The Ball State softball team will swing into full action this weekend as head coach Terri Laux's and her team travel to Tallahassee, Fla., for the Florida State Invitational.
The Florida State Invitational features a field of 16 teams, broken into pools of four. After a round of pool play, the top two teams in each pool enter the gold bracket, to play for the tournament title. Laux believes her team should be able to play their way into the championship bracket.
"I think we have a good shot at coming out of our pool," she said. "We have the two weakest teams in our pool as our first two games (Missouri-Kansas City and Winthrop), but they should be good challenges for us because this is the first time we've ever played them."
The other team in the Cardinals' pool is the Michigan Wolverines, a participant in last season's College World Series and currently ranked No. 8 in the USA Today/NFCA poll.
"Michigan will be the toughest opponent in our pool, but we love facing the best teams we can and welcome the challenge," Laux said. "Plus they're a regional team, so we'd like to play well against them for that re son also."
The Cardinals have had two weeks to ponder the results of their opening weekend of play, one which saw them score seven runs in five games and open the season at 1-4.
Sophomore Kris Burdine, who hit .500 for the weekend with eight hits and three RBIs, and junior Katie Shea (.353 and six hits) were the only offensive sparks as the team posted a .224 batting average. Laux said the biggest adjustments going into this weekend were made on the offensive side.
"We've really focused on our offense and tried to make the players feel comfortable at the plate," she said. "We've let them take a lot of swings to try and get their confidence back. Now, we just have to hope it translates into success in game situations.
"The whole team has been working really hard. They know they didn't reach their full potential in Georgia. But we're ready to play and going down to Florida will be a good showcase for us."
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