Ball State’s softball team’s offense has been its mainstay this season. But its pitching was the key in a 1-1 split with IPFW.
Ball State recorded two of its three runs in the fourth inning in a 3-1 victory. Ball State lost the second, 3-1.
Junior pinch hitter Lauren Schroeder shot a single with two outs in the top of the fourth and forced two runs that would be the game winner for the Cardinals.
Despite strong pitching from the Mastodons, taking advantage of their defensive errors helped the Cardinals make up for a lacking offense in comparison to their recent games.
Junior left fielder Jennifer Gilbert was walked three of the four times she went to the plate in the first game, which improved her Mid-American Conference leading batting average from .484 to .495
An attempted comeback took place in the top of the sixth for the Cardinals as Gilbert doubled to right center, later advancing to third on junior first baseman Taylor Rager’s single to shortstop. Senior outfielder Amanda Carpenter sent Gilbert home for the only run of the game, on a single to left field.
Undisciplined at-bats and swinging at the wrong pitches was the cause for poor Ball State offense early in the game, Craig Nicholson said.
Redshirt junior Audra Sanders led the Cardinal defense in the first game, allowing just two hits and recording five strikeouts over the first six innings.
Freshman Nicole Steinbach earned her third save on the season by relieving Sanders in the seventh inning, finishing with one run and a strikeout.
Freshman Kelsey Schifferdecker started in the circle for the second game allowing six hits, three runs and recording three strikeouts over more than four innings. Steinbach came in as relief once again in the bottom of the fifth, though could not finish with a win as the IPFW offense recorded two runs on the inning.
Nicholson was pleased with pitching and defense displayed overall by his team as they improved from the weekend and recorded only one error in the field over both games against IPFW.
“The big thing for us is just making a routine play,” Nicholson said. “We did that today and it obviously helped our pitchers out and gave us the chance to win.”
Ball State will focus on improving work at the plate against strong pitching as the schedule continues on Friday with a double header against Northern Illinois for the first home game of the season.
