Ball State University
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Western Michigan
Softball Opens 10-Game Road Swing at WMU
May 06, 2021 | Softball
| Ball State (28-17; 22-7 MAC) at Western Michigan (11-29; 7-19 MAC) | |
| Game 1 | Friday, May 7 at 3 p.m. Live Stats | Live Audio |
| Game 2 | Saturday, May 8 at 1 p.m. Live Stats | Live Audio |
| Game 3 | Saturday, May 8 - 30 minutes following Game 3 Live Stats | Live Audio |
| Game 4 | Sunday, May 9 at Noon Live Stats | Live Audio |
| 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 a 10-game road swing Friday, when it travels to Western Michigan for a four-game weekend series ... The Cardinals and Broncos will play a single game Friday at 3 p.m., a doubleheader Saturday a 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday at Noon.
» 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 Western Michigan: More Info
» HOW TO FOLLOW: While you may not be able to attend this weekend's games, that does not mean you cannot follow the action ... Live audio will be available for all four games on Bronco All-Access ... Live stats will be provided courtesy of Western Michigan 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 wet weather hampering some of this week's midweek #MACtion, the race for the league championship and the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament which goes with it is down to three teams with 10 games remaining in the regular season ... Miami leads the conference at 26-2 (.929), while Ball State is second at 22-7 (.759) and Kent State is third at 18-11 (.621) ... The Cardinals could gain some major ground in the race this weekend, as Miami and Kent State battle in a four-game series in Oxford, Ohio ... Series sweeps by the Cardinals and Golden Flashes would allow Ball State to move back within a half game of first.
» SERIES VS. WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Cardinals trail the Broncos 65-59 in the all-time series which dates back to an April 22, 1978 doubleheader in Muncie ... WMU won a close opening game, 1-0, while taking the nightcap, 13-3 ... In the latest series between the two clubs, Ball State won two of three games at Ebert Field April 12-13, 2019 ... Ball State won the opening game of the series by a score of 7-5 on April 12 ... WMU countered by taking the opening game of an April 13 doubleheader in extra innings, 10-9 (8) ... However, Ball State responded by winning the nightcap, 5-3, to win the series ... Overall, the Cardinals are 21-26 in games played in Kalamazoo.
ABOUT THE BALL STATE CARDINAL
» The Cardinals enter the Western Michigan series after splitting a Tuesday doubleheader versus Northern Illinois ... The Huskies built a 7-0 lead in the opening game, and went on to win 7-2, as Ball State's seventh-inning rally attempt fell five runs short ... NIU built a 4-0 lead after four in the second game, only to see the Cardinals score three in the fifth and two in the seventh for a walk-off victory ... For the second time in three games, it was junior outfielder Faith Hensley who would provide the walk-off magic with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh ... She drove in the game-tying run on the hit, while an NIU error on the play allowed the winning run to cross the plate.
» Ball State enters Friday's game ranked second in the MAC and 28th nationally with a .312 team batting average and is fourth in the league with a 4.24 team ERA ... Junior outfielder Faith Hensley leads the squad and is 102nd nationally with a .402 average, while seven of BSU's regular starters are batting at least .314 ... 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.
ONE THING TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND: Ball State senior Kendall Fields would like to repeat the magic from her last trip to Kalamazoo in 2019, when she was named the MAC Player of the Week after blasting three home runs and tallying 10 RBI ... Ball State's starting designated player in Tuesday's win over NIU, Fields opened the 2019 series with her first career grand slam in the top of the first inning of the 7-5 win on April 12 ... In the opening game of the April 13 doubleheader, she opened the game with an RBI single to right, before blasting a two-out, fill count three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh for force extra innings in the 10-9 (8) loss ... She closed the weekend with a two-run blast in the April 13 nightcap, driving in what proved to be the game-winning run ... In addition, she would go on to complete a home run "cycle" over four games 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 102nd among all NCAA Division I players with her .402 batting average, while ranking 80th in on base percentage at .497 ... In addition, she leads the team with 38 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, ranking 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 Friday's game at WMU with 128 career walks, including 19 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 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 the 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).
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 1.24 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 22 MAC victories ... Throw in non-conference play, and Ball State has trailed in 17 of its 28 wins on the season, including each of its last seven victories.
THE BIG INNING: Ball State has scored four-or-more runs in an inning 20 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.
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