The Ball State University softball team increased its winning streak to seven games after going 4-0 during the weekend.
The Cardinals (20-16, 10-1) defeated Bowling Green State University (7-22, 2-8) in a doubleheader on Friday and defeated the University of Toledo (5-27, 3-7) on both Saturday and Sunday.
Against Toledo on Saturday, coach Craig Nicholson earned his 800th career victory as head coach. 723 of those victories were compiled during Nicholson's 11-year tenure at Central Arizona College.
Ball State entered the weekend off a five-day break, something that had Nicholson a little tense.
"Having the whole week off scares me because you get a bit out of rhythm, but the benefit is a well-rested pitching staff," Nicholson said.
On Friday against Bowling Green, Ball State came out firing on all cylinders as it scored a combined 17 runs and had 15 stolen bases in the doubleheader.
"I felt like we played pretty well," Nicholson said. "We did a lot of things right offensively and defensively. We had good pitching too. We tried to put as much pressure on the infield and catcher as we could."
Ball State won the first game 7-1 and the finale 10-2.
Three of the runs in the second game came from one swing of the bat from senior Kamilah Holle, who hit her first home run of the season and seventh of her career.
"It was the perfect pitch," Holle said. "A little in and low. It's my favorite pitch."
The defense allowed three runs and stretched its errorless streak to four games.
Freshman catcher Amanda Montalto said the team was focused on offense and defense against Bowling Green, which is what helped propel them past the Falcons.
"Everyone did something big to contribute today, either on defense, at the plate or on the mound," Montalto said. "Coach keeps telling us to expect to win and expect to not make an error. People are starting to believe him and that's starting to show."
The team continued its road trip 25 miles north to the University of Toledo. On Saturday, the Cardinals shutout Toledo 2-0 behind the arm of junior pitcher Elizabeth Milian and an errorless defensive effort.
On Sunday, Ball State took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh but a game-tying single to left field with two outs took the game into extra innings.
In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded, sophomore Alicia Barkley singled to the shortstop, which scored senior Katelyn Gunderson. The Rockets were unable to match the run in the bottom half of the inning.
"The game was a little better than it needed to be," Nicholson said. "It wasn't our best day by any means. We made a few mistakes early, but the positive is we found a way to win a game where we didn't do so well."
Nicholson said his team struggled early in the season in one-run games, but since conference play began, it is coming out on top of many of them. Through Spring Break, the Cardinals were 3-9 in games decided by one run. They are 5-1 in one-run games since Spring Break, when the team began playing at home and started conference play.
Barkley went 8-14 on the weekend with six RBIs, a run, five stolen bases and the game-winning RBI in Sunday's game. Redshirt sophomore Lisa Rozanski had six hits, six runs and five stolen bases. She is currently 21-21 on steal attempts. Her triple on Sunday against Toledo puts her at six on the season, three away from the school record.
Milian had 17 strikeouts on the weekend, bringing her season total to 146. Milian needs 54 more strikeouts in the team's 16 remaining games to tie the Ball State single-season record for most strikeouts. If the team is one of the eight teams to make the MAC tournament, she would have additional chances to break the record.
The four wins this weekend keep Ball State in first place in the MAC West, two games ahead of Northern Illinois University (11-25, 6-4).
The Cardinals are in action this week with three midweek games. They will host the University of Dayton for a doubleheader on Tuesday and will travel to Purdue University on Wednesday.
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