Ball State University
Northern Illinois
Softball Hopes Weather Does Not Dampen Tuesday DH with NIU
May 03, 2021 | Softball
| Ball State (27-16; 21-6 MAC) hosts Northern Illinois (17-27; 11-17 MAC) | |
| Game 1 | Tuesday, May 4 at 11 a.m. Live Stats | ESPN+ Broadcast |
| Game 2 | Tuesday, May 4 - 30 minutes following Game 2 Live Stats | ESPN+ Broadcast |
| Tickets | NO GENERAL PUBLIC ATTENDANCE |
| Game Notes | Ball State |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: Ball State opens the week Tuesday with an 11 a.m. doubleheader versus Northern Illinois to close its 12-game homestand ... The Cardinals will then head on the road for its final 10 games of the regular season, starting with a four-game series at Western Michigan ... The teams are currently scheduled to play a 3 p.m. contest Friday, a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a noon game Sunday.
» 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: Tuesday's doubleheader versus Northern Illinois will be streamed live on ESPN+ ... Joel Godett will call the play-by-play action, while Brett (Williams) Kramer will serve as analyst ... Kramer was a Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I All-Region catcher for Michigan State (2009-12), finishing her Spartan career with 20 home runs and a .237 career average ... Live stats will be provided courtesy of Ball State Athletics ... 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 12 games remaining in the 2021 MAC season, only four teams are mathematically alive in the race for the league's regular season crown and the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which goes with it ... Miami leads the conference at 26-2 (.929), while Ball State is second at 21-6 (.778), Kent State is third at 16-11 (.593) and Ohio is fourth at 14-14 (.500) ... The good news for the Cardinals in the race, the league-leading RedHawks still have four-game series with both the Bobcats and the Golden Flashes.
» SERIES VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The Cardinals trail the Huskies 49-32 in the all-time series which dates back to a 1-0 NIU victory on April 24, 1981 at the Indiana University Invitational ... In the latest meeting, the Huskies scored a 4-2 win over Ball State on April 10, 2019 in a single game played in Muncie ... A week earlier, the teams split a doubleheader in DeKalb, with NIU taking game one 7-6 and the Cardinals winning the nightcap 7-5 (9) courtesy of back-to-back ninth inning home runs from Kennedy Wynn and Hailey Demnianiuk ... Overall, Northern Illinois is 18-11 in games played in Muncie.
ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINALS
» The Cardinals enter Tuesday's doubleheader after splitting a four-game weekend series versus Toledo ... After losing the first two games by identical 6-4 scores, Ball State rallied for walk-off wins in the final two ... Junior second baseman Amaia Daniel provided a lot of the magic, returning from injury to blast a walk-off, two-run home run to complete the 14-5 (5) run-rule in Saturday's nightcap ... She also provided a crucial seventh-inning, game-tying home run in Sunday's series finale to send the contest into extra innings ... That game was capped by a walk-off RBI single from junior outfielder Faith Hensley which set off Ball State's post-game senior day festivities with a bang.
» Ball State enters the NIU doubleheader ranked second in the MAC and 27th nationally with a .316 team batting average and is third in the league with a 4.23 team ERA ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley leads the squad and is 87th nationally with a .409 average, while seven of BSU's regular starters are batting at least .325 ... Sophomore pitcher Deborah Jones has the team's lowest ERA, at 4.07, and owns a 10-6 record ... She also ranks 24th nationally with three saves.Â
ONE THING TO WATCH TUESDAY: After missing the last nine games (minus a sixth-inning at bat Friday) due to injury, junior second baseman Amaia Daniel returned to the Ball State lineup for Saturday's doubleheader versus Toledo ... She did not disappoint, blasting a home run in each of the final three games of the series ... The last Ball State player to recorded home runs in three consecutive games was senior Kendall Fields as a sophomore in 2019 when she actually homered in four straight and achieved a reverse home run "cycle" ... She started with a grand slam in the series opener at Western Michigan (April 12, 2019) ... In a doubleheader the following day, she smashed a three-run shot in the opening game and followed with a two-run blast in the nightcap to drive in what proved to be the game-winning run ... She completed her "cycle" with a solo home run in the series opener at Toledo (April 19, 2019) the following weekend.
HENSLEY STILL GOING STRONG: Junior outfielder Faith Hensley is having a breakout season, ranking 87th among all NCAA Division I players with her .409 batting average, while ranking 61st in on base percentage at .507 ... In addition, she leads the team with 36 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 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 143 RBIs, including 28 this season ... Senior catcher Stacy Payton is ninth all time at 131, while senior outfielder Haley Dominique is 11th at 126 ... Payton has 32 RBI in 2021, while Dominique is at 26.
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 with 127 career walks, including 18 this season, which ranks fifth among all active NCAA Division I players ... Senior outfielder Haley Dominique is not far behind, ranking fourth all-time at Ball State and 23rd 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.
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 went 2-for-2 in stolen bases last week to remain fifth in the MAC with 15 stolen bases this year ... In fact, Lissy is a perfect 15-for-15 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 56 stolen bases this season, with 15 different Cardinals having at least one stolen base ... Overall, the team is averaging 1.30 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 20 times this season ... The Cardinals have done it 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 last Saturday's 14-5 (5) come-from-behind win over Toledo ... 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.
