are 2-2 all-time versus LIU Brooklyn, 0-1 all-time versus NC State, 1-0 all-time versus Georgetown and 1-3 all-time against FGCU ... Ball State and Memphis will be meeting for the first time in softball ... A complete series history for each of this weekend's opponents can be found on page four of this release.
- This will be the third straight season the Cardinals have made a stop in Ft. Myers, as they played in the 2016 FGCU Spring Break Classic (March 4-6) and competed in three midweek games (March 7-8) at the FGCU Softball Complex in 2017 ... Overall, the Cardinals are 3-5 over the past two seasons at FGCU with wins over Stony Brook (March 5, 2016), FGCU (March 5, 2016) and Holy Cross (March 8, 2017).
- With a 5-2 win over DePaul in its 2017 season opener, Ball State improved to 26-17 in season-opening games ... The Cardinals have won eight of their last nine season openers, with the lone loss coming to then-No. 11 Louisiana in 2016.
- Ball State enters the 2018 season with a 973-1019-4 (.488) all-time record in softball ... 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).
- Over the past nine seasons, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 131-57 (.697) league record ... Kent State is second on the list over the past nine seasons at 126-64 (.663), while Miami is third at 119-77 (.607) ... Ball State boasts a 403-410-1 (.496) all-time MAC record in 35 years.
PLAYER / TEAM NOTES
- The Ball State softball team returns 14 of its 17 letterwinners from last season, including eight position starters and all four pitchers ... The Cardinals finished the 2017 season with a 30-28 overall record, including a 14-10 mark in Mid-American Conference play ... The one position starter not returning is still on the roster, however, as Rachel Houck will be a volunteer coach for the Cardinals this season.
- In addition, the Cardinals have added one junior transfer in Annie Robinson, as well as six freshmen in Taylor Castleberry, Hailey Demnianiuk, Kendall Fields, Katie Janiga, Isabel Moore and Stacy Payton.
- Ball State's 2018 roster is a much more veteran-laden one that last season, as the Cardinals only returned five players entering the 2017 season ... Entering the 2017 season, Ball State's 17-player roster only had 404 combined games of NCAA Division I playing experience ... This season's 21 players have a combined 888 games of NCAA Division I playing experience under their belts.
- The 2017 season saw Ball State's pitchers finish the year with a combined 2.99 ERA, the program's best mark since the 2013 squad finished the year with a 2.74 ERA ... In addition, Ball State's pitchers chalked up 307 strikeouts to rank third in the conference ... It was the third-best single season strikeout total in program history, trailing only the 2010 (396) and 2008 (379) squads.
- Alyssa Rothwell was one of the toughest pitchers in the league to hit last season, ranking third in the MAC with a .192 opponents batting average ... She was even tougher to hit in league play, ranking second in MAC-only games with a .154 opponents batting average.
- In addition to being one of the toughest pitchers to hit in the MAC, Alyssa Rothwell finished the season ranked fourth in the conference and 73rd nationally with an average of 6.87 strikeouts per seven innings ... Over 73.1 innings of work, Rothwell struck out 72 batters which ranked as the 13th-best total in the MAC.
- Carolyn Wilmes also finished the 2017 season as one of the nation's strikeout leaders, ranking fifth in the MAC and 90th nationally with a 6.6 strikeouts per seven innings average ... She finished the April 21 game versus Toledo with four strikeouts to become just the 12th player in program history to reach 200 career strikeouts ... Wilmes enters the 2018 season ranked 12th in program history with 209 career strikeouts and needs just 21 more Ks to break into the top 10 in program history.
- Carolyn Wilmes checked one more item off her career to-do list during the April 21 game versus Toledo, throwing her first career no-hitter to help Ball State earn a 2-1 victory ... With the effort, Wilmes became the first Ball State pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Elizabeth Milian blanked Buffalo in a 7-0 victory May 12, 2010 in the MAC Tournament.
- Carolyn Wilmes threw complete game shutouts in three consecutive starts to help lead Ball State to wins over Brown (March 10), Northern Kentucky (March 19) and at Buffalo (March 24) last season ... Add in a pair of scoreless relief appearances and the first inning in the series finale at Buffalo (March 26), Wilmes put together a 22.2 inning shutout streak ... It was the longest shutout streak for a Ball State pitcher since Elizabeth Milian threw 26.2 scoreless innings from May 5, 2010 to May 13, 2010.
- Darcie Huber finished the 2018 season ranked fourth in the MAC and 129th nationally with a 2.26 ERA ... Over 108.1 innings of work, Huber held opponents to a .251 batting average ... She struck out 70 batters over the course of the season, including seven in her first career one-hitter versus Oakland (Feb. 24) ... Huber added another one-hitter in a 10-0 (5) win over Towson (March 4).
- In her first season with the Cardinals, Maddy Labrador became the 31st player in program history to earn First Team All-MAC honors ... She earned the award after tying for third in MAC-only games with 29 hits, while ranking fourth in conference play with a .387 batting average ... Labrador opened her MAC career by blasting a 1-2 pitch deep over the fence in center field at Buffalo (March 24) and added her second career MAC home run to drive in Ball State's first three runs in the series opener versus Miami (April 1) ... The three-run shot helped the Cardinals rally from down 5-0 for a 6-5 victory ... Of Labrador's 29 hits in MAC play, eight were doubles, one was a triple and three were home runs.
- Ball State also returns three players who were named to the MAC All-Freshman team last season in Haley Dominique, Darcie Huber and Kennedy Wynn.
- Ball State had a knack for earning free bases in 2017, as the Cardinals ranked second in the MAC and 32nd nationally with 197 walks ... Four of Ball State's nine starting batters ranked in the top 10 in the MAC in walks led by Brittany Hopper at 25.
- Olivia Huffman tied for the MAC lead by being hit by a pitch 12 times in 2017 which has helped her earn a .356 on base percentage ... Overall, Ball State's batters were hit by a pitch 32 times in 2017, giving the Cardinals a total of 229 free bases.
- Janae Hogg proved to be a clutch batter for the Cardinals in 2017, driving in six eventual game-winning runs while also scoring the game-winning run once.
- Haley Dominique finished the 2017 season as the toughest player in the MAC and the 30th toughest player in the nation to strike out, getting fanned just four times in 113 at bats.
- Haley Dominique became the 10th different Ball State player to hit a home run in 2017 when she opened the bottom of the first inning versus Toledo (April 21) with a solo blast over the fence in right-center field ... The Cardinals and Miami were the only teams in the MAC to have 10 different players hit at least one home run in 2017.
- 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.
