Freshmen pitchers Nicole Steinbach and Kelsey Schifferdecker made their collegiate debuts this weekend leading Ball State to a 3-1 weekend in the Kennesaw State Classic beginning Saturday morning.
“Our freshmen pitchers battled and did a good job,” coach Craig Nicholson said. “I don’t think youth is a big factor in what we do.”
Ball State finished the weekend with a 15-5 victory over IUPUI, a 2-0 win over the Tennessee-Martin and a 10-0 win over Tennessee Tech. The team fell short in the last game of the weekend, losing 8-6 to Eastern Kentucky.
Schifferdecker opened the season in the circle against IUPUI finishing with three strikeouts. Redshirt junior Audra Sanders came to Schifferdecker’s relief in the fourth inning closing out the game with six strikeouts.
Steinbach finished the weekend sweep on Saturday against Tennessee-Martin after striking out five batters and giving up three hits. She closed out the sixth inning with a double play in the circle after facing just nine batters in her last three innings.
She faced Tennessee Tech on Sunday and earned her second shutout of the season giving up just one hit over five innings.
“I have been mentally preparing myself by realizing that in high school,” Steinbach said. “It is more about striking the batter out and now it is about getting the pitch where the spot is.”
Shifferdecker closed the weekend against Eastern Kentucky giving up four runs and five hits to the Colonels before again being relived by Sanders. After coming into the game at the top of the fourth inning, Sanders couldn’t hold Eastern Kentucky as they earned four runs and six hits.
Ball State did not hesitate to put numbers on the scoreboard in its first game of the season as junior left fielder Jennifer Gilbert recorded an RBI after just three batters against IUPUI.
Gilbert hit her 34th, 35th and 36th career home runs in the games against IUPUI and Eastern Kentucky. She is now just three shy of breaking the school home run record of 38 set by Amanda Montalto, who graduated last year.
It took Ball State four innings to get the bats going against Tennessee-Martin, but came back explosive as junior third baseman Audrey Bickel hit a solo home run to right field. She hit her second home run of the season against Eastern Kentucky.
The Cardinals are back in action in Conway, Ark., next weekend with five games in three days.
