As a Northern Illinois three-run home run sailed over the left field wall, Ball State outfielders watched as a 4-1 lead disappeared in an instant.
The deficit only continued to grow, as the Ball State softball team endured a disappointing 13-5 home loss to Northern Illinois Saturday.
With the loss, Ball State's overall record moves to 33-21 on the season and 13-7 in Mid-American Conference play.
Coach Craig Nicholson said poor pitching was his team's biggest problem.
"Obviously, I don't feel like we pitched very good today," Nicholson said. "But, it is what it is. Our defense was fine, and for the most part, we had some pretty good at-bats other than being overly aggressively at times."
Ball State's aggressiveness at the plate gave it an early lead. In the bottom of the second inning, freshman first baseman Taylor Rager belted a solo home run to center field to put the Cardinals up 1-0.
Three more runs came in to score in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 4-1. Senior shortstop Alicia Barkley began the three-run spurt with an RBI single to center field that drove in senior center fielder Lisa Rozanski from third base. Junior catcher Amanda Montalto followed Barkley with a sacrifice fly to right field, driving in junior second baseman Alison Mercado. Rager ended the scoring for Ball State with an RBI double to center field that drove in Barkley from second base.
In the top of the fourth inning, however, Northern Illinois evened the score with one swing of the bat. Junior third baseman Krista Matsui blasted a three-run home run to left field to tie the score at 4-4.
After holding Ball State scoreless in the bottom half of the fourth inning, Northern Illinois took a commanding 13-4 lead in the top of the fifth inning after scoring nine runs on seven hits.
Leading the charge for Northern Illinois was senior Andrea Colosimo and freshman pitcher Nicole Gremillion. Colosimo hit a two-run single to right field that drove in senior left fielder Zoe Sinner and sophomore catcher Adriana Sanchez while Gremillion hit a two-run double to center field that drove in freshman catcher Erika Oswald and sophomore shortstop Amanda Sheppard.
Entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Ball State knew what it had to do: score two runs and the game continues. Score one run and the game is over.
In the end, Ball State fell short of its goal. After a bases-loaded walk to senior third baseman Kate Wilczynski, Rozanski struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the game for Ball State by mercy rule.
Nicholson said despite another tough conference loss, the important thing for Ball State in its final game of the season is to gain momentum going into the MAC tournament.
"Maybe we've put a little too much focus on winning a MAC championship," Nicholson said. "Maybe we just need to go play the game and start to feel good about ourselves going into the tournament. To me, that is our approach tomorrow."
Ball State wraps up its regular season on senior day Sunday with another match-up against Northern Illinois. First pitch is at 1 p.m.
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