Ball State University
Central Michigan
Softball Hosts CMU To Close Regular Season
May 02, 2025 | Softball
| Ball State (30-15; 15-8 MAC) hosts Central Michigan (25-22; 16-7 MAC) | |
| Game 46 hosts Central Michigan | Saturday, May 3 at 1 p.m. ET Live Stats | Live Video |
| Game 47 hosts Central Michigan | Saturday, May 3 at 3 p.m. ET Live Stats |  Live Video |
| Game 48 hosts Central Michigan | Sunday, May 4 at Noon ET Live Stats |  Live Video |
| Tickets Info | FREE ADMISSION |
| Notes | Ball State | Central Michigan |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEKEND IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team closes the 2025 regular season with a three-game series versus Central Michigan this weekend ... The Cardinals and Chippewas are scheduled to play a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and a Noon game Sunday.
» THIS WEEKEND'S PROMOTIONS: Saturday's twinbill versus Central Michigan will serve as Mental Health Awareness Day ... Sunday, the Cardinals will honor the cultural icon Star Wars with May The 4th Be With You Day.
» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the weekend with a 1207-1186-4 (.504) overall record dating back to 1975 ... With its 5-2 win at league-leading Ohio Tuesday, the Cardinals reached the 30-win mark for the 17th time in program history and the 12th time in the past 18 campaigns.
» 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."
» AGAINST THE CHIPPEWAS: While CMU holds a 79-44 lead in the all-time series, the Cardinals have won six of the last seven meetings and 14 of the last 19 ... Last season, Central Michigan won the first game of a May 4 doubleheader by a score of 4-3, while Ball State took the nightcap 8-0 (5) ... BSU also won the regular season finale the next day by a score of 5-2 to earn its berth into the 2024 MAC Softball Championship as the sixth seed ... The Cardinals would ultimately eliminate the Chippewas from the tournament with a 7-6 victory in its first of three elimination game wins on May 10 ... While Ball State has won the last five games played at the Ball State Softball Stadium, including a three-game series sweep in March 25-26, 2023, CMU holds a 27-16 edge in games played in Muncie.
BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:
» MAC CHAMPIONSHIP BOUND: With last Sunday's 3-2 victory over Buffalo, the Cardinals secured its spot in the six-team MAC Softball Championship which takes place May 7-10 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio ... Entering the final weekend of league play, Ball State holds the fourth seed with a 15-8 MAC ledger ... Ohio is currently the top seed at 17-6, followed by Miami (17-7) and Central Michigan (16-7) ... Behind the Cardinals are Akron (13-9) and Northern Illinois (11-13) ... The top five teams have all secured their bid to the tournament, while NIU and Toledo (11-13) will battle for the final spot this weekend.
» EARNING HER SPOT AMONG THE NATION'S BEST: Thanks to her solid play so far this season, redshirt senior catcher McKayla Timmons has been recognized as one of the nation's top catchers, including earning the No. 2 spot in the latest D1Softball.com Power Rankings released April 24 ... She has also moved up three spots to No. 4 in the latest SoftballAmerica.com position rankings released April 28 ... Timmons has earned those accolades by leading the MAC and ranking 28th nationally with a .443 batting average ... Timmons has blasted a team-leading 15 home runs this season and ranks ninth nationally in walks per game at 0.91 ... In addition, Timmons ranks second nationally in on base percentage (.618), 11th in slugging percentage (.943), 30th in runs scored (54) and 53rd in RBIs (52).
» CAREER IMPACT: Along with all her success this season, McKayla Timmons is set to end her collegiate career as one of the most prolific players in program history ... Tuesday's 5-2 win over Ohio, she became just the 11th player in program history to reach 200 career hits and she currently ranks first on Ball State's career list in on base percentage (.514), second in slugging percentage (.789), second in home runs (56), second in RBI (177), third in batting average (.385) and fourth in runs scored (157) ... She also owns the program record for times being hit by a pitch at 44, while her 105 career walks are tied for fifth.
» 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 SoftballAmerica.com ... 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 nine runners trying to steal this season, while surrendering just 17 stolen bases, and has picked off a pair of runners at first base.
» ON THE BASES: Ball State has proven to be one of the nation's craftiest teams on the base paths, ranking first in the MAC and 21st among all NCAA Division I programs with a 1.89 stolen bases per game average … The Cardinals have successfully stolen 85 of the 98 bases it has attempted to steal, led by 21 stolen bases from McKayla Timmons which is first in the league and 59th nationally … Overall, 14 different Cardinals have stolen at least one base, with redshirt junior second baseman McKenna Mulholland ranking second on the squad and fifth in the MAC with 16 and sophomore shortstop Maia Pietrzak ranking third on the squad and 10th in the MAC at 14 ... Conversely, Ball State has limited opposing squads to just 19 stolen bases on 28 attempts this season ... Only 13 teams in the country have limited teams to less stolen bases, with the next best MAC school being Central Michigan at 25.
» ON THE OFFENSIVE FRONT: Ball State has been putting on an offensive clinic so far this season, ranking first in the MAC and 22nd nationally by averaging 7.01 runs per game ... The Cardinals have earned eight run-rule victories and have scored 10-or-more runs in 13 games this season ... Overall, Ball State is out-scoring opponents 316 to 196 and owns an 24-4 record when scoring at least five runs ... In fact, Ball State's 316 runs scored are already the seventh-most in a season in program history, with the record being the 368 runs scored by the 2012 squad.
» TAKING THE HIT: Ball State's offense is bolstered by its ability to get on base, and one area the Cardinals excel in is staying tough in the box and getting hit by pitches ... The Cardinals currently lead the nation in being hit 83 times, which is already a BSU single season record topping the previous mark of 55 set in 2015 ... Leading the way are McKenna Mulholland and McKayla Timmons who have each been plunked a league-leading 15 times with ties for 11th in the nation and as the program's single season record ... Maia Pietrzak is right behind at 14 times, which is fourth in the league and 36th nationally ... The next closest team is St. John's which has been hit 63 times over 52 games, seven more than the Cardinals have played.
» THE WHITNEY EFFECT: Junior Ella Whitney, who played her first two seasons of collegiate softball at FIU, second in the MAC and 23rd nationally with her 18 pitching victories … Over 151.1 innings of work, the two-time MAC Pitcher of the Week honoree has compiled a 2.82 ERA which is fifth in the MAC ... Whitney has also limited opposing batters to a .227 average against which ranks first in the league, while owning the second-best WHIP in the MAC at 1.20.
» MORE ON WHITNEY: A two-way player for the Cardinals, Ella Whitney is also a big offensive threat, boasting a .302 average and ranking second on the team in both home runs (9) and RBIs (46) … She recorded Ball State's first triple of the year and is third on the team with 10 doubles.
» SHUTTING 'EM OUT: Ball State's pitchers have combined for five shutouts so far this season, including two complete game shutouts each for Ella Whitney and freshman Breanna Severino ... In fact, the Cardinals' pitching staff put together a 14-inning shutout streak after Severino and Whitney threw back-to-back complete game shutouts in the April 12 doubleheader sweep of then-league-leading Miami ... The last time the RedHawks were shutout in back-to-back games was March 5, 2023, when it lost both ends of a doubleheader at then-No. 14 Stanford by scores of 10-0 (5) and 8-0 (5).
» LONG BALL NUMBERS: The Cardinals currently rank third in the MAC with 49 home runs, trailing only Miami (64) and Toledo (50) ... Timmons leads the way and is third among all league players and 50th nationally with her 15 home runs ... Overall, 10 different Ball State players have blasted at least one home run this season ... On the opposite spectrum, Ball State's pitching staff ranks first in the MAC and tied for 58th nationally by allowing just 22 home runs ... Ohio is second in the league with 29 home runs allowed.
» SOME OF THE NATION'S TOUGHEST: Maia Pietrzak and senior outfielder Kara Gunter enter the weekend as two of the nation's toughest batters to strike out ... Pietrzak is fourth in the MAC and 42nd nationally at one strikeout per every 24.3 at bats, while Gunter is sixth in the MAC and 70th nationally at one strikeout per every 20.6 at bats.
» MORE ON PIETRZAK: Maia Pietrzak is having a spectacular sophomore season, ranking second on the team and 13th in the MAC with a .356 batting average ... In fact, she leads all MAC players and ranks 16th nationally with 57 runs scored which is the third-most in a single season in program history ... She is also third on the squad with seven home runs.
