Softball to square off against streaking Cardinals

The IU softball team (12-29-1, 4-10) returns to action in a Wednesday doubleheader after coming off of a dramatic win to end the weekend series against Penn State. IU will face the leader of the West division of the Mid-American Conference, Ball State (23-13, 4-2).

The Cardinals are on a three-game winning streak after going 3-1 in last weekend’s series against Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.

IU Coach Michelle Gardner said the key to playing Ball State is controlling the tempo.
“If they get people on, we need groundouts or strikeouts,” Gardner said. “We really need to control the tempo of the game.”

The last time the two faced off, Ball State won 5-2, something IU junior pitcher Lora Olson remembers well.

“I remember from facing them last year that they have a very potent lineup,” Olson said. “This is nothing new for us. We’ve played some pretty good teams this season. We need to keep them off balanced, mix our speeds and hit our spots.”

Ball State has the 19th-highest team batting average in the country and five hitters in the lineup have an average above .300.

As a team, it has more home runs (42) and have driven in more runs (204) than any team in its conference.

The team’s most productive hitter, sophomore outfielder Briana Evans, has the highest batting average in the MAC at .409.

Senior outfielder Jennifer Gilbert not only has the conference’s third highest batting average at .405, but she also leads the MAC in home runs (15) and runs batted in (45).

Ball State’s pitching staff has a cumulative ERA of 4.33, and it is allowing an opponent batting average of .314.

The Hoosiers can expect to face sophomore right-handed pitchers Kelsey Schifferdecker and Nicole Steinbach. They have a combined ERA of 4.05 and a total of 112 strikeouts.

Ball State will be facing off with an IU offense that has been productive in recent weeks.

Sophomore first baseman Kassi Farmer played a large role in Sunday’s win against Penn State. She had a career-high four hits in five at-bats, and she also drove in a career-high five runs.

“I need to do what I did Sunday,” Farmer said. “I was feeling good. I went to the plate relaxed and didn’t think too much.”

Farmer said if the team comes out on offense like they did Sunday, they have a good chance at being successful.

“We need to play like we did on Sunday,” she said. “We had an attacking mindset and to attack early. We were stringing hits together.”

IU has also received a boost on offense from the return of CaraMia Tsirigos.

Tsirigos, who was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week March 18, missed 11 straight games with a hand injury before returning for the Penn State series.

In her first series back, Tsirigos batted 3-for-8 and had a key solo home run in Sunday’s game.

In the second game of the Purdue series, Gardner decided to change her leadoff hitter for the first time in 35 games. She moved senior shortstop Breanna Saucedo to the second slot while moving junior outfielder Brianna Meyer to leadoff.

In the seven games since the change, both have seen a slight bump in production despite a small sample size.

Meyer’s batting average in the leadoff spot is .400 as compared to her .242 in the second position.

Saucedo, who has the highest batting average on the team at .342, batted .327 at the leadoff position. After the switch, she has an average of .416.

Gardner said she made the switch because of Meyer’s patience to take pitches, but she is very pleased with the production she has seen from both players.

“We made the change because Brianna takes more pitches,” she said. “Breanna tends to swing at the second or third pitch while Brianna tends to work deeper into the count. I’m happy with how the change has worked out.”