Ball State University
Lehigh
Softball Back In Action At Charlotte Invitational Starting Friday
February 20, 2025 | Softball
| Ball State (3-1) at Charlotte Invitational (hosted by Charlotte) | |
| Games 5 vs. Lehigh (1-4) | Friday, February 21 at 11:30 a.m. ET Live Stats |
| Games 6Â vs. Albany (0-0) | Friday, February 21 at 1:30 p.m. ET Live Stats |
| Games 7 vs. Lehigh (1-4) | Saturday, February 22 at 10 a.m. ET Live Stats |
| Games 8Â at Charlotte (2-9) | Saturday, February 22 at 3 p.m. ET Live Stats |
| Game 9 vs. Albany (0-0) | Sunday, February 23 at 10 a.m. ET Live Stats |
| Tickets Info | FREE ADMISSION |
| Notes | Ball State |  Lehigh  |  Albany  |  Charlotte |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team returns to action Friday when it opens play in the three-day Charlotte Invitational with games versus Lehigh (11:30 a.m.) and Albany (1:30 p.m.) ... The Cardinals are also scheduled to play Lehigh (10 a.m.) and host Charlotte (3 p.m.) Saturday, as well as Albany (10 a.m.) again Sunday.
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» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the Charlotte Invitational with a 1181-1172-4 (.502) 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 17 years.
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» QUOTING COACH PEÑA: "Our goal this season is to have fun competing. If we can compete every single pitch, and have fun doing it, I believe we are going to have a really good season. It's truly about getting better every weekend and not putting so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect."
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» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Ball State opened the season with a 3-1 record at the Mustang Classic hosted by Cal Poly ... After having opening day rained out, the Cardinals picked up wins over both Oregon State and Cal Poly to begin the new year ... Offensively, fifth-year senior catcher McKayla Timmons picked up where she left off last season, blasting a three-run homer in the opener versus the Beavers to drive in what proved to be the game-winning run ... From there, pitchers avoided her as much as possible, walking her five times and hitting her on three other occasions ... However, in six official at bats, Timmons still managed three hits and boasted a 1.167 slugging percentage and a .786 on base percentage ... Senior left fielder Kara Gunter led the Ball State offense with five hits over the tournament and also collected a team-best six RBIs, including five in BSU's lone loss of the weekend to Oregon State Saturday ... In the circle, junior Ella Whitney earned two of BSU's three wins, limiting opposing batters to 10 hits and a .222 average over 12.0 innings of work ... She finished the week with a 1.17 ERA, allowing just one run in BSU's 4-1 win over Oregon State and just one run in the 13-1 (5) victory over Cal Poly to end the tournament.
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» IN SEASON OPENERS: With its 4-1 victory over Oregon State to open the 2025 season on Feb. 7, Ball State improved to 29-22 record in season-opening games since the 1975 season.
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» VERSUS THE CHARLOTTE INVITATIONAL FIELD:
- Ball State enters the Charlotte Invitational with a combined 2-1 record versus the tournament field ... The Cardinals and Lehigh have met twice, with each squad picking up a win ... Albany topped Ball State in the only previous meeting between the two squad ... BSU and Charlotte have never played in softball.
-Â LEHIGH:Â Enters the weekend with a 1-4 overall record with its last outing being a 7-4 setback to UC Riverside on Feb. 9 ... The Mountain Hawks also suffered a 9-0 (5) setback to then-No. 5 UCLA the previous day ... Kelly Fricker leads the squad with a .375 batting average, including a pair of doubles ... Madison Finnerty has Lehigh's lone win in the circle this season, with a 1-2 mark and 9.55 ERA over 11.0 innings of work.
-Â ALBANY:Â Will be opening its 2025 campaign with Friday's tournament-opener versus the Cardinals ... The Great Danes finished the 2024 season with a 33-14 overall record, won the America East Tournament and competed in the Bryan-College Station Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
-Â CHARLOTTE: Enters the weekend with a 2-9 overall record after suffering a 14-8 setback at Clemson on Tuesday ... The 49ers also lost all five games it played in last weekend's Clearwater Invitational which included setbacks to then-No. 4 UCLA and then-No. 5 Texas A&M ... Teagan Ritchie currently leads the squad with a .344 average and has blasted three of the team's six home runs ... Brooke Bowling leads the squad with 23.0 innings pitched and 15 strikeouts.
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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 sixth in the league last season with a 12-13 MAC record, are looking for a third 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 7-10 ... BSU also picked up one of the 11 votes to win the MAC Tournament title.
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» WATCH OUT FOR TIMMONS: McKayla Timmons was named a player to watch this season, ranking 36th on the Softball America Top 100 Preseason list and as the No. 8 ranked utility/designated player in the country by D1Softball.com ... Timmons enters the Charlotte Invitational ranked second on Ball State's career list in on base percentage (.485), tied for second in home runs (42), fourth in batting average (.369), tied for 11th in RBI (129) and tied for 13th in runs scored (108).
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» 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 finished the 2024 season ranked as one of the nation's best catchers by Softball America ... She was fifth on SA's final catchers list and 47th among the nation's top 100 players ... The effort was aided by Timmons throwing out 11 of the 37 runners attempting to steal a base on her last season.
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» ON THE BASES: Ball State went 4-for-5 in stolen bases opening weekend, with four different players recording one steal ... The Cardinals finished the 2024 season ranked second in the league and 25th nationally with 92 stolen bases ... It was the seventh-best single season total in program history and included six different players with at least nine stolen bases ... Overall, 11 different Cardinals had at least one stolen bast last season.
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» ON THE OFFENSIVE FRONT: Ball State's offense picked up right where it left off last season, ranking 42nd nationally by averaging 6.75 runs per game opening weekend ... Last season, the Cardinals were one of the nation's top run producing offenses, ranking second in the MAC and 58th nationally with a 5.16 runs-per-game average ... Ball State scored five-or-more runs in 32 of its 58 games, including a season-high 13 runs in wins at Marshall (March 7) and at Buffalo (April 6 - Game Two) ... Ball State was 29-3 on the year when scoring at least five runs, while going 7-0 when scoring 10-or-more runs.
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» THE WHITNEY EFFECT: Ella Whitney, who played her first two seasons of collegiate softball at FIU, enters the Charlotte Invitational ranked first in the Mid-American Conference and 87th nationally with a 1.17 ERA ... Over 12.0 innings of work opening weekend, she surrendered just two runs and 10 hits to limit opposing batters to a .222 average ... She also made a big impact with her bat, including posting Ball State's first triple of the season in the 3-2 (8) victory over Cal Poly (Feb. 8) ... Overall, she collected three hits and a pair of RBIs opening weekend.
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» ANOTHER FRESH START: Redshirt sophomore pitcher Brinkley Kita, who began her collegiate career in 2023 at Lipscomb, earned her first win for the Cardinals in the 3-2 (8) win over Cal Poly by throwing the final 2.2 innings ... She allowed just three hits and one run in the outing, while striking out a pair of batters.
