The softball team has lacked an offensive attack throughout most of the season. Ball State turned its offensive woes around, however, last weekend at Central Michigan. The Cardinals knocked 26 hits and scored 10 runs against the defending Mid-American Conference champs. BSU had 11 hits and five runs in its series-finale win.
Ball State (15-29, 2-8 MAC) will try to continue that offensive improvement today against Kent State. The doubleheader conference matchup begins at 2 p.m. at the Ball State softball complex.
"It's our job to carry over what we did last weekend," coach Terri Laux said. "I still believe we can beat anyone in the conference."
Kent State (19-20, 7-6 MAC) has also experienced a bit of an offensive surge in recent games. The Golden Flashes belted seven home runs in five games last week, including three in a win over Toledo.
The Golden Flashes rank in the top five in the conference in batting average, slugging percentage, runs scored and home runs. Despite its offensive prowess, though, Kent has lost seven of its last 11 games. The streaky team experienced a stretch of 11 losses in 12 games, and then snapped off seven straight wins.
Cortney Patteson leads the team with a .281 batting average. However, she has only played in half of the games this season after recovering from off-season surgery. In MAC games, Patteson leads the team with a .375 batting average with 12 hits.
"We need to be consistent with the batting," Laux said. "We need to play strong defense and just be real aggressive."
Amy Brownfield leads the way with a 1.21 ERA in seven MAC appearances and has held conference opponents to a .195 batting average. She will likely be the game-one starter, as her record is 6-7 overall, 2-3 in MAC play.
"Amy has done a great job," Laux said. "We're gonna stick with what works and hope it stays that way."
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