With one swift swing of her bat, Jennifer Gilbert put a finishing statement on a dominating performance by Ball State.
The freshman left-fielder blasted her eighth home run of the season over the right-field wall in the bottom of the fourth inning to cap a 9-0 Ball State victory over Wright State in a home game Tuesday.
Even though Gilbert helped lead Ball State's offensive drive on the day, hitting 1-3 with one run and two RBIs, she remained humble about her play after the game.
"It's not my goal to hit a home run every time I get up to bat," Gilbert said. "Just working hard hopefully pays off, and it did today."
The Cardinals have won six of their past seven games, moving their record to 25-14.
Tuesday was Ball State's first home game since winning a doubleheader against Dayton on March 24.
Ball State lit up the scoreboard early, opening the game with four straight hits off Wright State pitcher Chelsea Contant, including a three-run home run by catcher Amanda Montalto.
After facing only four batters, Contant was replaced by Louie Haney. Haney faced similar problems against the Cardinals' potent offense, as Ball State produced eight hits and five runs in the next four innings to extend its lead to a final score of 9-0.
"We did a nice job swinging the bats and scored early, which is always nice," coach Craig Nicholson said. "Some people that needed some at bats got some at-bats, so overall a good day for us."
Junior pitcher Audrey Workman pulled together an all-around performance for Ball State. She pitched four innings in the game and gave up only two hits to go along with three strikeouts.
Junior Kim Mazzapica made a relief appearance in the fifth inning to close out the game, retiring the side with two strikeouts.
"Our pitching was good, our hitting was good [and] our defense is always amazing," Gilbert said. "So far we've improved tremendously. Game-by-game, we've gotten better.
Montalto finished 2-2 at the plate with two runs, three RBIs and one walk. Shortstop Alicia Barkley drove in two runs off of two hits as well to go along with an RBI.
With its mid-week non-conference matchup complete, Ball State will shift its focus back to Mid-American Conference play. The team will play a doubleheader against Eastern Michigan on Friday and two consecutive games against Central Michigan on Saturday and Sunday.
Nicholson said his team should be able to compete in every game if they play as well as they did Tuesday.
"I feel like if we continue to do the job at the plate and our pitchers continue to throw strikes, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win every game," he said. "There may be a game that we've got to win late or scratch out a couple of runs, but right now our pitching staff is giving us a chance to win and our offense is doing a nice job."
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