Kent State University
28-25
Ball State
30-27
Kent State Defeats Ball State, 4-1, to Open MAC Tournament
5/10/2017 1:38:00 PM | Softball
AKRON, Ohio – Senior Ronnie Ladines recorded 13 strikeouts while not allowing an earned run in the circle and hit a towering home run in the second inning as Kent State took down Ball State, 4-1, in the opening game of the 2017 Mid-American Conference Softball Championship at Firestone Stadium on Wednesday.
Ladines (16-13) threw her third one-hitter in her last four starts and saw her scoreless-innings streak come to an end at 29 on an unearned run in the top of the sixth.
"It's always a great feeling to come to this tournament and win your first game," said head coach Eric Oakley. "Ronnie continued to pitch great for us, and I feel pretty good any time she is going. Offensively, we had some key hits at the right times. Even when we didn't get a hit, I felt that we were executing well and had solid at-bats."
The Golden Flashes (28-25) opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second. Ladines crushed a no-doubter to left field to start the frame. Junior Emily Dobbin came through with two-out triple to make it 2-0.
Kent State's patience at the plate resulted in another run in the fourth. After a mishandled bouncer allowed Ladines to reach, two Flashes drew walks to load the bases with just one out. Dobbin then sent a fly ball to deep left field that allowed freshman Vanessa Vodan to tag and score.
Junior Holly Speers hot a solo shot, her 14th home run of the season, to make it 4-0 in the fifth inning.
Three consecutive errors and a hit batter gave Ball State its lone run of the game. However, the veteran Ladines fanned the next three batters to end the threat.
Kent State collected six hits in the game. Senior Maddy Grimm singled in her first two trips to the plate and sophomore Jen Cader drew three walks.
No. 4 seed Kent State will play the winner of Wednesday's game between No. 1 Central Michigan and No. 8 Western Michigan on Thursday at 1 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ladines, Ronnie (16-13)
L: HUBER (9-8)
Batting:
RBI: HOUCK 1
Base Running:
RUNS: O'DONNELL 1
HBP: HOUCK 1 ; KING, D. 1
Batting:
3B: Dobbin, Emily 1
HR: Speers, Holly 1 ; Ladines, Ronnie 1
RBI: Dobbin, Emily 2 ; Speers, Holly 1 ; Ladines, Ronnie 1
SH: Dobbin, Emily 1
SF: Dobbin, Emily 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Speers, Holly 1 ; Ladines, Ronnie 1 ; Vodan, Vanessa 1 ; Sborlini, Olivia 1
