With a 1-4 weekend at the Easton Tiger Classic tournament this weekend, coach Craig Nicholson said a lack of consistency plagued the Ball State University softball team in its first games of the season.
"The biggest thing was we were very inconsistent from one game to the next and even one inning to the next," Nicholson said.
One area in which the Cardinals (1-4) struggled to find consistency was in their defense, Nicholson said.
Ball State committed nine errors on the weekend, including five in its 10-2 loss in a playoff game against Louisiana State University. The game in which Ball State did not commit an error was against St. John's University, the Cardinals' 11-2 win.
"We made some mistakes," Nicholson said. "Overall our infield defense was very good and our outfield defense was pretty far below average."
The outfield had three errors in the five games, including two in the final game against Louisiana State University Sunday.
Offensively, the Cardinals struggled with inconsistency by not following through with opportunities and stranding runners, catcher Abby Gross said.
In the bottom of the seventh Friday against Nicholls State University with two outs and two runners on base, Gross had a chance to eliminate the one-run deficit.
However, she lined out to center field on a ball that Nicholson described as a missile. If it had been a few feet in a different direction, he said, the Cardinals would have won the game instead of losing 5-4.
"It was frustrating but we had plenty of other opportunities to score," Gross said. "We can't wait until the last play."
While she could not drive home the winning run against Nicholls State, Gross had five hits and six RBIs to lead the Cardinals on the weekend.
Gross was the one Ball State player to make the all-tournament team along with four players from Louisiana State, three from Nicholls State and one from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
While the Cardinals did a decent job of getting on base, Nicholson said, they allowed too many runners to get on base by walks. Ball State gave up 27 walks in the five games, which was way too many, he said.
"That stuff will just catch up and bite you," Nicholson said.
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