Entering this season Katherine Mowat had won two tournaments in her three years as the coach of the Ball State University women's golf team.
With the completion of the Cardinal Classic Monday at the Delaware Country Club, Mowat's Cardinals have won three invitationals in the last month.
"I guess it kind of hit me [Monday] that we won three tournaments in the last month," Mowat said. "It's remarkable. We've never done it before. The magnitude, I've never really grasped what it means."
With the win, the Cardinals took the top spot in an event for the third time in their last four events. Ball State won the Butler Spring Invitational March 24 and 25 and then followed it up with a win at the Longwood University Invitational a week later. The Cardinals capped off the most recent triumph in the winning trend with a 620 in the two-round Cardinal Classic Sunday and Monday, four shots better than the second-place Longwood University.
Ball State has taken four team titles this season, including a win in the team's first event of the fall season at the Thunder Golf Invitational.
"It's amazing," sophomore Paige Esford said. "We've never wanted it so bad in our lives. For us to succeed like we have been, it's a dream come true."
In addition to the team's finish, the Cardinals' individuals were also near the top of the leader board at their first home invitational since 2006.
Rachael Pruett led the Cardinals and finished third overall at the two-day invitational with a 151, three shots behind the leader. Kirsty O'Connor also finished in the top five for Ball State, carding a 153.
Brittany Kelly was six shots behind Pruett and finished 15th as an individual with her 157 while Esford had a 159, which tied her for 17th. Sarah Windlan rounded out the scoring for the Cardinals with her 164 in the two rounds, which put her in a tie for 36th. Amy Roberts, who was competing as an individual, shot a 160 and tied for 20th.
"It's great," Esford said. "No one wants to have a bad day, but if you're going to have a bad day, I have all the confidence in my team that will they will back me up."
The Cardinals shot a 316 Monday after carding a 304 in the first round Sunday. The 304 was the best team round of the 12 universities competing at the event.
Ball State entered day two with a one-stroke lead and held on for the win despite adding 12 strokes to its score in the second round.
"[Sunday] we played a really good as a team," Mowat said. "[Monday] we struggled a little bit but we were able to pull it out."
Ball State now has almost two weeks until its next competition, the Mid-American Conference Championship.
Esford said she expects the team to do extremely well at the tournament.
"We're going to have a lot of heads turned in our direction," she said. "I can guarantee that."
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