No. 1 seed Ball State (36-21) defeated No. 3 seed Kent State (42-16) 12-9 to win the 2023 Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship Tournament and advance to the program's first NCAA Regional appearance since 2006.
Just about a week ago, Ball State got beat 29-11 at home against Kent State in the last regular season series. Yesterday, Ball State (35-21) beat that same Kent State (41-15) team 6-1 to advance to the Mid-American Conference Championship. Senior Trennor O’Donnell, who started in the 29-11 loss, went a complete nine innings today to beat the Golden Flashes. It was the first complete game of his career.
“Foul Ball, USA, hit the ball the other way, Aruba, uh uh, Jamaica, uh uh Hawaii, uh uh Aloha.” That was one of the chants that the Cowan softball team screamed from their dugout during the 1A Sectional #55 championship game. But when the seventh inning at Daleville Junior/Senior High School came to a close, those chants turned into cheers as the Blackhawks defeated Wes-Del 5-1 and became back-to-back-to-back sectional champions.
Grit. Following today’s 7-6 win against No. 2 Central Michigan (33-21, 19-11 MAC), he used it once more. “[The Cardinals] are a gritty bunch who believe in themselves,” Maloney said. “And they've been amazing because we've been short-handed for a long period of time.” With the team going through some adversity this season, yesterday’s win made the Cardinals’ (34-21, 19-11 MAC) first Mid-American Tournament (MAC) victory more than just that. It was a big moment for multiple players and lifted the team's spirits.
Playing in the first National Golf Invitational, Ball State Men’s Golf finished tied for fourth with their 859 score over three rounds. Sophomore Kash Bellar won the individual title with his 7-under-par performance over three rounds. “It's about time I've had some really good opportunities to win this spring alone, I just didn't capitalize on and didn't take advantage of the final round,” Bellar said. “I think today I just proved to myself that I can be an elite player. That's the best way to show some other people and teams around the country that I am a pretty good player.”
Ball State baseball needed a sweep of three games to take the Mid-American Conference regular season title, but after day one, those hopes were gone. The series result would be the complete opposite of what the Cardinals wanted as they were the ones who were swept.
After coming in second place in the Mid-American Conference championship, Ball State Men’s Golf looks to the postseason, playing in the first National Golf Invitational (NGI) tournament hosted by Golfweek. The tournament will be held at the Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona. The Cardinals qualified with their two tournament titles this spring. With those wins, Ball State gained almost 30 spots in the national rankings.
Ball State Baseball defeated in-state opponent Southern Indiana 12-1 last night. This was the final non-conference game of the season for the Cardinals, improving their record to 33-18. After three innings, Ball State had a 9-0 lead.
Three different head coaches during the season. Multiple injuries. The first home loss in three years. A tall task of defending back-to-back Mid-American Conference (MAC) titles. That’s what the Ball State women’s women’s tennis team (22-4, 9-1 MAC) was faced with during the 2023 season. Despite all of that, it was one of the most historic seasons in program history, and covering every match for the Ball State Daily News taught me so much about how to deal with this thing called adversity.
The Ball State Baseball team won its series with Miami (Ohio), only losing one of the three games. The series took place from May 12-14. The Cardinals dropped the first game and won the last two to take the series.
During the top of the sixth inning of the 2023 Delaware County Championship, the Wapahani Raiders and Delta Eagles were tied at one apiece. Wapahani senior Daniel Blevins, a former Delta student, stepped up to the plate. Until this point, he was zero-for-two on the day. But he would end the contest one-for-three as he destroyed a two-run home run to left field. This helped the Raiders capture their 13th Delaware County Title in program history as they downed the Eagles 4-1.
On their final day of competition, the women’s track and field team scored 70 points on Saturday to take the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championship title. This is the first MAC Outdoor title since 2001 and the program’s fifth overall. Sophomore Moriah Johnson, freshman Alana Springer, freshman Lindsey Steele and sophomore Jenna Oriani combined for a MAC Championship record time of 44.93 to win in the 4x100m relay.
After falling to No. 1 seed Miami (Ohio) in the first game, the Cardinals needed a win against Central Michigan (29-25, 18-11 MAC) to stay alive in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament. But after falling 4-1, they go down as the first team to be eliminated.
After being a standout basketball player for Muncie Southside High School, Ty’Ronda Benning played two seasons of women’s basketball at Lincoln Trail Community College. But at the end of her second year, she wanted to return to her hometown. She decided to transfer to Ball State University. Years later, she hopes to bring that mentality to her new job as Delta High School’s girls’ varsity head basketball coach.
The Cardinals believed that they needed to open the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament with energy and needed to “leave everything on the field.” For the first three innings, Ball State did that. In the top of the third, they scored four runs after multiple hits and walks. But after a three-run home run on a two-strike, two-out pitch, the No. 4 team in the tournament could not make up ground and fell in their first game to the No. 1 Miami Redhawks 8-4.
The 2023 Delaware County Tournament started with some stellar performances that included a no-hitter from Wapahani’s starting pitcher senior Gavin Lash and a defensive shutout by Wes-Del. Both teams will move on to Saturday’s second round.
Indiana State (33-13) was able to surmount a 2-1 lead in the first inning and grew to 3-1 in the third inning. In the fourth inning, Indiana State was able to drive in four runs in the inning.
One year after missing the Mid-American Conference (MAC) tournament by one spot, Ball State softball is heading to Miami University (Oxford, OH) for this year's edition of the conference tournament. It will also be head coach Lacy Schurr’s first time coaching in the tournament. The Cardinals finished the 2023 campaign with a 27-24 record. They went 17-12 in the MAC which set them up to clinch the fourth spot in the conference. Besides fifth-year Amaia Daniel and senior Jazmyne Armendariz, no other Cardinal on the roster has made the postseason.
After a season that saw an incredible amount of success with some chaos mixed in, Ball State women’s tennis (22-4) played in their final match of the season Friday. Making their third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, the Cardinals were swept 4-0 by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (16-10). For the third consecutive year, Ball State failed to put up a point in any of the matches. But, junior Masha Polishchuk, who was on the previous tournament teams, said that this match felt and played out differently than the other two.
On May 3, Ball State first-year diver Madison Hischer was arrested with probable cause and charged with burglary and strangulation after she admitted to breaking in to her ex-boyfriend's house and attacking Ashleigh Provan, who is a second-year diver.
