Midweek #MACtion; Softball Travels To NIU

Tuesday, April 7

DeKalb, IL

4 p.m.

Ball State University

Northern Illinois

April 06, 2026 | Softball

Ball State (15-17; 3-9 MAC) at Northern Illinois (12-11; 6-5 MAC)
Games 33 at Northern Illinois	Tuesday, April 7 at 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT Live Stats \| NIU All-Access
Games 34 at Northern Illinois	Wednesday, April 8 at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT Live Stats \| NIU All-Access
Games 35 at Northern Illinois	Wednesday, April 8 - 30 minutes after Game 1 Live Stats \| NIU All-Access
Tickets Info	FREE ADMISSION
Notes	Ball State \| Northern Illinois
Social Media	Twitter \| Instagram

» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE SOFTBALL: The Ball State softball team opens a busy week Tuesday with the first of three games at Northern Illinois ... First pitch is set for 4 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. CT at Mary M. Bell Field ... The teams will also play a doubleheader Wednesday starting at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT ... From there, the Cardinals return home for a three-game set versus Western Michigan ... The teams will play a Saturday doubleheader starting at 1 p.m., before closing the series at Noon Sunday.

» 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 seventh the MAC with a .400 batting average ... DeRoeck leads the MAC and is tied for 27th nationally with 13 doubles, while her .629 slugging percentage is 13th in the league ... Senior designated player / pitcher Ella Whitney is second on the squad with a .363 average, while redshirt junior catcher / third baseman Skylinn Pogue is third among regular starters at .340 ... Whitney owns a team-high 10 home runs and Pogue has collected a team-high four triples ... Whitney also leads the MAC with 43 RBIs, while Pogue leads the squad and is tied for 10th in the MAC with 29 runs scored ... Overall, Ball State's offense is sixth in the MAC with a .300 average, while ranking third in the league and 65th nationally with a .402 on base percentage.

PITCHING: On the pitching front, junior Brinkley Kita leads the squad with a 3.00 ERA over 49.0 innings of work ... She also boasts a 4-3 record and a .268 opponent's batting average, while striking out 21 total batters ... Bridie Murphy and Ella Whitney are tied for the team lead with 51.2 innings of work each ... Murphy has a 4.06 ERA and a team-leading 34 strikeouts, while Whitney has a 4.34 ERA and a team-low .276 average against ... Overall, Ball State's pitching staff is third in the MAC with a 4.07 ERA and is holding opposing batters to a .290 average.

DEFENSE: Ball State ranks fourth in the MAC and 95th nationally with a .967 fielding percentage ... The Cardinals have committed just 30 errors on the season, while turning 12 double plays ... Toledo (19) and Central Michigan (25) are the only league schools to commit fewer errors the Ball State this season ... BSU has also limited opposing teams to 11 stolen bases this season which is tied for 14th nationally ... Miami is the next lowest in the conference at 18.

» VERSUS NORTHERN ILLINOIS: While the Huskies hold a 55-40 lead in the all-time series, Ball State holds a slim 20-19 edge in games played in DeKalb ... Last season, NIU swept an April 1 doubleheader in Muncie by scores of 2-1 and 3-2 ... The last times the teams met in DeKalb, the Huskies opened an April 30, 2024, doubleheader with a 9-2 victory, only to see the Cardinals rally to take the nightcap by a score of 11-7 ... Overall, Ball State has won six of the last eight meetings at Mary M. Bell Field.

BALL STATE NEWS & NOTES:
» NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: After her solid play on both offense and in the circle at the Cardinal Classic (March 6-8), 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.

» MORE ON WHITNEY: Including her two seasons at FIU, Whitney owns 29 pitching wins, a 3.82 ERA and 139 strikeouts ... She is also a .313 career batter with 139 hits, including 31 doubles, two triples and 25 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) earlier this season.

» CLIMBING THE BALL STATE CHARTS: Junior Maia Pietrzak enters the week ranked 10th in program history with a .342 (111-for-325) career batting average ... Her 100th career hit came in vs. Butler (March 24) when she executed a perfect bunt single to load the bases in the bottom of the third inning ... Later in the inning, she would successfully steal home to help the Cardinals tie the score at 5-5 ... Pietrzak also singled to open the fifth inning and scored on double one batter later.

» ANOTHER MILESTONE MARK FOR PIETRZAK: Maia Pietrzak became just the 16th player in program history to reach 100 career runs scored in the opening game of the March 28 doubleheader at Toledo when she led off the game with a single to right field and scored on a triple from Skylinn Pogue ... Pietrzak scored 14 runs her freshman season, while adding 60 her sophomore campaign which are the third-most in a single season in program history ... She has already scored 28 runs this season which tie as the 13th-most in the league and raise her career total to 102.

» GRAND SLAMS: Sophomore second baseman Addison Zimpleman became the third different Ball State player to hit a grand slam this season in the 6-2 victory over Toledo (March 28) when she took a 2-2 pitch over the fence in right center in the second inning to drive in what proved to be the game-winning run ... It was her first multiple base hit and first home run playing for the Cardinals, while she registered five doubles, a triple and seven home runs last season as a freshman at Purdue Fort Wayne.

» 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 35 times so far this season to rank second in the MAC and 21st 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 games the Cardinals played ... Under Burns' offensive guidance Ball State batters have been hit by 178 pitches over the past two-plus seasons.

» WALK THIS WAY: The Cardinals have drawn 126 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 126 walks currently rank fourth in the MAC and 89th nationally, led by 17 from Ella Whitney ... In fact, seven Ball State batters have drawn at least 10 walks this season.

» THE POGUE FACTOR: Another first-year player for the Cardinals, Skylinn Pogue enters the NIU series leading the squad with 29 runs scored, while ranking third on the team with a .340 batting average ... Pogue has also smashed a team-leading four triples to tie for second in the MAC and 26th in the country ... A two-year starter at Iowa (2023-24), they are the first four triples of Pogue's collegiate career ... She has also collected her first four 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 NOBLE CAUSE: Redshirt sophomore Allee Noble has worked her way into the lineup, starting 10 of the last 12 games at catcher ... During the span, she is second on the team with a .353 average, including 12 hits, two doubles, four RBI and four runs scored ... Mainly a pinch runner as a redshirt freshman in 2025, scoring seven runs, she has recorded her first 15 career hits this season and boasts a .357 average over 15 games, with 14 starts at catcher.

» SPENCER'S BREAKS OUT: Redshirt junior outfielder Grace Spencer had a breakout weekend versus Ohio, including the first two home runs of her collegiate career ... Her first blast was a three-run shot to drive in what proved to be the game-winning run in last Friday's 7-6 victory to open a doubleheader versus the Bobcats ... She added a two-run shot in the nightcap of the twinbill, while driving in all three BSU runs in the game ... Throw in last Tuesday's game at IU Indy and Spencer produced a team-best .545 batting average last week, to go along with team highs of six runs scored and eight RBIs.