Flashes Open MAC Tournament Wednesday with Western Michigan
5/9/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Follow the Flashes MAC Softball Tournament run here with Cover It Live
Tournament Bracket
In search of its third MAC Tournament title in six years, Kent State (19-29, 9-10 MAC) begins postseason play Wednesday (May 11), taking on top-seeded Western Michigan (20-27, 14-6) at Firestone Stadium in Akron. The Golden Flashes settled for the No. 8 seed in the eight-team, double elimination tournament following a regular season that featured the most parity the MAC has ever seen. The four-day event is scheduled to run through Saturday (May 14) when the championship game winner is awarded an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
• Since 2006, the Golden Flashes have gone 92-31 in regular season conference games and 13-6 in MAC Tournament games.
Â
Live Stats and Live Chat
Live stats for all tournament games can be found at www.mac-sports.com. Follow a live blog for all Kent State games and submit your comments on CoverItLive.com.
Tournament History
• The MAC Tournament was first held from 1982-86 and was resumed in 1997.
• It expanded from six teams to eight teams in 2005.
• The last team to repeat as tournament champions was Central Michigan in 2002.
The Golden Flashes are 22-21 all-time at the MAC Tournament and have won two championships in the previous five seasons, reaching the championship round three times during that span. KSU's most recent crown came in 2008, going 4-0 at Firestone Stadium, including a decisive 5-0 victory over Ohio in the championship game. The Flashes also won a tournament title in 2006 at Currie Stadium in Midland, Mich. KSU made its first title game appearance in 1998, during Karen Linder's second season. The Flashes have now earned appearances in eight straight tournaments since 2004, the longest current streak of any program.
Last Season
During the 2010 MAC Tournament, the Golden Flashes advanced to the championship round for the fourth time in school history by defeating Bowling Green, Central Michigan and Northern Illinois. Beth Cinadr had four hits in the tournament, including a sixth-inning home run in a 1-0 win over Northern Illinois to put the Flashes into the championship round against Ball State. Jess Blanton, Mary Holt and Lauren Grimes each had three hits in the tournament.
• Jess Carmichael has hit home runs in each of the last three conference tournaments, including two in 2009.
• Wednesday will be a MAC Tournament rubber match for the seniors on both sides. The Golden Flashes edged the Broncos 2-1 during the 2008 MAC Tournament, behind a two-run homer from Carmichael. In 2009, Western Michigan scored in the bottom of the seventh to come away with a 3-2 victory.
Â
Carmichael Breaking Records and Coming on Strong Lately
With two home runs in her last two games at Eastern Michigan, Jess Carmichael tied Kent State's career record for home runs with 36. Earlier this season, she became Kent State's career RBI leader. Carmichael has now driven in 130 runs over four seasons and her 178 hits are fourth among KSU career leaders. Her 38 doubles are tied for third, just three behind the career leader.
Carmichael turned things up a notch in conference play hitting .367. Her eight doubles against league opponents are the second most in the MAC. This past weekends She carried a .571 on-base percentage with five hits and three walks in 14 plate appearances. Carmichael hit .455 in four games and led the Flashes with three runs scored and a 1.091 slugging percentage. Carmichael also hit a two-run homer in KSU's win over Eastern Michigan. She leads the team with 11 home runs on the year.
The Opposition
Western Michigan
The Broncos clinched a MAC regular season championship Saturday with a 5-2 victory at Miami. Prior to the weekend, Western Michigan had won eight straight conference games with sweeps of Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Ohio and Akron. Junior pitcher Meredith Whitney went 11-3 in conference play, including a win at Miami Saturday. Whitney carried a 2.89 ERA in conference games with 85 strikeouts in 87.1 innings. She also hit .418 in MAC play with four home runs. Junior Gracie Barstad hit .476 with seven doubles in conference play. Senior Lexi Jager provided the power in conference play, hitting .389 with six homers, three triples and four doubles. Junior Kyla Houston has pitched 132.2 innings this season, fanning 112 batters. The Broncos played a brutal schedule to start the year, going 1-12 in trips to Arizona and Florida.
Â
Quick Hitters
• Kent State ranks fifth in the nation with 1.71 doubles per game. Its 82 doubles on the year are the second most in program history.
• Offensively, the Golden Flashes are having their best season since their College World Series run in 1990. KSU is hitting .291 as a team with 128 extra base hits in 48 games.
• The Flashes' 44 home runs are the fourth most in program history.
• Kent State began conference play by scoring 44 runs in 22 innings. The run rule took effect in three of KSU's wins. The Golden Flashes hit .369 with eight doubles and six home runs in four games. On April 2 at Toledo, the Flashes scored 20 runs in a game for the first time since 1980.
• On April 29 against Akron, Kent State scored 10 runs in a game for the 11th time this season.
Player Notes
• Since March 4, Beth Cinadr is hitting .434 with 15 doubles, four home runs and 25 runs batted in. She and Abbey Ledford tied for the Flashes' longest hitting streak of the season at 12 games. Cinadr leads the MAC lead in doubles with 17 and ranks 10th in the nation with 0.37 doubles per game.
• In 19 MAC games, Shannon Laughlin drove in 21 runs, which leads the MAC in RBIs per game. She has also scored 18 runs in conference games, ranking third in the league in runs per game.
• Two of the team's top three hitters are freshmen, as rookie Abbey Ledford is batting .352 on the year with six home runs. Classmate Alex Marcantonio is hitting .361 with nine doubles and 35 runs scored.
• Since March 12, three different KSU players have earned MAC East Player of the Week honors: Mary Holt, Abbey Ledford, Jess Carmichael. Carmichael has won the honor in four straight seasons.
Series History
Kent State holds a 40-30 all-time series lead against Western Michigan after splitting a pair in Kent this season. Lauren Grimes preserved a 5-4 KSU win in game two with a game-saving catch in the seventh inning as she crashed into the center field fence. Grimes, Shannon Laughlin and Mary Holt all blasted home runs in the Flashes' victory. Tara Buchanan and Gracie Barstad hit back-to-back two-out homers for the Broncos in the loss.
In game one, the Broncos took advantage of two infield errors in the fifth, scoring four unearned runs. Kayla Houston earned the complete game win and added a pair of doubles at the plate. In both games, the Flashes put up three runs in the first inning.
Last season, the Flashes swept a pair from the Broncos in Kalamazoo with scores 2-1 and 1-0. Mary Holt went 3-for-6 on the day with a double. Danielle Abernathy did not allow a run in 3.1 innings pitched.
Â
Up Next
The Golden Flashes will take on either Ball State or Eastern Michigan Thursday. The winner of the KSU-WMU game will play at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of the Ball State-Eastern Michigan game. The losers of Wednesday's games will play Thursday at 11 a.m.
Close Battles
The Golden Flashes have been in 14 different one-run games this season, but have come up on the lossing end 11 times.
Â
