Ball State University Athletics
Ball State University
Central Michigan
Road #MACtion; Softball Heads To Central Michigan
March 19, 2026 | Softball
| Ball State (11-10; 0-3 MAC) at Central Michigan (11-11; 2-1 MAC) | |
| Games 22 at Central Michigan | Friday, March 20 at 3 p.m. ET Live Stats | Live Video |
| Games 23 at Central Michigan | Saturday, March 21 at 1 p.m. ET Live Stats | Live Video |
| Games 24 at Central Michigan | Saturday, March 21 - 30 minutes after Game 1 Live Stats | Live Video |
| Tickets Info | FREE ADMISSION |
| Notes | Ball State | Central Michigan |
| Social Media | Twitter | Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team returns to the road this weekend for a three-game series at Central Michigan ... The teams are scheduled to play a 3 p.m. game Friday and a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Margo Jonker Stadium.
» THE OVERALL RECORD: Ball State enters the series at Central Michigan with a 1221-1199-4 (.505) overall record dating back to the 1975 season ... The Cardinals finished the 2025 campaign with a 33-18 record to reach the 30-win mark for the 17th time in program history and the 12th time in the past 18 seasons.
» A QUICK LOOK AT THE CARDINALS:
OFFENSE: Senior first baseman Lindsey DeRoeck has made quite the impact in her first season at Ball State, ranking fourth the MAC and ranking 103rd nationally with a .433 batting average ... DeRoeck also ranks second in the MAC and 69th nationally with nine doubles, while her .494 on base percentage is eighth in the league ... Senior pitcher / designated player Ella Whitney has been just as solid, boasting a .391 average ... Whitney is second in the MAC and ranks 81st nationally with a .828 slugging percentage and is second in the league and 113th nationally with 28 RBIs ... Whitney also has a team-leading seven home runs this season, which is third among MAC players and 116th nationally ... Overall, Ball State's offense is fifth in the MAC with a .294 average, while leading the league and ranking 60th nationally with seven triples.
PITCHING: On the pitching front, junior Brinkley Kita owns a team-best 2.22 ERA over 28.1 innings of work and has held opponents to a .261 average ... She is 3-1 on the season and has allowed just six multiple base hits ... Whitney leads the squad with a 4-2 record over 40.1 innings of work, including wins at Louisville (March 6) and versus Illinois (March 8) ... Overall, Ball State's pitching staff is second in the MAC with a 3.59 ERA and is holding opposing batters to a .285 average.
DEFENSE: Ball State ranks fourth in the MAC and 109th nationally with a .965 fielding percentage ... The Cardinals have committed just 21 errors on the season, while turning 10 double plays ... Ball State has also limited opposing teams to 10 stolen bases this season which is tied for 23rd nationally.
» VERSUS CENTRAL MICHIGAN: While the Chippewas own an 80-45 lead in the all-time series, the Cardinals have won seven of the last nine meetings, including a 3-0 victory on May 3, 2025, to close the regular season ... Ball State is 23-46 all-time in Mount Pleasant after going 2-1 in the 2024 regular season series ... After CMU claimed a 4-3 win to open a May 4, 2024, doubleheader, the Cardinals took the nightcap by a score of 8-0 (5) ... BSU took the series the following day with a 7-6 victory.
BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:
» NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After her solid play on both offense and in the circle at the Cardinal Classic, Ella Whitney was named the D1Softball Mid-Major National Player of the Week ... She helped guide the Cardinals to a 4-1 record at the event by driving in 12 RBIs and blasting three home runs, while earning a 2-0 record and 1.85 ERA in the circle ... She also finished the tournament with a .471 batting average and four runs scored, while diving in what proved to be the game-winning run versus Bellarmine (March 6) with her second grand slam of the season ... She registered a 1.235 slugging percentage and a 1.735 OPS, adding two doubles and one triple to her stat line for 21 total bases.
» PRESEASON ACCOLADES: Ella Whitney entered the 2026 season ranked as the No. 9 Pitcher/Utility Player in D1Softball's Preseason Player Position Rankings ... In addition, she was the 49th-ranked player in the D1Softball Preseason Mid-Major D100 Player Rankings.
» MORE ON WHITNEY: Including her two seasons at FIU, Whitney owns 28 pitching wins, a 3.78 ERA and 134 strikeouts ... She is also a .313 career batter with 127 hits, including 26 doubles, two triples and 22 home runs ... Her 100th career hit was an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning to drive in what proved to be the game-winning run in a 3-0 shutout over Central Michigan in the 2025 regular season finale ... Her 100th career RBI came courtesy of her solo home run in the 15-1 (5) victory over Bellarmine (March 6).
» CLIMBING THE BALL STATE CHARTS: Junior Maia Pietrzak enters the weekend ranked 11th in program history with a .339 (96-for-283) career batting average ... She is Ball State's active career leader with 93 career runs scored, with her 60 runs in 2025 ranking as the third-best total in a season in program history ... Pietrzak also currently ranks seventh in program history with a .444 on base percentage.
» TOUGHEST TO STRIKE OUT: In addition, Maia Pietrzak enters the Central Michigan series as the nation's 14th toughest batter to strike out this season with just one strikeout over 60 official at bats ... Only four players in the nation to meet the NCAA minimum at bat requirements have yet to strike out, while Pietrzak is one of only 22 players with just one strikeout ... In fact, Pietrzak has only struck out 13 times in her collegiate career ... She finished her sophomore season ranked second in the MAC and 29th nationally with one strikeout per every 27.5 at bats.
» TAKING THE HIT: A pride point for the offense under the leadership of third-year associate head coach Matt Burns, Ball State batters have been hit by a pitch 19 times so far this season to rank sixth in the MAC and 79th nationally ... Last season, the Cardinals lead the nation by being hit 91 times, which was a BSU single season record topping the previous mark of 55 set in 2015 ... The next closest team was St. John's, which was hit 69 times over 57 games, six more than the 51 the Cardinals played ... Under Burns' offensive guidance Ball State batters have been hit by 162 pitches over the past two-plus seasons.
» WALK THIS WAY: The Cardinals have drawn 96 total walks so far this season, including tying the program's single game record with 14 walks in the 9-5 victory over Southern Indiana (Feb. 13) ... Ball State previously drew 14 walks in a 15-7 (6) victory over Kent State on April 4, 2018 ... The team's 96 walks currently rank fourth in the MAC and 79th nationally, led by 13 from junior third baseman Mandy Lauth and 12 by redshirt junior catcher / third baseman Skylinn Pogue.
» SPEAKING OF POGUE: Another first-year player for the Cardinals, Skylinn Pogue enters the CMU series ranked second on the squad with a .354 average, while leading the squad and tying for 10th in the MAC with 21 runs scored ... Pogue has also smashed a team-leading three triples to tie for the league-lead ... A two-year starter at Iowa (2023-24), they are the first three triples of Pogue's collegiate career ... She has also collected her first three collegiate doubles this season, while picking up her second career home run with her fourth-inning solo shot in Ball State's 7-6 victory over Illinois (Feb. 27).
» A SOLID WEEKEND IN THE CIRCLE: Sophomore pitcher Breanna Severino turned in a pair of brilliant performances in last Saturday's doubleheader versus Akron, staring with 1.2 innings of relief work in the opener in which she limited the Zips to just two hits and no runs ... She followed with a complete game effort in the nightcap, allowing just six hits and one run ... Overall, she struck out four batters between the two outings and held Akron to a .258 average while producing a 1.15 WHIP ... Over 32 career appearances in the circle, Severino owns a 4.39 ERA and has struck out 56 batters over 119.2 innings of work.
