Ball State University
Miami
Round 2: Softball Battles Miami For MAC Lead Tuesday
April 26, 2021 | Softball
| Ball State (25-12; 19-2Â MAC) hosts Miami (31-7; 21-1 MAC) | |
| Game 1 | Tuesday, April 27 at 2 p.m. Live Stats |  Watch |
| Game 2 | Tuesday, April 27 - 30 minutes following Game 1 Live Stats |  Watch |
| Tickets | NO GENERAL PUBLIC ATTENDANCE |
| Game Notes | Ball State |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team opens another busy week Tuesday, when it welcomes Miami to the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex for a 2 p.m. doubleheader ... The teams were originally scheduled to play Wednesday, but wet weather in the forecast forced the games up a day ... The Cardinals also host Toledo this weekend for a four-game series starting Friday.
» 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 season.
» HOW TO FOLLOW: All six of this week's Ball State softball games are scheduled to be streamed live on ESPN's digital platforms ... Tuesday's doubleheader versus Miami is currently slated to be on ESPN+, while coverage for this weekend's series versus Toledo will be announced later ... Live stats will be provided courtesy of Ball State Athletics ... Fans can also get regular game updates by following the team on Twitter - @BallStateSB ... Links can be found on the softball schedule page on BallStateSports.com.
» TUESDAY'S BIG DH: With 18 games left in the Mid-American Conference regular season, you would not necessarily think of a midweek doubleheader as a must win ... However, Tuesday's twin bill pits the 19-2 Cardinals versus the 21-1 RedHawks in a pivotal league showdown ... No other MAC team has less than nine losses (Kent State) at this point in the season, which has seen Ball State sweep four of its completed MAC series and go 3-1 in another ... Miami has swept all five of its completed series, with its lone loss coming versus the Cardinals in the first doubleheader between the two programs played April 20 ... With no MAC Tournament this year, the regular season championship will earn the MAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
» SERIES VS. MIAMI: Ball State holds a 58-47 edge in the all-time series versus Miami after the teams split an April 20 doubleheader in Oxford, Ohio ... Ball State won the opening game, using a four-run fifth inning to rally from down 2-0 for a 4-2 victory ... In the nightcap, the Cardinals were leading 7-2 entering the bottom of the seventh only to see Miami score six runs to escape with an 8-7 win and a split on the day ... Ball State holds a 30-22 advantage in games played in Muncie, including a three-game sweep in Miami's last visit, April 1-2, 2016, by scores of 2-1, 3-2 and 8-6.
ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
» The Cardinals enter Tuesday's doubleheader versus Miami with a 25-12 (19-2 MAC) record after winning three of four games in last weekend's home series versus Ohio ... The Cardinals picked up all three wins in come-from-behind fashion, capped by an impressive performance in the series finale ... After giving up five runs in the top of the third to fall behind 6-1, the Cardinals countered with seven runs in the bottom of the frame and went on to defeat the Bobcats by a score of 11-7 ... Freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy led the charge on offense during the Ohio series, going 8-for-12 (.667) with four runs scored, an RBI and six stolen bases ... Lissy even stole home in Ball State's seven-run third Sunday ... In the circle, junior Tieghan Morio pitched a team-high 10.2 innings and held a team-low 0.66 ERA ... She also struck out a team-high nine batters and produced a 2-0 record.
» Ball State enters Tuesday's contest ranked second in the MAC and 28th nationally with a .312 team batting average and is third in the league with a 3.71 team ERA ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley leads the squad and is 132nd nationally with a .392 average, while eight of BSU's regular starters are batting at least .309 ... Sophomore pitcher Deborah Jones has the team's lowest ERA, at 3.32, and owns a 10-4 record ... She also ranks 18th nationally with three saves.Â
ONE THING TO WATCH TUESDAY: Ball State has played the role of comeback kids so far this season, trailing in 11 of its 19 MAC victories, including the 4-2 win over Miami on April 20 ... Miami, on the other hand, has only trailed in three of its 21 MAC wins, including the 8-7 victory over the Cardinals April 20 ... In addition, the RedHawks have earned 14 of its 21 MAC wins by run rule, including 13 in just five innings and one in six ... Ball State has only picked up a pair of run-rule victories in MAC play this season.
HENSLEY STILL GOING STRONG: Named the MAC Player of the Week on April 6, junior outfielder Faith Hensley is having a breakout season, ranking 132nd among all NCAA Division I players with her .392 batting average, while ranking 80th in on base percentage at .496 ... In addition, she leads the team with 30 RBIs, including a career-high seven in the 10-3 win over Alcorn State (March 6) in which she hit two home runs ... The seven RBIs tie as the second most in a game in program history, trailing only the eight RBIs current Ball State senior catcher Stacy Payton drove in when she smashed three home runs against Oakland on May 7, 2019.
THE 100 RBI CLUB: Senior center fielder Kennedy Wynn became the 15th player in program history to reach 100 career RBIs with her three-run homer which provided the game-winning run in last Tuesday's opener at Miami (April 20) ... She is the fourth player on Ball State's active roster to reach the mark and is currently 13th in program history with 104 RBIs, including 19 this season ... Senior first baseman Janae Hogg is Ball State's active career leader, tying for sixth in BSU annals with 142 RBIs, including 27 this season ... Senior catcher Stacy Payton is 10th all time at 126, while senior outfielder Haley Dominique is 11th at 120 ... Payton has 27 RBI in 2021, while Dominique is at 20.
WALK THIS WAY: With her fourth of six walks in the 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 Tuesday's doubleheader versus Miami with 126 career walks, including 17 this season, which ranks sixth among all active NCAA Division I players ... Senior outfielder Haley Dominique is not far behind, ranking fourth all-time at Ball State and 25th among active Division I players with 108 career walks, including 13 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 in last Friday's series opener versus Ohio (April 23), throwing the final inning of BSU's 4-2 come-from-behind victory to secure her 30th career save ... It was her second save of the season, after also picking up one in BSU's 9-6 win over Samford (March 13) ... At 30 saves, Rothwell is the NCAA's active career saves leader and has 10 more than any other player in NCAA 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: Freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy was a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts last week, climbing to fifth in the MAC with 13 stolen bases this year ... In fact, Lissy is a perfect 13-for-13 on the year and could become just the fifth player in program history to finish a season with a perfect stolen base percentage (min. 10 attempts) ... The best mark in Ball State single-season annals are identical 16-for-16 efforts by Rachel Houck (2017) and Kim Manuel (2019).
MORE FROM THE BASE PATHS: Ball State ranks third in the MAC with 49 stolen bases this season, with 15 different Cardinals having at least one stolen base ... Overall, 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.
THE BIG INNING: Ball State has scored four-or-more runs in an inning 19 times this season ... The Cardinals have done it once in each inning, 1-7, including six times in the third ... Ball State's biggest inning was an eight-run first in the series finale at Central Michigan (April 4) on the way to a 16-5 (5) victory ... The Cardinals scored seven runs in the third versus Bowling Green in the second game of the March 27 doubleheader, a 9-1 (5) win, and in the third of last Sunday's 11-7 win over Ohio (April 25).
