Ball State University Athletics
Softball Closes Regular Season This Weekend at Buffalo
May 13, 2021 | Softball
| Ball State (33-18; 27-8 MAC) at Buffalo (18-31; 16-18 MAC) | |
| Game 1 | Friday, May 14 at 3 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 2 | Saturday, May 15 at 1 p.m. Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 3 | Saturday, May 15 - 30 minutes following Game 2 Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 4 | Sunday, May 16 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 closes the 2021 regular season this weekend with a four-game series at Buffalo ... The Cardinals and Bulls will play a 3 p.m. single game Friday, a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a Noon contest Sunday.
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» 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 Buffalo.
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» HOW TO FOLLOW: This weekend's series at Buffalo will be streamed live on the Bulls' YouTube page ... Live stats will be provided courtesy of Buffalo ... 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.
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» TOKYO 2020, HERE WE COME: The Ball State softball program will be represented in this summer's Olympic Games, as alumna Jennifer Gilbert was one of 15 softball athletes selected to compete for Team Canada at Tokyo 2020 ... A four-year letterwinner (2011-14) and a three-year coach (2015-17) for the Cardinals, Gilbert was a two-time All-American and helped guide the program to three MAC Regular Season Championships (2012, 2013 & 2014) ... She concluded her collegiate career as the MAC's record holder in RBI (246), runs scored (215), home runs (75), doubles (62) and slugging percentage (.810) ... Her 75 home runs ranked eighth in NCAA Division I history at the conclusion of her career, and she became the NCAA career home run leader among Canadian-born players with her 66th blast versus North Dakota State (March 22, 2014).
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» CARDINALS LOCK UP 2ND: Thanks to Wednesday's doubleheader sweep at Northern Illinois, Ball State locked up second place in the Mid-American Conference ... At 27-8 in MAC play, the Cardinals entered the week with an outside chance at the league title ... Unfortunately, Miami swept its Wednesday twin bill versus Ohio to improve to 32-2 and win the regular season title ... Kent State is currently third, at 20-15, with four games remaining in the year.
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» SERIES VS. BUFFALO: The Cardinals hold a 19-6 advantage in the all-time series versus the Bulls which dates back to a May 5, 2004 doubleheader ... Buffalo won the opening game, 5-0, while the Cardinals took the nightcap, 2-1 ... The Bulls also won the latest meeting between the two teams played at D'Youville College's Dobson Field by a score of 7-4 on March 26, 2017 ... UB holds at 8-3 edge in meetings in the state of New York.
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ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
» The Cardinals enter the Buffalo series fresh off a doubleheader sweep at Buffalo on Wednesday ...  Much like they have all season, Ball State trailed early in both games and used big innings to complete come-from-behind wins ... In the opening game, NIU was up 2-0 after three innings, only to see BSU score three in the fourth and 10 in the fifth for a 13-4 (5) victory ... The Huskies scored a first-inning run in the second game, holding the 1-0 lead until the top of the fifth, when Ball State scored five runs ... The Cardinals added eight more runs in the sixth inning to lock up the 13-1 (6) win ... Overall, 11 different Ball State players had at least one hit, 10 had at least one RBI and 12 scored at least one run ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley led the way with five hits, four runs scored and added three RBIs.
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» Ball State enters the Buffalo series ranked second in the MAC and in the top 20 nationally with a .327 team batting average and is fourth in the league with a 4.14 team ERA ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley leads the squad with a .406 batting average, while seven of BSU's regular starters are batting at least .311 ... Sophomore pitcher Deborah Jones has the team's lowest ERA, at 3.88, and owns a 10-7 record ... Junior Tieghan Morio has a team-high 12 wins in the circle, while senior closer Alyssa Rothwell has a league-high four saves to rank eighth nationally.Â
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ONE THING TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND: Tied for the NCAA lead with nine triples, freshman shortstop Kayla Lissy also enters the weekend riding a Ball State season-long 13-game hitting streak ... In Wednesday's doubleheader at NIU, she went 3-for-7 with a third-inning single in the opener and fifth and sixth-inning singles in the nightcap ... Lissy has also reached base safely in each of the last 17 games, two shy of Faith Hensley's season-high total of 19 (March 5 vs. WKU - April 4 at CMU).
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HENSLEY STILL GOING STRONG: Junior outfielder Faith Hensley is having a breakout season, ranking among the top 100 NCAA Division I players with her .406 batting average and .497 on base percentage ... In addition, she leads the team with 48 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.
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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 12th in program history with 109 RBIs, including 24 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 eighth all time at 140, while senior outfielder Haley Dominique is 10th at 135 ... Payton has 41 RBI in 2021, while Dominique is at 35.
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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 the Buffalo series 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.
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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.
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FROM THE BASE PATHS:Â 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 1.18 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.
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COMEBACK CARDINALS:Â Ball State has played the role of comeback kids so far this season, trailing at some point during 16 of its program-record 27 MAC victories ... Throw in non-conference play, and Ball State has trailed in 19 of its 31 wins on the season.
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THE BIG INNING:Â Ball State has scored four-or-more runs in an inning 25 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, the 10-run fifth in the opening game of Wednesday's doubleheader at NIU which saw the Cardinals win 13-4 (5) ... Second on the list was the nine-run onslaught in the third inning of the 14-5 (5) come-from-behind win over Toledo (May 1) ... The Cardinals have also produced two eight-run innings and two seven-run innings this year.
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TURNING TWO:Â Ball State entered the week leading the MAC and tied for ninth nationally with 22 double plays turned this season ... Six of those double plays came last week, including three in the May 4 doubleheader versus Northern Illinois and three in the four-game series at Western Michigan (May 7-9) ... 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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