Softball Heads Back South for Five Games in Jacksonville

THIS WEEK
The Ball State softball team returns to action Friday, when it opens play in the Jacksonville/UNF Classic with a 5 p.m. doubleheader at Jacksonville ... Saturday, the Cardinals play a 2:30 p.m. twin bill at North Florida, before closing the weekend back at JU for a 9 a.m. neutral site contest against Alabama A&M.

SCHEDULE & LINKS
Friday, Feb. 14 at Pruitt Softball Complex (Jacksonville, Fla.)
- at Jacksonville (DH starting at 5 p.m.) - Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 15 at UNF Softball Complex (Jacksonville, Fla.)
- at North Florida (DH starting at 2:30 p.m.) - Live Stats | Live Video (GM 1) | Live Video (GM 2)

Sunday, Feb. 16 at Pruitt Softball Complex (Jacksonville, Fla.)
- vs. Alabama A&M (9 a.m.) - Live Stats

QUICK HITS
» Ball State softball will be making its first of two trips to the state of Florida this weekend when it takes part in the Jacksonville/UNF Challenge ... Last season, the Cardinals played 22 games in the state, posting a 14-8 record ... Ball State has won its last six games in The Sunshine State, including an 8-2 win at North Florida on March 8, 2019.
» Ball State opened the 2020 season with a bang, as junior catcher Stacy Payton and junior outfielder Kendall Fields each hit a home run in the opening inning versus UTSA (Feb. 7) ... The Cardinals had not hit a home run in the first inning of a season-opener since 2010 when Jen Reifschneider smashed a three-run blast in a 4-0 victory over Tennessee Tech (Feb. 19, 2010).
» Junior transfer catcher Delanie Johnson made a huge impact in her Ball State debut, picking off a pair of runners at first base and throwing out two more trying to steal second over opening weekend ... Last season, the Cardinals picked off just one runner the entire year, while BSU did not pick off a single runner from 2016-2018.
» Senior outfielder Haley Dominique led the Ball State offense with eight runs scored opening weekend, which also paced all players in the Mid-American Conference ... She currently ranks ninth in program history with 113 career runs scored, including 43 in each of the last two seasons.

ALL-TIME VS. THIS WEEKEND'S OPPONENTS
The Cardinals are 8-5 all-time versus teams it will face in the Jacksonville/UNF Challenge ... The series with Jacksonville is currently tied at 3-3, with Ball State pulling out an 11-0 (5) victory in the last meeting played Feb. 13, 2016 ... The Cardinals maintain a 3-2 edge versus North Florida, having won the last three meetings, including an 8-2 victory at UNF last season on March 8, 2019 ... Ball State is 2-0 all-time against Alabama A&M, with the last meeting being a 12-0 (5) victory March 14, 2014.

GETTING THE STARTING NOD
Over the past three seasons, no one in NCAA Division I softball has recorded more saves than senior pitcher Alyssa Rothwell, who holds the Ball State and Mid-American Conference career records with 28 saves, and is five shy of breaking the NCAA career mark of 32 set by Kellie Wilkerson (1999-02) of Mississippi State ... On 2020 opening day, however, Rothwell found herself in somewhat unfamiliar territory as she was the starting pitcher for BSU's game versus UTSA and at No. 8 Louisiana ... Prior to last Friday, Rothwell had made 68 consecutive appearances in relief for the Cardinals.

CARDINALS LOVE THE LONG BALL
Last season, 14 different Ball State players hit at least one home run ... Only one team in the nation had more players with a least one home run last year, Virginia Tech at 16 ... So far this season, four different Cardinals have went yard, starting with Stacy Payton who blasted BSU's first home run of the season in the first inning of the season-opener against USTA (Feb. 7) ... Payton finished opening weekend with two home runs and climbed to 14th in program history with 14 career home runs.

STRIKING THEM OUT
Led by 17 strikeouts from Alyssa Rothwell, the Ball State pitching staff struck out a total of 37 batters opening weekend ... The total ranks 27th nationally and is the second-most in the MAC this season ... Sophomore Tieghan Morio was second on the squad with 12 strikeouts, while freshman Deborah Jones fanned seven, including all six batters she faced to help the Cardinals lock down the win over Prairie View A&M (Feb. 8) ... Freshman Shelby Westbrook also collected her first career strikeout in the win over PVAMU.

DOMINIQUE AMONG ALL-TIME LEADERS
In addition to climbing into the top 10 in career runs scored at Ball State, Haley Dominique has proven to be one of the most consistent batters in program history ... Her .330 career average, including a .400 mark so far this season, is 12th all-time, while her .444 on base percentage is fifth and her .498 slugging percentage is 15th ... With 159 career hits, Dominique needs just six more to break into the top 20 in program history, while her 40 career doubles currently tied for sixth and her 11 career home runs tied for 20th.

SCORING BIG
Ball State's 16 runs in last Saturday's win over Prairie View A&M were the most in a game since the team earned a 16-5 (5) win over Akron on March 31, 2018 … The last time the Cardinals scored more than 16 runs in a game was a 17-2 (5) win over Drake on Feb. 17, 2017 ... In addition, Ball State's 17 total hits versus the Panthers were the most since the squad put up 19 in a 15-0 (5) win over St. Bonaventure on March 17, 2018.

THE BIG 100
With a 9-1 victory over Montana (Feb. 24, 2019), 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 125-102 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.

Softball Heads Back South for Five Games in Jacksonville

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Players Mentioned

Haley Dominique

Kendall Fields

Delanie Johnson

Deborah Jones

Tieghan Morio

Stacy Payton

Alyssa Rothwell

Shelby Westbrook