Softball Heads To Louisville for Bellarmine Invitational

Ball State (8-6) at Bellarmine Invitational
Games 15 at Bellarmine (4-7)	Friday, March 7 at 10:30 a.m. ET Live Stats
Games 16 vs. Stonehill (3-2)	Friday, March 7 at 1 p.m. ET Live Stats
Games 17 vs. Evansville (10-8)	Saturday, March 8 at 3:30 p.m. ET Live Stats
Games 18 vs. Stonehill (3-2)	Sunrday, March 9 at 10 a.m. ET Live Stats
Game 19 vs. Evansville (10-8)	Sunday, March 9 at 12:30 p.m. ET Live Stats
Tickets Info	FREE ADMISSION
Notes	Ball State \| Bellarmine \| Stonehill \| Evansville
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» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team hits the road for its final pre-conference tournament this weekend, as it travels to Louisville, Kentucky, for the Bellarmine Invitational ... The Cardinals open the three-day, four-team event Friday with a 10:30 a.m. contest versus the host Knights ... The tournament also features Stonehill College and Evansville.

» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the weekend with a 1185-1177-4 (.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.

» 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 38th nationally at 6.71 runs per game ... The effort is aided by a .296 team batting average, which ranks 100th nationally, as well as 13 total home runs ... In last weekend's action in Tennessee, redshirt senior McKayla Timmons recorded at least one hit in all five games, leading the squad with eight total hits and a .571 batting average ... Included in the total was her 44th career home run, along with her second career triple ... The effort helped raise Timmons' season average to .455 which is second in the MAC and 73rd nationally ... In the circle, junior Ella Whitney was named the MAC Pitcher of the Week after her efforts in Tennessee, leading the squad with a 1.50 ERA and holding opposing batters to a .246 average ... Overall, Whitney ranks fourth among all MAC pitchers with a 2.07 ERA so far this season, while tying for league-high honors with five wins ... In addition, her opponent's average of .224 is third in the conference ... On the defensive front, Ball State currently ranks second in the MAC and 51st nationally with a .971 fielding percentage ... In addition, the Cardinals have surrendered just seven stolen bases, with Timmons throwing out two of the eight runners who have attempted to steal against her.

» VERSUS THE WEEKEND'S OPPONENTS:
- Ball State is a combined 12-11 versus teams in the Bellarmine Invitational field, starting with a 2-1 edge versus the host Knights ... In the all-time series versus Evansville, both squads have won 10 meetings, while the Cardinals will face Stonehill for the first time in softball.
- BELLARMINE: The Knights enter the weekend with a 4-7 overall record after closing play in the Make It Happen Games played at Madeira Beach, Florida, with a 5-1 win over Butler ... Megan Konermann leads the squad with a .333 batting average, two home runs and seven RBI ... Claire Lehmkuhler leads the pitching staff with two wins and a 3.59 ERA over 25.1 innings.
- STONEHILL: The Sky Hawks enter the weekend with a 3-2 overall record, having not played since an 8-0 (5) setback to UT Martin on Feb. 9 as part of the Paladin Invitational hosted by Furman ... Harper Sullivan leads the squad with a .429 average and five RBI ... Alex Sciarretto paced the pitching staff with a 2.86 ERA and a .190 average against over 7.1 innings of work.
- EVANSVILLE: The Purple Aces enter the weekend with a 10-8 overall record after going 3-2 at last weekend's WKU Tournament which it started by knocking off then-No. 24 Kentucky by a score of 7-5 ... Jenna Donohoo leads the squad with a .435 average, while Morgan Adams has a .345 average to go along with six home runs and a team-high 13 RBI ... Two other Evansville players have blasted four home runs, while the squad has 18 total ... Elle Jarrett leads the Purple Aces pitching staff with a 1.81 ERA over 19.1 innings of work, while Kate Ridgeway has a 3.22 ERA and 28 strikeouts over 37.0 innings.

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 ... Timmons enters the weekend ranked second on Ball State's career list in on base percentage (.492), second in slugging percentage (.748), second in home runs (44), fourth in batting average (.374), ninth in RBI (139) and 12th in runs scored (119).

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

» ON THE BASES: Ball State has gone 24-for-25 in stolen bases so far this season, with eight different players recording at least one steal ... McKayla Timmons leads the way at 8-for-8 and now ranks fourth in program history with a .912 (31-for-34) 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 38th nationally by averaging 6.71 runs per game ... The Cardinals have earned five run-rule victories so far this season and have scored 10-or-more runs in four 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.

» 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 (5) and fourth in ERA (2.07) ... Over a team-high 40.2 innings of work, she has surrendered just 12 earned runs and 36 hits to limit opposing batters to a .224 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 blasting home runs in the 12-1 (5) victory over Albany (Feb. 23) and in the opener at Middle Tennessee (Feb. 28).

» 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 (4.11) and opponent's batting average (.298).

Softball Heads To Louisville for Bellarmine Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Brinkley Kita

McKayla Timmons

Ella Whitney