The Ball State University softball team (4-8) fell to three nationally ranked teams, No. 8 Oregon State University (21-2), No. 17 Washington University (18-6) and No. 22 DePaul University (8-5), over the weekend as they lost five of six games at the Fresno State Bulldog Classic in Fresno, California.
In the Cardinals' first game against a ranked opponent this season, Oregon State defeated Ball State 6-1.
The Beavers jumped out to 2-0 lead in the first inning due to an Adrienne Alo two-run home run and then were able to add three more runs in the fourth inning as Cardinal pitcher Quincy Duran (0-3) took the loss.
Similarly in their next game against a ranked opponent, the Cardinals found themselves trailing early to the Washington Huskies.
Freshman pitcher Abby Zollman surrendered three runs in the first inning in her collegiate debut. However, led by Abby Gross' first homerun of the season and three RBIs, Ball State came back from this early deficit by scoring two runs in both the second and fourth inning to tie the game at four.
Despite the comeback to tie the game, Washington was able to capture the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 6-4 victory.
After nearly pulling the upset against the Huskies, Ball State ended the tournament by suffering one of its worst losses of the season to DePaul 11-0 after giving up seven runs in the first two innings.
In addition to these three losses, the Cardinals also lost two other games in the tournament to Central Florida University (4-1) and Fresno State University (13-0).
"We came to this tournament and found out some positive things about us," assistant coach Grete Hornstrom said. "We hung in there with some pretty good teams and just had some bad innings."
The Cardinals lone win of the weekend came in their first game of the tournament as they defeated San Diego University 3-2.
Coming out of the bullpen to relieve starter Nicki Hellem (1-2) after the second inning, freshman pitcher Laura Masch (1-0) was able to silence the San Diego bats by scattering five hits over five innings of shutout softball to win her first game at the collegiate level.
"We were able to get our young kids into the games [this weekend] and they did a great job," Hornstorm said.
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