After spending all of its time practicing inside, the Ball State University softball team finally gets a chance to go outside and play on an actual field.
Sophomore Elizabeth Milian said she is excited, because there is only so much the team could do in the gym.
"I'm pumped," she said. "I'm so excited for this weekend. I've been looking forward to it for so long."
The Cardinals open their season against Louisiana State University at 5:45 p.m. at the Louisiana State Tournament. The Tigers enter the game ranked No. 8 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll and No. 9 in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 Poll.
Second-year coach Craig Nicholson said the game against the top-10 team will be a good opportunity for the Cardinals to see where they measure up heading into the season.
Senior Amanda Pick said she knows the game will be difficult because Louisiana State is a strong team, but Ball State is also good.
"We'll definitely hold our own," she said.
After playing the Tigers, the Cardinals continue their season-opening weekend by playing Nicholls State University at 8 p.m. They then play the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and St. John's University on Saturday.
While there are no slouches in the tournament, Nicholson said, Ball State can compete this weekend.
"Ideally I'd like to come down here and win some ball games," he said about his goals for the weekend.
When the Cardinals take the field this weekend, their lineup will have several changes from last year.
The Cardinals lost Kelli Jeziorski in left field and Taylor Yancey at third base to graduation. They also lost Alisha Etzler from second base because she wanted to pursue other opportunities, Nicholson said.
"You can't replace experience," he said. "All you can do is get someone who is talented to come in and fill that role, and I think we did that."
In all, the Cardinals added 10 new players. Five positions will have new starters, Nicholson said.
As for the returning starters, Ball State has senior Abby Gross at catcher, Pick at first base, junior Allie Pennock in right field and Milian at pitcher. Junior Kamiliah Holle, who started at shortstop last year, will move to second base, which is a more natural position for her, Nicholson said.
Freshman Alicia Barkley will start at shortstop and freshman Kathryn Wilczynski will start at third base, Nicholson said.
In the outfield freshman Alyssa Collins will start in left field and freshman Lisa Rozanski will start in center, Nicholson said.
At pitcher, the Cardinals added another starter in Tiffany Garofano to make a one-two combination that will pitch a bulk of the innings, Nicholson said. She will be a good compliment to Milian as the No. 2 pitcher, Nicholson said, as she relies more on movement than the hard-throwing Milian.
Nicholson said he is happy with the additions that the Cardinals made this season and they will allow the team to do more, especially with pinch running and hitting.
"We've increased our depth and we've increased our talent level," he said.
A couple other new players will also contribute, Nicholson said. Playing with lots of new players does not bother him, he said, as he has done it his entire career.
The new players add a lot speed and versatility to the lineup, Nicholson said.
"We have four people [in the outfield] who really can run, which I think is huge for us when we play at home because we have a little bit bigger field," he said.
The team will also look to use its added versatility to cut down on its 92 errors from last season, Nicholson said. He said the team will be significantly better this season at defense.
"I feel like we have the ability make more plays than last year," he said.
The speed will also help the team offensively, he said.
"We're going to play the game a little bit more aggressively than we did last year; I know that may be a shock," he said.
Last season the Cardinals stole a Mid-American Conference leading 127 bases, 32 more than the second-place team.
This year, though, the team will not have to be cute to steal bases, Nicholson said. Ball State will steal bases and use hit-and-runs, he said, which fits into his strategy.
The Cardinals will be able to manufacture more runs this season, especially late in games, with their speed, Nicholson said.
Last year the Cardinals manufactured runs with power.
The team had a program-record 33 home runs, including a team-record eight by Gross and Yancey.
Gross returns to the Cardinals as the all-time home run leader with 15.
"We probably don't have as many people in our lineup who are capable of hitting seven, eight home runs," Nicholson said.
The middle of the order of Gross, Milian and Pick still has the ability to hit the ball out of the park, he said.
Overall, Nicholson said the team is in a great position to perform better than last year's 22-34 record.
"We have the ability to go and compete in every game, no matter who we're playing," he said. "That doesn't mean we will every game but we'll be confident that we can compete."
Milian said the team's goals include winning 35 games and the MAC tournament.
Pick said the team will have a winning record and capping off the season with a conference championship in her senior year would be the icing on the cake.
"On my god, that would be amazing to do that," she said.
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