Ball State traveled to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for the Mid-American Conference Championship to compete for the MAC title April 21-23.
Ball State's five-person roster consisted of junior Kiah Parrott, first-year Madelin Boy, first-year Jasmine Driscoll, first-year Sarah Gallagher and graduate student Peyton Broce.
At the end of the tournament, the Cardinals placed seventh out of 10.
“It was really good, the golf course was in fantastic shape,” head coach Cameron Andry said. “Greens were fast, and they're just difficult. They've got a lot of slopes on them and so there are some hole locations that you just have to really be cautious with.”
Friday - Round One
Round one saw all Cardinals within five strokes of each other.
“We really limited our big numbers,” Andry said. “I think we only had two double bogeys in our for counting scores. Nobody else made anything more than a bogey. We strung together some really good stretches of pars and took advantage of the few birdie opportunities that there are out there and so I was really pleased with how the first round went.”
Driscoll and Boyd both posted a 3-over-par 75 to lead Ball State in the first round.
Gallagher shot a 4-over-par 76 followed by Parrott with a 6-over-par 78.
Broce rounded out the Cardinals with her 8-over-par 80.
Saturday - Round Two
Every team but Bowling Green added strokes from their first round to their second round.
Driscoll led in round two with a 7-over-par 79.
Boyd posted an 8-over-par 80 followed by Parrott who shot a 9-over-par 81.
Gallagher shot an 11-over-par 83 and sophomore Payton Bennett was the final score with an 18-over-par 90.
Andry said the switch between Broce and Bennett was predetermined. He said both of the two have been really close in qualifying all year and so Broce was in for round one and Bennett was in for round two. The better score of the two would play in the third round. Andry said the MAC is unique like that with being able to change players in between the rounds.
Sunday - Round Three
Parrott posted a 6-over-par 78 to lead Ball State in the final round.
Driscoll and Broce both shot a 9-over-par 81.
Driscoll finished tied for 24th, placing within the top 25 of the MAC as a freshman.
“She's got a ton of ability, she hits it far and she hits it really well all the time pretty much,” Andry said. “The only thing really that holds her back is short game and putting, and so when she gets those things going I think the sky's the limit. It's really happy for her to have a solid finish and I think it's something good for her to build on moving forward.”
Boyd and Gallagher both posted a 10-over-par 82.
Andry saw his first season as a journey, and the results are only a piece of that journey. He said he would have loved to finish higher but also sees a lot of growth in the group.
“I had an old veteran coach tell me years ago, he said, ‘You can't enjoy the feast until you set the table,’” Andry said. “I felt like this year was really about setting the table and trying to establish what we're going to be about and how we're going to do things and I thought we did that. Now we'll keep building. The feast is coming.”
With the long offseason now here, Andry plans to hit the ground running and prepare for next year.
“We got to continue to bring in great players that are really the lifeline of your programs,” Andry said.” How will you recruit, it’s already started this morning for me, I've already been putting together some work on my list for 24s and 25s and we've got a big junior girls event coming to town this weekend at Players Club and I'll be out there both days so it's just time to hit the recruiting trail.”
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4.
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