After a near-sweep of the Silicon Valley Classic last weekend, Ball State (12-9, 0-0 MAC) suffered a 1-4 record at the USF-Clearwater Parks and Recreational Invitational, snagging its lone victory against Furman Saturday.
The Cardinals were held to three runs or fewer in all four losses despite scoring eight runs in their win against Furman. Prior to this weekend, the most losses the Cardinals had posted in a weekend tournament was two in the FGCU Kickoff Classic, the first tournament of the season.
To open the weekend, the Cardinals fell to South Carolina 15-1 in five innings Friday. Against the nationally-ranked Gamecocks, the Cardinals fell behind 3-0 after the first inning and allowed five runs in both the second and fourth innings.
In the second game of the day, the Cardinals dropped a 5-2 contest to South Florida. The tournament host Bulls jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first six innings before Ball State junior Janae Hogg connected on her sixth home run of the season.
The Cardinals jumped on the scoreboard early Saturday against Penn as sophomore Kendall Fields singled to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. However, the Quakers scored five unanswered runs to pull out a 5-3 win.
In the Cardinals’ victory over Furman, they held the Paladins to just two runs, pinning sophomore pitcher Darcie Huber with an 8-2 win. Huber earned her second win of the season after tossing four and two-third innings of two-run ball while striking out five batters.
Fields drove in three runs on two hits, and junior Kennedy Wynn hit a two-run double in the third inning to give the Cardinals the lead for the remainder of the game. Freshman Mackenzie McCarty launched her first career home run in the third inning to drive in three more runs.
After a scoreless first three innings of the final game of the weekend, the Cardinals allowed 10 runs in the final four innings against Iowa, leading to a 10-3 defeat. Hogg and freshman Amaia Daniel smacked two base knocks while Daniel drove in two runs.
The Cardinals will be in action Wednesday against Bethune-Cookman in a double-header in Daytona Beach, Florida, before heading to the JU/UNF Spring Break Challenge Friday to play four games.
Contact Gabi Glass with any comments at grglass@bsu.edu or on Twitter @gabiglassbsu.
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