Ball State University
Bowling Green
Softball Opens 2021 MAC Slate at Home This Weekend
March 24, 2021 | Softball
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting department of health guidance, there will be no general public attendance at Ball State softball home games this spring.
| Ball State (6-9; 0-0 MAC)Â hosts Bowling Green (10-9; 2-2 MAC) | |
| Game 1 | Friday, March 26 at 3 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video (Single Camera / Crowd Mic) |
| Game 2 | Saturday, March 27 at 1 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video (Single Camera / Crowd Mic) |
| Game 3 | Saturday, March 27 at 30 minutes following Game 2 Live Stats | Live Video (Single Camera / Crowd Mic) |
| Game 4 | Sunday, March 28 at Noon Live Stats | Live Video (Single Camera / SL Digital Audio) |
| Tickets | NO GENERAL PUBLIC ATTENDANCE |
| Game Notes | Ball State |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: Ball State opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a four-game home series versus Bowling Green ... The teams will play a single game Friday (3 p.m.), a doubleheader Saturday (1 p.m.) and a single game Sunday (Noon) at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex.
VENUE UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting department of health guidance, there will be no general public attendance at Ball State softball home games this spring.
HOW TO FOLLOW: While you can not be there in person, you can still watch this weekend's games live with a free video stream courtesy of Ball State Athletics ... In addition, live stats will be available for all Ball State home games.
THE MAC SCHEDULE: You may have noticed the MAC schedule looks a little different this season, with teams playing eight four-game weekend series at one site and a pair of midweek home-and-home doubleheaders versus the remaining two league opponents ... The winner of the massive 40-game round-robin schedule will earn the MAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division I Softball Championships, as there is no MAC Tournament this season.
LET OUR #MACTION BEGIN: With 11 teams in the MAC, at least one team will have a bye each weekend ... Ball State's was last week, with the Cardinals being the only team not to start league play ... Bowling Green opened conference play by splitting a home series versus Central Michigan, earning an 8-0 (5) win on Friday and a 1-0 victory in the back end of Saturday's doubleheader ... BGSU suffered a 5-9 loss in the first game Saturday, as well as a 2-5 setback Sunday.
SERIES VS. BOWLING GREEN: The Falcons hold a 52-43 lead in the all-time series versus the Cardinals, including a 24-18 edge in games played in Muncie ... However, the Cardinals have won 16 of the last 21 meetings, including a 2-1 (8) victory in the last game played between the two clubs on April 6, 2019 at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex.
ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
» The Cardinals enter the week with a 6-9 overall record after going 1-4 against a very tough field at the Blazer Classic the last time out (March 11-13) ... The Cardinals dropped a pair of games to tournament host UAB, who is currently 52nd in the NCAA Division I RPI, and lost one game to No. 47 Southern Illinois ... The Cardinals split a pair of games with Samford, which is 87th on the RPI list.
» In fact, all nine of Ball State's losses this season have come to teams ranked inside the top 90 of the NCAA RPI ... The Cardinals own two wins over top 90 teams as well, including the March 13 victory over Samford and a Feb. 27 win versus No. 81 Austin Peay.
» Ball State enters the BGSU series ranked fourth in the MAC with a .277 team batting average and sixth in the league with a 4.38 team ERA ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley leads the squad and is sixth in the MAC with her .417 average, while senior infielder Janae Hogg is right behind in seventh at .405 ... Junior pitcher Tieghan Morio owns the MAC's third-lowest ERA among starting pitchers at 3.08.
ONE THING TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND: One key to this weekend's series versus Bowling Green will be how the Cardinals handle the MAC's leading strikeout pitcher in Payton Gottshall ... The Ball State offense enters the week as one of the hardest in the MAC to strikeout with just 73 on the year, while Bowling Green has struck out a league-high 196 batters, including 156 by Gottshall ... Ball State is also one of the most patient teams at the plate, ranking second in the league with 49 walks ... BGSU has allowed just 39 of those, including only 13 from Gottshall.
MORE ON HENSLEY: In addition to leading the team with a .417 batting average, junior outfielder Faith Hensley has the best slugging percentage (.722) and on base percentage (.512) on the squad ... She also leads the club with 12 RBI this year, with seven came in the 10-3 win over Alcorn State (March 6) ... The first four came when she blasted her first career grand slam in the first inning, while the final three came on a sixth-inning home run ... The seven RBIs ties as the second most in a game in program history, trailing only the eight RBIs current Ball State senior Stacy Payton drove in when she smashed three home runs, including her first career grand slam, against Oakland on May 7, 2019.
THE 100 RBI CLUB: Only 14 players in program history have recorded 100 career RBI for the Cardinals, and three of them are on the 2021 team ... Senior catcher/infielder Stacy Payton became the latest player to reach the 100 RBI milestone with her single in the fifth inning versus Saint Lewis (Feb. 26) ... Payton is second on the team with 11 RBIs this season, raising her career total to 110 which is 10th on Ball State's career charts ... BSU's active career RBI leader is senior infielder Janae Hogg, who ranks ninth all-time with 122 RBI ... Senior outfielder Haley Dominique is tied for 11th on Ball State's career charts with her 107 career RBI.
WALK THIS WAY: Including three free passes so far this season, senior infielder Janae Hogg enters the week tied for second in program history with 112 career walks ... She needs just four more walks to pass the program record of 115 set by Taylor Rager (2011-14) ... Senior outfielder Haley Dominique is not far behind, ranking fifth all-time at Ball State with 101 career walks, including six so far this season ... It marks the first time in program history BSU has had two players with at least 100 walks on the same team.
ONE SAVE CLOSER: Senior Alyssa Rothwell moved one save closer to achieving an NCAA record, earning her 29th career save in the 9-6 win over Samford (March 13) ... Rothwell threw the final inning of the game, keeping the Bulldogs hitless and off the scoreboard ... At 29 saves, Rothwell is the NCAA's active career saves leader and has 12 more than any other player in Division I softball ... She set the Ball State and MAC single-season saves record with 14 in 2019, which led the nation and tied as the third-most saves in a single season in NCAA Division I history ... The NCAA career saves record is currently 32 set by Mississippi State's Kellie Willkerson (1999-2002).
ON THE BASE PATHS: Ball State enters the week tied for third in the MAC with 23 stolen bases ... Junior infielder Amaia Daniel leads the way with four, while three players have three each ... In fact, 12 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base this season and the team is averaging 1.53 stolen bases per game ... Ball State has not averaged more than 1.00 stolen base per game since the 2015 season, when the Cardinals won the MAC Tournament and made their latest appearance in the NCAA Regionals ... That year Ball State stole 80 bases over 59 games for a 1.36 swipes-per-game average.
EARLY STARTS KEY: So far this season, the Cardinals are a perfect 6-0 win leading after the fourth inning ... However, Ball State is 0-7 when trailing and 0-2 when tied after the fourth.
