Every season teams play games that can be classified as David versus Goliath matchups in the hopes of pulling off the upset.
The Ball State University softball team (9-16, 3-5 Mid-American Conference) will look to slay the giant of the University of Notre Dame (23-12, 7-1 Big East Conference) as it concludes a six-game road trip today in South Bend.
"We're looking to do the same thing that we do every time we play by coming out, playing hard and competing," coach Terri Laux said. "It's human nature to accept a challenge. We look forward to these games and we have a lot of competitors on this team."
The Cardinals enter today's game after giving up the lead in the late innings of their last two games, as they won one of four games this past weekend against Northern Illinois University and Western Michigan University.
"We learned this weekend that you have to be consistent by doing the little things and focusing on the process," Laux said. "This year has been like a ride on a roller coaster, and it's important for us to be consistent and better every inning."
On the other hand, the Fighting Irish enter today's game having won 11 of their past 13 games, including a two-game sweep over Pittsburgh University last weekend.
The matchup marks the first non-conference game the Cardinals have played since they suffered a no-hitter in a 3-0 loss to Purdue University last week.
"We didn't show up at [Purdue], and I think the mind-set for this game will be a very different mind-set from last week," Laux said, "because this team knows now that non-conference games are as important as conference games."
One of the biggest problems for the Cardinals this season has been the team's offensive production. However, this problem might have been corrected as Ball State scored six runs in its final game against Northern Illinois Friday and eight runs in its final game against Western Michigan on Sunday.
"We have to come out with that same aggressive mind-set we had against Northern Illinois last weekend and get some timely hits," Laux said. "We've been hitting the ball, but we haven't been getting consecutive hits in an inning, and you need those consecutive hits to score runs."
The Ball State coaching staff is still undecided about the starter for its game against Notre Dame. However, with four conference games this weekend, it might be unlikely that a Cardinal pitcher will pitch deep in today's game.
"We're looking to use these games a preparation for our MAC games this weekend," Laux said. "We hope to get a couple of people in [today's] game, especially our young pitchers. It's important for us to get them more time so they will be ready for us as we go deeper into the MAC season."
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