After splitting a mid-week series with East Tennessee State (4-16), Ball State Softball went 1-3 in the Liberty Flames Classic. The Cardinals (10-11) fell to Liberty (13-9), No. 23 Maryland (19-4) and split two games with Sacred Heart (7-8). A game was supposed to be played March 12 against Fairfield (3-9), however, it was canceled.
Ball State let the host Flames jump out in a big way in its first game of the weekend March 9. Despite holding Liberty scoreless for the first inning-and-a-half, the Flames scored 11 runs in the bottom of the second inning to seal the game, as the Cardinals only managed three hits throughout the entire contest.
The next day, Ball State managed to shake the cobwebs and took down the Pioneers 10-1. A two-run double from redshirt sophomore McKayla Timmons and another two-run double from junior outfielder Kaitlyn Matthews is what propelled the Cardinals to a win.
Later that evening, Ball State and Sacred Heart ran it back, with the Pioneers besting the Cardinals after five errors committed by Ball State helped Sacred Heart take control of the contest.
The Cardinals went out March 11 against the ranked Terrapins and were up 2-0 at one point following a two-run triple from redshirt freshman utility McKenna Mullholland, but Maryland scored 10 unanswered runs and recorded their ninth-straight win of the season.
Ball State now looks toward their first Mid-American Conference (MAC) series of the season when they battle Kent State in three games across Friday, March 17 and Saturday, March 18.
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