With a series split against Miami University to end the first half of Mid-American Conference play, the Ball State University softball team feels well about its standing in the conference.
Ball State (27-21, 5-5 MAC) beat Miami (16-18, 7-3 MAC) 3-1 Sunday after losing its first game of the weekend 1-0 to the RedHawks Saturday. The weekend split kept the Cardinals' conference record even again, after doing so the first two weekends of league play.
"If you look at history, .500 is pretty good," Ball State coach Craig Nicholson said. "I'd like to be better than .500, but it's progress."
With the completion of the weekend, the MAC season is at its halfway point. The Cardinals are in the middle of the conference standings, putting them in place for one of the eight spots in the MAC tournament.
Last year, Nicholson's first season with Ball State, the Cardinals finished 8-14 in the MAC and missed out on the tournament for the fifth consecutive year after beginning league play 6-4.
Senior Amanda Pick said Ball State is at a good place right now in the conference after the split with Miami. It is not surprising that the games between the Cardinals and RedHawks were both close, she said.
"There's such an even talent pool in the MAC teams, and I think they should be close games," Pick said.
Elizabeth Milian was credited with the loss Saturday for the Cardinals. The sophomore gave up one earned run on six hits, two walks and five strike outs in the 1-0 defeat.
Nicholson said Milian did a very good job on the mound, but the Cardinals could not get the run support to help her.
In the loss, Ball State stranded 14 runners in the seven-inning game, including nine runners who were left in scoring position. The Cardinals left the bases loaded three times, including in the seventh.
"I thought they did pretty well [Saturday], but we left runners on base, and we struggled to get that key two-out hit," Nicholson said. "[Sunday] we did better at cashing in on opportunities."
Ball State left 10 runners on base Sunday but was able to push across three runs across the plate in the third inning to pick up the win. The Cardinals got the first run of the game as catcher Abby Gross walked with the bases loaded to give Ball State a 1-0 lead. Pick then singled to center field to drive in the team's final two runs in the 3-1 victory.
Tiffany Garofano got the win as she allowed one unearned run on three hits, four walks and eight strike outs.
Nicholson said both of his pitcher's did very well this weekend, which makes it a lot easier to win games.
Pick said the team just could not get hits when it needed them Saturday to get a win.
"It's hard because we did have so many runners on," Pick said. "We just couldn't get the timely hits with two outs."
Overall the team had a decent weekend at the plate, Nicholson said.
In the first game against Miami, Ball State had three hits and eight walks. The Cardinals then had eight hits and four walks Sunday. They struck out eight times in both games.
Ball State played well, Nicholson said, and just could not break open the games.
"It's just one of those things," he said. "Some days it's just the way it goes."
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