Opening up conference play, Ball State softball (19-10, 1-1 MAC) headed east to take on Bowling Green (16-11, 1-1) in a Friday afternoon double header.
The first game saw an offensive explosion by the Cardinals in a 9-0 shutout, but a pitching change would halt the offense and give the Falcons the 4-2 redemption to win the second contest.
In first game, Ball State put nine runs on the board, but it was junior Aeshia Miles who stole the show for the Cardinals on the mound. Miles allowed one hit the entire game and struck out 10 of the 20 batters that she faced. Miles pitched the entirety of the game and improved to 10-4 on the season.
“Aeshia gave an amazing performance today in the first game,” head coach Megan Ciolli Bartlett said. “Our pitchers are warriors. They’re tough and they battle.”
Four of the nine runs scored by the Cardinals were walked in the first matchup. Senior Maddy Labrador led the team in RBIs with three on the day, while sophomore Janae Hogg led in the hitting category connecting three times with the ball.
The Falcons would adjust in the second game on the mound with junior Brooke Parker. While sophomore Haley Dominique and Hogg were able to give the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead, Parker froze the Cardinals offense, only allowing the pair of runs and striking out five.
“Parker is a left and she threw a really good off change up,” Bartlett said. “We just continued to get off on our front foot a little bit and couldn’t seem to square up the ball. We’re probably going to see her tomorrow, so we just need to learn to square up.”
As Parker held down the defense, the offense ignited in the fifth and sixth innings off a triple and a pair of singles to help the Falcons pull away from the Cardinals. Senior Carolyn Wilmes struck out nine batters in the loss.
“The hitters need to make the adjustment to handle the off-speed pitch better,” Bartlett said. “If they make that adjustment, we’ll be able to square up some fast ones and we’re going to be in good shape.”
The Cardinals will face the Falcons tomorrow in the rubber match at 1 p.m.
Contact Jack Williams with comments at jgwilliams@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @JackWilliamsBSU.
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