The Ball State Cardinals (7-16) had a tough task ahead of them on Sunday, facing off against Missouri, who is ranked 18th in the nation for softball. Despite the Cardinals’ rocky start to the season, the ended up winning the game 4-3. It marked a much-needed breakout win for Ball State, and just the team’s seventh win over a ranked opponent in program history.
Junior third baseman Haley Wynn stepped up to the plate in the top of the third inning, down by two with senior left fielder Faith Hensley on base. Wynn blasted a home run to tie the game up. It was her third homer of the season.
The Tigers would respond, however, with another run in the bottom of that same inning. The score would stay the same until the top of the sixth inning. A walk and a sac bunt set up Kaitlyn Mathews, a sophomore right fielder, with a runner on second and one out. Mathews did her job, doubling home the tying run.
The small-ball would not stop for the Cardinals there, however, as Mathews would advance to third on a wild pitch. She ended up scoring what would end up as the winning run on a sac fly from senior first baseman Mackenzie McCarty.
Freshman pitcher Angelina Russo did a fine job on the mound, only surrendering 3 runs on 7 hits to the ranked Tigers. She also struck out one batter over her 5.1 innings of work. Southpaw freshman Emma Eubanks came in and shut the door on the Tigers, pitching a scoreless one and two-thirds for her first career save.
Ball State will start their conference-play on Friday, when they take on Central Michigan (10-11) for a weekend series in Muncie.
Other notable series this weekend:
Bowling Green (13-7) at Ohio (8-13)
Buffalo (10-9) at Toledo (8-14)
Akron (4-17) at Kent State (6-12)
Miami (6-8) at Northern Illinois (8-9)
