The inability of the Ball State University softball team to limit the big innings resulted in an early exit from the NCAA Regionals.
Ball State (43-16) allowed three runs in the final inning as its season ended in the elimination game against the University of Louisville 5-1 on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
After losing to No. 15 University of Tennessee 5-0 in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament on Friday, Ball State coach Craig Nicholson did what he could to get his team back and ready for Louisville.
"Our big thing was to come back [Saturday] and get back into our game," Nicholson said. "I felt like to a degree we did that, but we just couldn't get key hits in important situations."
Ball State allowed two big innings in both its NCAA Tournament games.
In the opening-round loss, the Lady Volunteers had three runs in the first inning, and Ball State allowed three runs in the seventh inning against Louisville.
Nicholson said he could only imagine how different the game against Louisville would have been if three more runs weren't piled on in the top of the seventh.
"Those three runs made things a lot different for us," Nicholson said. "Going into the bottom of the seventh 5-1 is completely different than going into it with a score of 2-1. You could say it took the wind out of our sails. Not just from a softball point of view, but from a strategic point of view, [the game] became totally different."
Ball State had two errors in the seventh inning that lead to all three runs being unearned.
"I think the [three runs] had a big affect on the game," Ware said. "An error contributed to their success at the beginning of the inning, and it kind of carried negativity for us going into the bottom of the seventh."
The Cardinals finished the game with three errors, and four of the five runs starting pitcher Elizabeth Milian allowed in the complete game were unearned.
Milian (32-7) said she knew how important it was for her team to get outs when they could against Louisville. In the seventh inning, that didn't happen.
"We gave them too many outs in the seventh," Milian said. "We gave them five outs instead of three, and you can't do that."
Unlike in Friday's game, Ball State became the team to jump out first with the early lead, scoring its first run of the tournament off a sacrifice fly from freshman outfielder Amanda Carpenter to score Lisa Rozanski. Jessie Ware, Alicia Barkley and Rozanski all provided singles in the inning.
Both Ware and Barkley notched two hits each in the game, accounting for more than half of Ball State's seven hits.
"We did a good job of getting on the board early," Nicholson said. "We did it a lot last weekend in the MAC Tournament, and that helped us. We did the same type of thing today."
Louisville tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third as Melissa Roth doubled to right center driving in Vanessa James. The Cardinals would add another run in the top of the fourth inning to take a one-run lead.
Following Louisville's three-run seventh inning, Ball State would notch two hits but could not score in its final inning.
Ware said Louisville's big inning had a mental affect on Ball State entering the bottom of the seventh inning.
"I think the [three runs] had a big effect on the game," Ware said. "An error contributed to their success at the beginning of the inning, and it kind of carried negativity for us going into the bottom of the seventh."
Entering the NCAA Tournament by scoring at least four runs in its last six games, Ball State had a combined one run in its two games at the NCAA Regionals.
Nicholson said the offense struggled because of the high level of competition and his team not coming through in key situations.
"[Louisville] didn't make mistakes; they made the plays they were supposed to, and this time of year that's important," Nicholson said. "We scattered our hits throughout the game and never really were able to string some [hits] together."
This was Ball State's second NCAA Tournament appearance and Mid-American Conference Tournament championship in program history. The Cardinals also set the program's single-season record for wins.
"This is arguably the best season in Ball State softball history, and that's something to be proud of," Nicholson said. "[Getting in the tournament] is a huge step going forward and it's something we can build on. Hopefully we'll find ourselves back here next season."
Pitching in her final game, Milian has watched the team make strides together. The senior all-conference pitcher said she will never forget this team.
"We've always gotten better since my freshman year. All four years have been amazing," Milian said. "I'm going to miss these girls.
"I went to a place where I got to pitch a lot of games, and I'm grateful for that," she said. "I never took a pitch for granted."
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