The struggles continued for the Ball State softball team Wednesday as it fell twice to Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois.
After showing some promise at the beginning of the MAC season, the Cardinals have fallen apart, losing six of their last seven MAC games. Their latest defeats came at the hands of a Huskies team that hadn't won in almost a month, a 14-game losing streak during that time.
Game one wasn't pretty for the Cardinals, as they fell 7-0. Northern Illinois struck at its first opportunity in the bottom of the first with the only run it would need. The Huskies added three more runs in each the third and sixth innings. NIU collected eight hits to Ball State's five, with Taylor Yancey leading the way with two.
Quincy Duran lasted only two innings in taking the loss.
"In the first game, Quincy was a little sore. Nicki (Hellem) pitched well for three innings," coach Terri Laux said. "We played very flat. We didn't do a whole lot to help us win the game. We didn't fight at all. Sometimes we're a team fighting for every out, sometimes we're not that team."
In the nightcap, the Cardinals showed some fight after falling behind 3-0. In the fourth inning, Ball State scored two runs but were unable to capitalize on several scoring chances in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Over that span, the Cardinals left seven runners on base. Laux called that "the story of our season."
Randi Freese pitched six innings for the Cardinals, taking the loss.
"We had some chances to score the tying run. It came down to not scoring the runs or hits when we needed them," Laux said. "Pitching isn't going to make or break us. It's our offense that struggles."
Ball State, now 12-29 overall and 5-8 in the MAC, returns home for two doubleheaders over the weekend. The Cardinals hope to turn the losing trend around when they face Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne on Saturday, then MAC rival Toledo on Sunday.
"What it's going to boil down is how bad do we want it?" Laux said. "Right now, we're going to have to fight tooth and nails if we want a shot at the tourney. It's going to boil down to our mental approach. It's got to come from each individual."
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