It was a warm and sunny Spring Break weekend on the beaches of Clearwater, Fla.
But for the Ball State softball team, the vacation couldn't have come at a worse time. The team lost all five games in the Under Armour Showcase and were outscored 41-6.
Ball State coach Craig Nicholson said every team goes through difficult times that help them improve.
"We saw some weaknesses that other teams haven't shown us so far this season, so we have an idea of what we need to clean up," he said. "You're going to have these adverse stretches, and you get through it and continue to work and get better."
Ball State started the Under Armour Showcase Friday with a disappointing 3-1 loss to Long Island and a 6-2 loss to Connecticut. The Cardinals left a combined 24 runners on base in the two games.
Senior shortstop Alicia Barkley, who led the team with five hits in the first two games, said Ball State had issues with its approach at the plate and aggressiveness this weekend.
"We were more relaxed at the plate [earlier in the season,]" Barkley said. "We were swinging at good pitches, being passive at times when we needed to be passive, and aggressive at times when we needed to be aggressive. This weekend, we just fell out of that."
On Saturday, Ball State lost to Quinnipiac 4-0 and Florida 21-0. Junior right-handed pitcher Audrey Workman struggled against both teams, walking three against Quinnipiac and 11 against Florida. Workman also gave up eight runs in 1 1/3 innings against Florida and four runs in 5 2/3 innings against Quinnipiac.
"The problem we have as a pitching staff right now is we nibble too much," Nicholson said. "I think we have to believe a little bit more in our stuff and our ability to get people out. Also, we have to get ahead in the count, which is huge."
In the final game against St. Joseph's, Ball State found itself with a familiar problem — leaving too many runners on base.
In the top of the sixth, the Cardinals scored two runs to cut the score to 5-3. A line-out to St. Joseph's junior third baseman Monica Aguilar by senior center-fielder Lisa Rozanski left the bases loaded and ended the rally for the Cardinals. Then, a two-run single by St. Joseph's sophomore Dana Parks in the bottom of the sixth inning gave St. Joseph's a 7-3 lead, ending the scoring for each team.
Even with the performance in the Under Armour Showcase, senior right-fielder Alyssa Collins said her team will be fine.
"We played with teams that are at a much higher level than us, and we want to compete with them," she said. "We know we're capable of playing at that level as long as we clean things up. We know how we play, and we know as soon we clean up those little things that we will be fine."
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