Softball Opens #MACtion Friday at Akron

Ball State (13-6; 0-0 MAC) at Akron (12-11; 0-0 MAC)
Game 20 at Akron	Friday, March 14 at 1 p.m. ET Live Stats \| ESPN+
Game 21 at Akron	Friday, March 14 at 3 p.m. ET Live Stats \| ESPN+
Game 22 at Akron	Saturday, March 15 at 1 p.m. ET Live Stats
Tickets Info	FREE ADMISSION
Notes	Ball State \| Akron
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» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Akron ... Due to the current weather forecast for the weekend, the teams will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader Friday and a single game Saturday at 1 p.m.

» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the weekend with a 1190-1177-4 (.503) 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.

» 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."

» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS: Ball State enters the weekend as one of the nation's top scoring programs, ranking 22nd nationally at 7.21 runs per game ... The effort is aided by a .299 team batting average, which ranks 83rd nationally, as well as 19 total home runs ... Leading the way is reigning MAC Player of the Week redshirt senior catcher McKayla Timmons who ranks among the top players nationally in nearly every offensive category ... Timmons, who is currently on an 11-game hitting streak and a 45-game streak of reaching base safely, leads the MAC and is 13th nationally with a .510 average ... She is also third among all NCAA Division I players in on base percentage (.662), seventh in times being hit by a pitch (9), 11th in slugging percentage (1.000) and 36th in stolen base percentage (.909) ... Countering the effort at the plate is junior Ella Whitney has been named MAC Pitcher of the Week in each of the last two weeks ... Whitney ranks second among all MAC pitchers and 59th nationally with a 1.62 ERA, while leading all MAC players and ranking 35th nationally with eight wins ... In addition, her opponent's batting average of .197 leads the conference ... On the defensive front, Ball State currently ranks third in the MAC and 29th nationally with a .974 fielding percentage ... In addition, the Cardinals have surrendered just eight stolen bases, with Timmons throwing out six of the 13 runners who have attempted to steal against her.

» VERSUS THE ZIPS: Ball State holds a 47-25 lead in the all-time series, including a 23-10 mark in games played at Akron ... Last season, the teams played a three-game set in Muncie on April 20-21, with the Zips earning a 9-4 win in the opener, while the Cardinals won the final two games by scores of 5-0 and 7-6.

» SCOUTING AKRON: The Zips are led by a Ball State softball legend in Craig Nicholson who coached the Cardinals for seven seasons from 2007-2013 ... Nicholson guided the Cardinals to a 241-162 (.598) overall record and 100-47 (.680) league ledger during his tenure ... He guided BSU to the first four MAC regular season titles in program history (2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013), the 2010 MAC Tournament title and a berth into the 2010 NCAA Regionals ... Nicholson's current squad is led at the plate by Brooke Sivek who owns a .348 average and ties for team-high honors with 18 runs scores ... Meagan Lee is right behind with a .347 average and 11 runs scored ... As a squad, the Zips rank fifth in the league with a .288 average ... Akron's pitching staff, which ranks third in the MAC with a 4.00 ERA, is led by Madie Jamrog with a 2.54 ERA and a 5-2 record over 49.2 innings of work ... Macy Walters owns a 3.67 ERA over a team-high 55.1 innings, while owning the best average against at .267 to go along with five wins of her own ... On the defensive front, the Zips lead the MAC and rank 14th nationally with a .978 fielding percentage.

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.

» 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 ... Most recently, Softball America named her the nation's seventh-best catcher in its March position rankings while D1Softball.com named her the nation's fifth-best catcher in its player power rankings ... Timmons enters the weekend ranked first on Ball State's career list in on base percentage (.500), second in slugging percentage (.771), second in home runs (47), third in batting average (.383), sixth in RBI (148) and 10th in runs scored (128) ... She also owns the program record for being hit by a pitch at 38.

» 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 six runners trying to steal this season, while surrendering just seven stolen bases.

» ON THE BASES: Ball State has gone 35-for-38 in stolen bases so far this season, with nine different players recording at least one steal ... McKayla Timmonsleads the way at 10-for-11 and now ranks fourth in program history with a .892 (33-for-37) career 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.

» ON THE OFFENSIVE FRONT: Ball State has been putting on an offensive clinic so far this season, ranking 22nd nationally by averaging 7.21 runs per game ... The Cardinals have earned seven run-rule victories so far this season and have scored 10-or-more runs in six games ... Overall, Ball State is out-scoring opponents 137 to 64 this season and owns a 10-3 record when scoring at least five runs.

» 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 (8) and second in ERA (1.62) ... Over a team-high 60.2 innings of work, she has surrendered just 14 earned runs and 45 hits to limit opposing batters to a league-low .197 average ... The effort has helped her earn the first two league pitcher of the week honors over her collegiate career ... Whitney has 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 blasting three home runs ... In fact, she is second on the team in RBI (21) and fifth in average (.300).

» 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) victory 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) ... She currently ranks second on the squad in both ERA (4.14) and opponent's batting average (.269).

» LONG BALL NUMBERS: The Cardinals currently rank second in the MAC with 19 home runs, trailing only Miami's 30 ... Timmons leads the way and is currently fifth among all league players with six home runs ... On the opposite spectrum, Ball State's pitching staff ranks first in the MAC and third nationally, allowing just three home runs ... Toledo's pitchers are second in the league with eight home runs allows, while Akron is third at 15.

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Players Mentioned

Brinkley Kita

McKayla Timmons

Ella Whitney