Softball Heads to NIU For Wednesday #MACtion

Ball State (31-18; 25-8 MAC) at Northern Illinois (19-31; 13-21 MAC)
Game 1	Wednesday, May 12 at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT Live Stats \| NIUTube Live Video
Game 2	Wednesday, May 12 - 30 minutes following Game 1 Live Stats \| NIUTube 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 closes the 2021 regular season this week with six games on the road ... The first two come Wednesday, when the Cardinals travel to Northern Illinois for a 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT doubleheader versus the Huskies ... From there, Ball State will make its way to Buffalo for a four-game series starting Friday at 3 p.m. ... The Cardinals and Bulls are also slated to play a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a single game Sunday at noon.

» VENUE UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and resulting department of health guidance, attendance at NIU's Mary M. Bell Field is limited to 155 fans for softball ... Each team's guests will be allowed in via a pre-determined pass list ... There will be no general public attendance at this weekend's games at Buffalo.

» HOW TO FOLLOW: Wednesday's doubleheader at Northern Illinois will be streamed live on NIUTube on NIUHuskies.com, the Huskie all-access channel ... Subscriptions are available for purchase on a daily ($6.95), monthly ($10.95) or annual basis and provides access to all home NIU Athletics events streamed on the website for the purchase period ... This weekend's series at Buffalo will be streamed live on the Bulls' YouTube page ... Live stats will be provided courtesy of the home institutions ... Fans can also get regular updates by following the team on Twitter - @BallStateSB ... Links can be found on the softball schedule page on BallStateSports.com.

» THE RACE FOR FIRST: With six games remaining in the MAC regular season, it's a two-team race for the league championship and the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which goes with it ... Miami enters the week in first at 30-2, five-and-a-half games ahead of Ball State in second at 25-8 ... The only way the Cardinals can win the league crown at this point is to win six games and have the RedHawks lose six.

» SERIES VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Cardinals trail the Huskies 33-50 in the all-time series which dates back to a 1-0 NIU victory on April 24, 1981 at the Indiana University Invitational ... Last week, the teams split a Tuesday (May 4) doubleheader in Muncie, with NIU winning the opener, 7-2, and the Cardinals taking the nightcap, 5-4 ... For the second time in three games, it was junior outfielder Faith Hensley who would provide the walk-off magic in the win, as she drove in the tying run with a blooper into shallow left field, while an error on the play allowed the game-winning run to cross the plate.

ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
» The Cardinals enter Wednesday's doubleheader at Northern Illinois after taking three of four games at Western Michigan last weekend ... Ball State won the first three games of the WMU series, before suffering an extra-inning setback in the finale ... The Cardinals out-scored the Broncos 37-20 in the series, including a wild 17-11 win in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader ... Ball State's 17 runs and 18 hits in the game were both season highs, with both freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy and junior outfielder Faith Hensley accounting for seven runs apiece ... Lissy scored five runs and had a pair of RBI, while Hensley went 4-for-5 with a two-run double in the first, a one-run double in the second, an RBI single in the third and another RBI single in the fifth for five RBIs and a pair of runs scored.

» Ball State enters Wednesday's doubleheader at NIU ranked second in the MAC and 21st nationally with a .319 team batting average and is fourth in the league with a 4.28 team ERA ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley leads the squad with a .390 batting average, while seven of BSU's regular starters are batting at least .320 ... Sophomore pitcher Deborah Jones has the team's lowest ERA, at 3.92, and owns a 10-7 record ... Junior Tieghan Morio has a team-high 11 wins in the circle, while senior closer Alyssa Rothwell has a league-high four saves to rank eighth nationally.

ONE THING TO WATCH WEDNESDAY: Freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy enters the week riding a career-long 11-game hitting streak, which ties senior catcher Stacy Payton (March 12 vs. SIU - April 4 at CMU) for the longest hitting streak by a Cardinal this season ... Lissy has also reached base safely in each of the last 15 games, four shy of Faith Hensley's season-high total of 19 (March 5 vs. WKU - April 4 at CMU) ... In last Tuesday's DH versus NIU, Lissy went 3-for-7 with a RBI single in the 5-4 victory.

HENSLEY STILL GOING STRONG: Junior outfielder Faith Hensley is having a breakout season, ranking 136th among all NCAA Division I players with her .390 batting average, while ranking 93rd in on base percentage at .485 ... In addition, she leads the team with 45 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 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 106 RBIs, including 21 this season ... Senior first baseman Janae Hogg is Ball State's active career leader, ranking sixth in BSU annals with 145 RBIs, including 30 this season ... Senior catcher Stacy Payton is ninth all time at 136, while senior outfielder Haley Dominique is 10th at 132 ... Payton has 37 RBI in 2021, while Dominique is at 32.

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 Wednesday's doubleheader with 130 career walks, including 21 this season, which ranks seventh 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 111 career walks, including 16 this season ... It marks the first time in program history BSU has had two players with at least 100 walks on the same team.

NCAA RECORD HOLDER: With her fourth save of the season in last Saturday's up-and-down, 17-11 victory at Western Michigan (May 8), Ball State senior pitcher Alyssa Rothwell tied the NCAA Division I career record with her 32nd career save ... It was her second save of the series, and gave her 12 more saves than any other active NCAA Division I softball player ... Rothwell is tied with Mississippi State's Kellie Willkerson (1999-2002) for the NCAA's all-time saves mark.

FROM THE BASE PATHS: Ball State ranks third in the MAC with 60 stolen bases this season, with 15 different Cardinals having at least one stolen base ... Overall, the team is averaging 1.22 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.

COMEBACK CARDINALS: Ball State has played the role of comeback kids so far this season, trailing at some point during 14 of its program record 25 MAC victories ... Throw in non-conference play, and Ball State has trailed in 17 of its 31 wins on the season.

THE BIG INNING: Ball State has scored four-or-more runs in an inning 22 times this season ... The Cardinals have done it at least once in each inning, 1-7, including seven times in the third ... Ball State's biggest inning was the nine-run onslaught in the third inning of the 14-5 (5) come-from-behind win over Toledo (May 1) ... The Cardinals also had an eight-run first in the series finale at Central Michigan (April 4) on the way to a 16-5 (5) victory ... Ball State has scored seven runs in an inning twice this year.

TURNING TWO: Ball State enters the week leading the MAC and tied for ninth nationally with 22 double plays turned this season ... Three of those double plays came in last Tuesday's doubleheader versus Northern Illinois ... The total ranks as the third-most in a single season in program history, trailing only the 2012 (33) and 2013 (30) teams.

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Players Mentioned

Haley Dominique

Faith Hensley

Janae Hogg

Deborah Jones

Kayla Lissy

Tieghan Morio

Stacy Payton

Alyssa Rothwell

Kennedy Wynn