The Ball State University softball team came out flat this weekend, leading to a 2-2 record to begin Mid-American Conference play.
Ohio University (12-11, 2-2 MAC) swept Ball State (20-16, 2-2 MAC) in a doubleheader Friday, 10-6 and 2-0. The Cardinals then evened out their conference record by sweeping the University of Akron (10-20, 0-4 MAC) Saturday and Sunday, 4-3 and 9-1.
"It wasn't exactly what I wanted to get out of this weekend," coach Craig Nicholson said. "I'd like to be 3-1 or even 4-0, but after a tough day Friday I thought we did a pretty good job of bouncing back.
"For some reason we maybe hit a little bit of a lull this week," he said.
Ball State got on the scoreboard early Sunday with a two-RBI double by the No. 4 hitter Abby Gross. Elizabeth Milian came up two batters later and hit a three-run home run to center field to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead and make Akron take out its starting pitcher, Christina Swierz, who has all of the Zips' 10 wins this season.
"Our main problem [this weekend] was that we waited really long to take opportunities for scoring," Gross said, "and we finally managed to come out and get started in the very first inning, which is big for us."
Milian then tripled and scored in the third inning to increase the lead to 6-0. After the Zips scored an unearned run in the fifth, the Cardinals closed out the game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to enact the eight-run through five innings mercy rule.
"I think we just kind of built off our emotions we had from [Saturday]," Nicholson said.
Ball State built up its emotions Saturday with four runs in the final two innings to beat Akron.
Milian hit a two-run double in the sixth to cut Akron's lead to 3-2, and Gross put the Cardinals ahead with a two-run double in the seventh.
Against Akron, Gross was three-for-five with four RBIs, two runs scored and two walks. Milian was five-of-six with five RBIs, two runs scored and one walk against the Zips. She also picked up the win Saturday.
Milian got the loss, though, in the first game Saturday against Ohio and was taken out after 4.1 innings, as she allowed 10 runs, eight earned, on 10 hits and three walks.
"We just couldn't get anything really going the second game," Nicholson said. "In the first game I don't really know what happened. Milian, she's pitched great all year long, and she just had a tough outing. Every good pitcher is going to have a tough outing every once in a while."
After Milian's performance in the first game against Ohio, Tiffany Garofano, who got the win Sunday against Akron, allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings in the second game but lost. The Bobcats limited the Cardinals to two hits in the game.
"We score six runs and lose, and then we give up two in the next game and we lose," Nicholson said. "It's just the way things go sometimes in this game."
Ball State returns to the field Tuesday at the University of Notre Dame. The Cardinals then continue MAC play at home Friday against the University of Toledo.
Nicholson said he hopes to have center fielder Lisa Rozanski back Friday or, in the worst case scenario, April 12 against Miami University. Rozanski did not play this weekend because she had her appendix removed March 23.
Gross said this weekend's 2-2 performance was not how the team imagined staring out.
"It's going to put us in a little tougher position," she said. "We're going to have to make sure we win most of our games now, but I think we started to realize what we need to do to win."
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