Ball State University
Middle Tennessee
Softball Set For Stops at MTSU & Lipscomb This Weekend
February 27, 2025 | Softball
| Ball State (7-2) at MTSU Invitational (hosted by Middle Tennessee) / at Gold & Purple Challenge (hosted by Lipscomb) | |
| Games 10 at Middle Tennessee (4-11) | Friday, February 28 at Noon ET /  11 a.m. CT Live Stats |
| Games 11 vs. Illinois State (4-9) | Friday, February 28 at 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT Live Stats |
| Games 12 at Middle Tennessee (4-11) | Saturday, March 1 at 2:30 p.m. ET /  1:30 p.m. CT Live Stats |
| Games 13 vs. Illinois State (4-9) | Saturday, March 1 at 5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT Live Stats |
| Game 14 vs. Northern Iowa (7-3) | Sunday, March 2 at 1:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. CT Live Stats |
| Tickets Info | MTSU Â | Â Lipscomb |
| Notes | Ball State |  Middle Tennessee  |  Illinois State  |  Northern Iowa |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team opens spring break with a trip to Tennessee for games in both the MTSU Invitational and the Purple & Gold Challenge hosted by Lipscomb ... The Cardinals open with games versus Middle Tennessee (Noon ET / 11 a.m. CT) and Illinois State (5 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. CT) Friday ... BSU will play the same two teams Saturday, before shifting over to Lipscomb to battle Northern Iowa on Sunday.
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» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the weekend with a 1184-1173-4 (.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 enters the week as one of the nation's top scoring programs, ranking 15th nationally at 8.11 runs per game ... The effort is aided by a .321 team batting average, which ranks 58th nationally, as well as 11 combined home runs ... Redshirt junior center fielder Hayley Urban made a splash last weekend at the Charlotte Invitational and currently leads all MAC players in slugging percentage (1.059) and OPS (1.609), while ranking second in both batting average (.471) and home runs (3) ... As solid as the offense has been, Ball State has been just as stellar on defense, ranking fourth among all NCAA Division I programs with a .988 fielding percentage ... BSU has committed just three errors over 52.2 innings in the field ... The defense has helped Ball State's pitching staff combine for a 4.12 ERA so far this season, with junior Ella Whitney leading the way at 2.36 ... Whitney's ERA is fourth in the league, while her four wins are tied for first among all MAC pitchers.
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» VERSUS THE WEEKEND'S OPPONENTS:
- Ball State is a combined 4-20 versus teams it will face in Tennessee this weekend ... The Cardinals are 2-4 all-time versus Middle Tennessee, 1-11 all-time vs. Illinois State, and 1-5 all-time versus Northern Illinois ... On the bright side, Ball State beat both MTSU and UNI the last time the squads met.
-Â MIDDLE TENNESSEE:Â The Blue Raiders enter the weekend with a 4-11 overall record after suffering a 6-5 setback at Austin Peay last Wednesday ... MTSU is batting .220 as a squad, led by Jana Want at .366 ... Want also leads the squad in RBI (9) and walks (10) ... In the circle, Middle Tennessee has a 4.33 team ERA, led by Leila Ammon at 3.82 ... Over a team-high 29.1 innings of work, Ammon has struck out 20 batters and held opponents to a .295 average.
-Â ILLINOIS STATE:Â The Redbirds enter the weekend with a 4-9 overall record after going 2-2 at last weekend's UT-Chattanooga Invitational ... Despite batting just .198 as a team, ISU ended the event with back-to-back wins ... Tatum Wolford leads the squad with a .320 average, while Belainey Bryant has the team's only home run and is batting .308 ... The Redbirds look solid in the circle, owning a 2.66 team ERA paced by Hannah Meshnick's 1.32 mark ... Meshnick has thrown 47.2 innings with 16 strikeouts and a .236 opponents' batting average.
-Â NORTHERN IOWA: The Panthers enter the weekend with a 7-3 overall record after going 4-1 at least weekend's Furman Classic ... Winners of three straight, UNI has a .280 team batting average, led by Kylee Sanders at .433 ... Addison McElrath is not far behind at .400 and leads the squad with four home runs and nine RBI ... The Panthers are also strong in the circle with a 2.30 team ERA, led by Anna Wischnowski at 1.00 ... Over 35.0 innings, Wischnowski has allowed just five earned runs and his limiting opponents to a .223 average with 20 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 weekend ranked second on Ball State's career list in on base percentage (.486), second in slugging percentage (.742), second in home runs (43), fourth in batting average (.368), tied for 10th in RBI (135) and 12th in runs scored (114).
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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 ... She has already caught one runner trying to steal this season, while surrendering just three stolen bases.
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» ON THE BASES: Ball State has gone 14-for-15 in stolen bases so far this season, with seven different players recording at least one steal ... McKayla Timmons leads the way at 5-for-5 and now ranks fourth in program history with a .903 (28-for-31) stolen base percentage ... 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.
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» ON THE OFFENSIVE FRONT: Ball State has been putting on an offensive clinic so far this season, ranking 15th nationally by averaging 8.11 runs per game ... The Cardinals have earned four run-rule victories so far this season and have scored 10-or-more runs in three games ... In 2024, the Cardinals ranked second in the MAC and 58th nationally at 5.16 runs per game ... 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 weekend ranked first in the MAC in wins (4) and fourth in ERA (2.36) ... Over a team-high 26.2 innings of work, she surrendered just nine earned runs and 21 hits to limit opposing batters to a .210 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) and her first home run with the Cardinals in the 12-1 (5) victory over Albany (Feb. 23).
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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 ... Kita also picked up a complete game victory in Ball State's 15-4 (5) win over Lehigh (Feb. 22).
