Ball State University
Northern Illinois
Softball Hosts NIU Wednesday, Visits WMU For Weekend Series
April 09, 2019 | Softball
• THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team closes its three-game home-and-home series versus Northern Illinois Wednesday with a 2 p.m. first pitch at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex ... The Cardinals will then travel to Western Michigan for a three-game weekend series starting with a 3 p.m. game Friday and concluding with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.
• THE SCHEDULE:
Game 41Â - Wednesday, April 10Â hosts Northern Illinois - 2Â p.m.
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)
Game 42Â - Friday, April 12Â at Western Michigan - 3 p.m.
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)
Game 43Â - Saturday, April 13Â at Western Michigan (DH - GM 1)Â - 1Â p.m.
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)
Game 44Â - Saturday, April 13Â at Western Michigan (DH - GM 2)Â - 3:30Â p.m.
Live Stats | Social Media (@BallStateSB)
• FOLLOW THE ACTION: Fans can follow this week's action with live stats for all four games at the links above ... In addition, Wednesday's game versus NIU will be broadcast live on ESPN+, with Joel Godett calling the play-by-play action and two-time NFCA All-American Katie Richardson serving as the analyst ... Richardson was a four-year letterwinner at Minnesota, played two seasons for the NPF's Dallas Charge and was an assistant coach at Arizona State last season ... In addition, fans can follow @BallStateSB on twitter for updates throughout the season.
• ALL-TIME: Ball State softball enters the week with a 1037-1051-4 (.497) all-time record ... Established as a varsity program in 1975, Ball State has won five MAC regular season titles (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014), seven MAC West Division crowns (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018), three MAC Tournament championships (1998, 2010 and 2015) and advanced to the NCAA Regionals three times (1998, 2010 and 2015).
• IN #MACTION: Since 2009, Ball State has proven to be the MAC's premier program by compiling a 152-67 (.694) league record ... Kent State is second over the same span at 146-75 (.661), while Ohio is third at 137-90 (.604) ... In addition, Ball State boasts a 424-420-1 (.502) all-time MAC record over 37 years.
• ALL-TIME VS. NIU: After the Cardinals and Huskies split a doubleheader in DeKalb last Tuesday (April 2), NIU maintains a 48-32 lead in the all-time series ... While the Huskies took the opening game 7-6, the Cardinals fought to the end, rallying from down 6-0 and bringing the tying run to the plate after a two-out, two-run home run by freshman first baseman Mackenzie McCarty in the seventh ... Ball State then won an extra-inning thriller in the nightcap, as junior outfielder Kennedy Wynn and sophomore shortstop Hailey Demnianiuk blasted back-to-back one-out home runs in the ninth to give BSU the 7-5 (9) victory ... NIU holds a 17-11 advantage in Muncie, despite dropping both ends of an April 4, 2017 twin bill in it's last trip to the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex ... BSU won the first game 3-2 and the second 6-4.
• ALL-TIME VS. WMU: The Broncos hold a 64-57 lead in the all-time series after winning two of three games played in Muncie last season ... The teams split an April 14, 2018 doubleheader with WMU winning the opener 6-4 and Ball State taking the nightcap 7-6 for the 1,000th win in program history ... Unfortunately, the Broncos went on to win the rubber game of the series 4-2 the following day ... WMU also holds a 25-19 lead in games played in Kalamazoo, including two straight wins ... The Cardinals won the first game of a 2017 series by a score of 2-1 (May 5), only to see the Broncos sweep a doubleheader the next day by scores of 8-2 and 2-1 ... While WMU has won four of the last five meetings, Ball State has wins in 12 of the last 16 contests.
BALL STATE TEAM/PLAYER NOTES
• The Cardinals opened the 2019 season with 32 straight games away from the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex, which ties with the 2016 season for the second-longest road stretch in program history ... The longest road swing came in 2018, when Ball State played its first 33 games on the road.
• With its 10-3 win over Cleveland State (March 16), Ball State became the first MAC team to reach 20 wins this season ... The Cardinals enter Wednesday's game versus NIU with a league-best 27-13 record this season, with the 27 wins also tying for 32nd nationally.
• With a 9-1 victory over Montana (Feb. 24), Ball State softball head coach Megan Ciolli Bartlett picked up her 100th career win as coach of the Cardinals ... The ninth coach in program history, Ciolli Bartlett is the fifth coach to reach 100 wins at Ball State ... With her 116-92 all-time record, Ciolli Bartlett is the fourth-winningest coach in program history behind Craig Nicholson (2007-2013) at 241-162, Terri Laux (1997-2006) at 222-283-1 and Jeri Findlay (1982-92) at 201-302-3.
• With her 17th career save in Ball State's 3-0 victory over Monmouth (Feb. 15), junior closer Alyssa Rothwell etched her name in the record books as the greatest closer in Mid-American Conference history ... Rothwell enters the Bowling Green series with 23 career saves, which is seven more than the previous MAC record ... Her 23 career saves are also the most among active NCAA Division I players, with the next closest player at 18, and are 10 shy of breaking the NCAA career record of 32 held by Mississippi State's Kellie Wilkerson (1999-02).
• Ball State's pitching staff has proven to be one of the toughest in the nation so far this season, ranking first in the MAC and 60th nationally with a 2.68 team ERA ... Leading the charge is freshman starter Sarah Venker who ranks 93rd nationally with a 2.01 ERA and has three complete game shutouts ... Junior closer Alyssa Rothwell leads the nation with nine saves and boasts a 1.46 ERA, but is just shy of the minimum innings pitched total to be ranked.
• Ball State's pitching staff has already thrown nine shutouts this season, which is tied for the 10th-best single season total in program history ... Sarah Venker has had a hand in a team-high six of the shutouts, while closer Alyssa Rothwell has been involved in five ... Venker threw Ball State's first complete game shutout of the season in the win over Delaware (Feb. 16) and picked up two more versus Bethune-Cookman (March 6) and Georgetown (March 9) ... Freshman Tieghan Morio added her first career complete game shutout in the nightcap at Bethune-Cookman (March 6), while combining for another versus Presbyterian (March 9) ... Darcie Huber and senior starter Aeshia Miles have each had a hand in one of BSU's shutout wins.
• A big reason for Ball State's success in the circle this season has been strikeouts ... The Cardinals pitching staff ranks first in the league and is tied for 23rd nationally with 253 strikeouts ... Sarah Venker leads the way with 83 strikeouts over 83.2 innings of work, while Aeshia Miles is right behind with 69 strikeouts over 73.2 innings pitched ... In addition, Alyssa Rothwell has struck out 37 batters over just 24.0 innings, including all seven batters she faced to earn the win in Ball State's 3-2 (8) come-from-behind victory over Quinnipiac (Feb. 17) ... The Cardinals pitching staff is currently averaging 6.67 strikeouts per seven-innings, just shy of the program record of 7.01 set by the 2010 squad.
• Aeshia Miles became just the 13th player in program history to register 200 career strikeouts when she fanned her first of seven batters at FGCU (Feb. 9) ... She enters Wednesday's game versus NIU with 264 career strikeouts which ranks 10th in program history ... She needs 18 more strikeouts to pass Audra Sanders (2010-13) for ninth on the program's all-time list.
• By earning the win in Ball State's 11-3 (6) victory over Fordham (March 17), Sarah Venker became the first player from the MAC to reach 10 wins this season ... After picking up two more victories in the series sweep of Akron (March 22-23), Venker's 12 wins on the year are tied for 49th nationally.
• Junior first baseman/designated player Janae Hogg enters the weekend as one of the top power hitters in the Mid-American Conference, tying for ninth in home runs (6) and ranking ninth in slugging percentage (.622) ... Three of her home runs this season have driven in what proved to be the game-winning RBI, giving her 17 career game-winning RBI which leads Ball State's active players ... Of the 17 game-winning RBI, 11 have come via the long ball.
• A .337 career batter, junior left fielder Haley Dominique enters Wednesday's game ranked third on Ball State's career list with a .458 on base percentage, including a team-best .474 mark last season ... Dominique reached base safely in 51 of Ball State's 56 games in 2018, putting together a career-long 12-game hitting streak and a career-best 17-game streak of reaching base safely ... So far this season, Dominique has reached base safely in 34 of Ball State's 40 games, including each of the last 12.
• One new role for Haley Dominique this season appears to be power hitter ... Dominique currently leads the team and is tied for sixth in the MAC with seven home runs, which raises her career total to 11 and places her in a tie for 19th on Ball State's career charts ... She has also doubled her career total with two triples this season, and is five shy of her previous season high with nine doubles in 2019.Â
• After drawing 27 walks last week, Ball State enters Wednesday's game versus NIU ranked third among all NCAA Division I programs with 178 walks this season ... The only teams with more walks are No. 5/7 Alabama at 205 and No. 3/3 Florida State at 179 ... Individually, Haley Dominique leads the squad and is second in the MAC with 26 walks, while sophomore infielder Stacy Payton has 20 walks to tie for fifth in the league ... Last season, the Cardinals finished the year ranked fifth in the country with 235 walks.
• Senior catcher Madison Lee became the 14th different Ball State player to hit a home run this season when she took an 0-1 pitch deep over the fence in left field in the second inning of Saturday's first game versus Bowling Green (April 6) ... With the blast, the Cardinals tied Virginia Tech for the most players with at least one home run in NCAA Division I softball this season ... The next closest team in the MAC is Bowling Green at 10 players.
• After successfully stealing a pair of bases last week, freshman outfielder Kim Manuel enters Wednesday's game ranked second in the MAC with 15 stolen bases this season ... In fact, Manuel is a perfect 15-for-15 in stolen base attempts so far in 2019 and is the only MAC player with more than 11 attempts with a perfect stolen base percentage ... Manuel is looking to become just the fourth player in program history to finish a season with a perfect stolen base mark with at least 10 attempts, with the previous three being Rachel Houck (2017, 16-for-16), Roshelle Lee (1998, 13-for-13) and Loren Cihlar (2013, 11-for-11).
• Freshman second baseman Amaia Daniel has been one of the hottest hitters on the team as of late, reaching base safely in each of the last 14 games, including a team season-high nine-game hitting streak from March 9 vs. Presbyterian through the second game of the March 23 doubleheader against Akron ... Over the last 14 games, Daniel is batting .298 with three doubles, a triple and three home runs ... The triple, an eighth-inning RBI triple down the right field line to give Ball State a 2-1 (8) walk-off victory over Bowling Green last Saturday.
