Ball State University
Central Michigan
No Fooling Here, Softball Heads To CMU This Weekend
April 01, 2021 | Softball
| Ball State (10-9; 4-0 MAC)Â at Central Michigan (4-14; 2-6 MAC) | |
| Game 1 | Friday, April 2 at 3 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 2 | Saturday, April 3 at 1 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 3 | Saturday, April 3 at 30 minutes following Game 2 Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 4 | Sunday, April 4 at Noon Live Stats | Live Video |
| Tickets | NO GENERAL PUBLIC ATTENDANCE |
| Game Notes | Ball State |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team will face its first road test of the 2021 Mid-American Conference season this weekend when it travels to Central Michigan for a four-game series ... The teams will play a single game Friday (3 p.m.), a doubleheader Saturday (1 p.m.) and a single game Sunday (Noon) at Margo Jonker Stadium.
» VENUE UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting department of health guidance, there will be no general public attendance at this weekend's games at Central Michigan.
» 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 Central Michigan Athletics ... In addition, live stats will be available for all four games ... Links can be found above or on the softball schedule page on BallStateSports.com.
» 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: While it was the last team to open MAC play, Ball State started league play with a bang, sweeping its four-game home series versus Bowling Green last weekend ... It is the first 4-0 start in league play for the Cardinals since the 2013 team went 12-0 ... Ball State hit an impressive .400 in the series versus the Falcons, led by a .700 (7-for-10) effort from senior catcher/designated player Delanie Johnson and a .600 (6-for-10) mark by senior catcher/designated player Stacy Payton.
» SERIES VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN: The Chippewas hold a 76-34 edge in the all-time series versus the Cardinals, including a 43-17 edge in games played in Mount Pleasant, Michigan ... In the last series between the clubs, Ball State won the opening game of an April 26, 2019 doubleheader by a score of 7-3 ... Central Michigan took the nightcap, 8-3, and also earned a 10-8 victory in the series finale the next day.
ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
» The Cardinals enter the week with a 10-9 (4-0 MAC) record after last weekend's sweep of Bowling Green ... Ball State out-scored the Falcons 33-to-17 in the series, averaging an impressive 8.25 runs per game ... 12 different Cardinals scored at least one run in the series, led by five apiece from junior outfielder Faith Hensley and freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy ... In addition, 10 players drove in at least one RBI, led by six from senior catcher Stacy Payton.
» Ball State enters the CMU series ranked third in the MAC and 44th nationally with a .304 team batting average and fourth in the league with a 4.31 team ERA ... Senior first baseman Janae Hogg leads the squad with a .400 batting average, while six of BSU's regular starters are hitting at least .283 ... Junior pitcher Tieghan Morio owns the MAC's third-lowest ERA among starting pitchers at 2.80 and hasÂ
ONE THING TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND: Similar to last weekend, Central Michigan's pitching staff has allowed just 44 walks this season, which is the third-lowest total in the league ... Ball State, on the other had, has drawn a MAC-best 72 walks, including 23 in last weekend's four-game set versus Bowling Green ... The Cardinals made the Falcons pay for the walks, as nine of the 23 walked batters came around to score ... BGSU had allowed just 39 total walks in its previous 19 games entering the series.
HENSLEY STILL GOING STRONG: Junior outfielder Faith Hensley enters the weekend leading the Ball State offense with a three home runs, a .667 slugging percentage and a .500 on base percentage ... She is also second in the club with 16 RBI, including a career-high seven 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 leads the team with 17 RBIs this season, raising her career total to 116 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 126 RBI ... Senior outfielder Haley Dominique is 11th on Ball State's career charts with her 109 career RBI.
WALK THIS WAY: With her fourth of six walks in last weekend's series versus Bowling Green, senior first baseman Janae Hogg became the most walked player in program history, passing the 115 drawn by Taylor Rager (2011-14) ... Hogg enters the CMU series with 118 career walks which ranks seventh among all active NCAA Division I players ... Senior outfielder Haley Dominique is not far behind, ranking fifth all-time at Ball State and 19th among active Division I players with 102 career walks, including seven 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 ranked fourth in the MAC with 25 stolen bases ... Junior second baseman Amaia Daniel and junior outfielder Faith Hensley lead the way with four each ... In fact, 13 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base this season and the team is averaging 1.32 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.
BALL STATE BOMB SQUAD: Ball State added two new members to the Ball State bomb squad last weekend versus Bowling Green ... The first, courtesy of an in-the-park home run down the right field line from freshman Kayla Lissy in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader ... Sophomore Haley Wynn added her name to the list with a blast over the fence in right-center field in Sunday's win ... So far eight Cardinals have at least one home run this season, while 14 have at least one for their Ball State careers.
EARLY STARTS KEY: So far this season, the Cardinals are a perfect 9-0 win leading after the fourth inning ... However, Ball State is 1-7 when trailing and 0-2 when tied after the fourth ... The win when trailing after four innings came last Sunday versus BGSU, when Ball State scored eight unanswered runs, including a five-run sixth, to rally for a 9-5 victory.
