When Savannah Jo Dorsey and Danielle Stiene pitch Saturday, it might be a little different than normal.
Instead of them both coming off the dominant starts they have become accustomed to, each will pitch at different stages in their seasons.
For Stiene, she will look to rebound. She has taken the last two losses for Ohio and will attempt to get back to her winning ways against Ball State, the team that leads the MAC in home runs.
Following a rough outing on March 25 against Toledo, Dorsey has been dominant. She has struck out 38 batters and only walked six since the Toledo game.
Ohio will need the two pitchers to carry it through Saturday’s games after losing two of its last three.
The Bobcats’ pitching won’t be the only thing that determines their success. The offense of Ohio, although good, might run into trouble against a young, but talented pitching staff.
The Cardinals have two freshman pitchers, Darcie Huber and Alyssa Rothwell, that boast the fourth and fifth best ERA in the MAC, respectively. Huber has a 2.11, while Rothwell has a 2.23. The Bobcats will look to put a dent in those ERAs. If they cannot do so, the pitching of Dorsey and Stiene will be even more important.
Although the Bobcats (25-8) have a better overall record, Ball State (23-17) has the upper hand in Mid-American Conference play. Ohio is 6-2 in the MAC, which is good enough for first in the MAC East, while Ball State is 7-1 in MAC play, which has them at the top of the MAC West standings.
The teams were expecting to play Friday and Saturday. However, impending snow Friday has forced the two to play the originally-scheduled pair of games Saturday and move one game to Sunday.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Saturday.
