Ball State University
Miami (Game 1)
Softball Travels To Miami Tuesday to Battle League Leader
April 15, 2024 | Softball
| Ball State (20-21; 7-8 MAC) at Miami (32-6; 14-0 MAC) | |
| Games 42 & 43 at Miami | Tuesday, April 16 at 3 p.m. (DH) Live Stats |
| Tickets Info | Free Admission |
| Notes | Ball State | Miami |
| Social Media | Twitter | Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team opens a busy week Tuesday when it travels to Oxford, Ohio, for a 3 p.m. doubleheader versus Mid-American Conference leader Miami ... The Cardinals will then host Akron for Alumni Weekend with a 1 p.m. twinbill Saturday and a Noon game Sunday.
» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters Tuesday's doubleheader at Miami with a 1168-1163-4 (.501) overall record dating back to 1975 ... The Cardinals have tallied 30-or-more wins in 16 seasons, most recently a 37-18 mark in 2021 ... Of the 16 seasons with 30-or-more wins, 11 have come in the past 16 years.
» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Led by first-year head coach Helen Peña, the Cardinals own a 20-21 overall record ... Ball State maintains a .271 team batting average, led by redshirt junior utility player McKayla Timmons at .373 ... Timmons ranks third in the MAC and fourth nationally with 16 home runs, while ranking fourth in the league and 25th among NCAA Division I players with 45 RBIs ... After batting .700 (7-for-10) versus Bowling Green, sophomore Ashlee Lovett is second on the team with a .326 average, while graduate third baseman Haley Wynn is third on the squad in average (.308) ... Wynn is also second in runs scored (30) and third in both home runs (6) and RBI (21) ... In the circle, the Cardinals own a 3.86 ERA led by senior Francys King who boasts an 11-8 record and a 3.25 ERA over 118.1 innings of work ... King has also tallied three complete game shutouts this season and is tied for the team lead with 54 strikeouts ... Sophomore Bridie Murphy has a team-best .272 average against over 96.0 innings, to go along with a 7-8 record, one save and 54 strikeouts.
» CARDINALS VERSUS THE REDHAWKS: Ball State holds a 59-54 lead in the all-time series versus Miami including a 10-0 (5) win in the latest meeting played April 26, 2023 at the Softball Field at First Merchants Ballpark Complex in Muncie ... Prior to the victory, Miami had won eight straight in the series ... Miami has also won the last three games on its home field, while the series is tied at 25 games apiece in Oxford ... Ball State's last win at Miami was a 4-2 victory April 20, 2021 in the first game of a doubleheader.
» SCOUTING MIAMI: Miami enters Tuesday's match-up with a 32-6 (14-0 MAC) record after sweeping a three-game series at Akron last weekend by out-scoring the Zips 36-13 to run its current winning streak to 19 games ... Miami ranks third in the nation with a .362 batting average, while leading the country with 113 home runs, 21 more than the next closest team ... Jenna Golembiewski leads the squad with a .443 average and is first nationally with 65 RBI ... Karli Spaid leads the country in home runs, with 25, one more than Golembiewski's 24 ... Madilyn Reeves leads the RedHawks pitching staff with 25 appearances over 99.0 innings of work, boasting a 14-2 record, a 3.54 ERA and a team-high 88 strikeouts ... Addy Jarvis has a team-low .240 average against, along with a 10-1 record, a 3.81 ERA and 48 strikeouts.
BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:
» MAC PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: Ball State was picked to finish fourth among 11 teams in the Mid-American Conference's annual preseason poll ... The Cardinals, who finished fourth in the league last season with a 17-12 MAC record, are looking for a second consecutive MAC Softball Championship berth, with the league's top six teams advancing to Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio, for the three-day event which runs May 8-11.
» THE WYNN FACTOR: Graduate third baseman Haley Wynn has taken advantage of her extra year of eligibility, ranking second on the team with 44 hits so far this season ... That raises her career total to 225 which is seventh in program history ... Wynn has registered at least one hit in 29 of BSU's first 41 games of the season, including six home runs to up her career long ball total to 25 which is tied for ninth in program history.
» MORE ON WYNN: Haley Wynn is one of the most prolific batters in program history ranking 18th on Ball State's career charts with a .329 career average ... She is also 13th all-time in slugging percentage (.531) and 16th in on base percentage (.405) ... In addition, her 162 career runs scored are third in program history and 35th among all active NCAA Division I players ... She also ranks 30th among active DI players with 43 career doubles which is eighth in program history, while her 10 career triples are 37th among active DI players and tied for 11th in the BSU record book.
» TIMMONS CLIMBING THE CHARTS TOO: After leading the Ball State offense with a .373 batting average, a .849 slugging percentage and a .475 on base percentage through the first 41 games of the season, McKayla Timmons continued her climb up BSU's career charts ... She currently ranks fourth in program history in slugging percentage (.700), fifth in on base percentage (.453) and seventh in batting average (.353) ... Timmons, who has blasted a team-leading 18 home runs so far this season, including her first collegiate grand slam at Georgia State (Feb. 24), is also one of the program's top home run hitters with her 34 career long balls ranking fifth on BSU's all-time list.
» RBI LEADER: McKayla Timmons enters the week ranked 25th nationally with her 45 RBIs this season ... The effort included seven RBIs in the 9-5 (9) win over Georgia State (Feb. 24) and six in the 13-9 victory at Marshall (March 7) ... The program record for RBIs in a single game is eight by Stacy Payton versus Oakland on May 4, 2019.
» SHINING BEHIND THE PLATE TOO: In addition to pacing the offense, McKayla Timmons has proven to be one of the nation's top threats behind the plate and was recently named one of the nation's best catchers by Softball America, ranking sixth on the April position list ... The effort is aided by Timmons throwing out eight of the 25 runners attempting to steal a base on her so far this season.
» BALL STATE'S BEST THIEF: Senior outfielder Remington Ross enters the week as the greatest base thief in program history with a .966 (56-for-58) career stolen base percentage at Ball State ... Last season, she went a perfect 23-for-23 in stolen base attempts and ranked second in the MAC and 54th nationally with a 0.47 steals-per-game average ... Ross, who is seventh in program history with 56 career stolen bases, had been successful in her previous 36 stolen base attempts before being caught stealing for just the second time in her Ball State career at Georgia State (Feb. 24) ... She has stolen seven straight bases since.
» SPEAKING OF STOLEN BASES: Ball State enters the Miami doubleheader ranked second in the league and 17th nationally with 77 stolen bases this season ... Haley Wynn leads the squad with 13, while McKayla Timmons has 12, Remington Ross has 11 and senior outfielder Kaitlyn Mathews has 10 ... Overall, 11 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base this season ... Ball State's 77 stolen bases in 2024 are already tied as the ninth-most in a season in program history ... The program record is 151 set by the 2008 squad.
» A SLAMMING FIRST HIT: Redshirt sophomore Jessica Hoffman had just two career at bats when she stepped up to the plate with bases loaded in the 10-8 win over Fordham (Feb. 11) ... She proceeded to blast her first career hit over the fence in right center field for her first career home run and Ball State's first grand slam since April 6, 2022 ... A regular in the lineup since, Hoffman has 32 career hits and is fourth on the team with a .291 average this season ... Of her 32 hits, 14 have driven in at least one RBI and she currently ranks second on the squad with 28 RBIs.
» SPEAKING OF SLAMS: Kaitlyn Mathews blasted her first career grand slam in last Saturday's 13-9 (8) victory at Buffalo, taking a two-out, 3-2 pitch over the fence in center field ... It was Mathews' fifth career home run and Ball State's fourth grand slam of the season.
» KING OF THE PEN: Senior Francys King leads the Ball State pitching staff with a 3.25 ERA over 119.1 innings of work ... She has earned the victory in 11 of BSU's 20 wins, including three of the team's four complete game shutouts ... King has 20 career collegiate pitching victories, with 14 coming at Ball State and six coming in her two seasons at Tennessee State (2021-22).
» TRIPLING UP: The Ball State defense owns one of the nation's six triple plays this season, turning what was a squeeze bunt attempt into a triple killing in the fifth inning of the 5-4 win over Jacksonville State on Feb. 17 ... The bunt was fielded by Haley Wynn at third base, who threw to McKayla Timmons to get the out at first ... The play then went to catcher Jazmyne Armendariz to get the runner out trying to advance home, who in turn threw to shortstop Maia Pietrzak to get the final out ... It was just the second recorded triple play in program history, with the first coming in 1985.
