KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- The Western Michigan softball program will honor seniors from the past two seasons as the Broncos host Ball State for a four-game, Mid-American Conference series this weekend at Ebert Field. The series opens on Friday, May 7, with a 3 p.m. contest, followed by a 1 p.m. ET doubleheader on Saturday, May 8, and a Noon ET series finale on Sunday, May 9. All four games can be heard live on WMUBroncos.com, while the senior ceremonies can be seen live on the team's
Instagram feed @WMU__Softball.
The team will honor seniors who did not return for the 2021 campaign before Friday's game at approximately 2:50 p.m. That group includes
Emma Nuyen,
Cari Padula and
Samantha Pico. The Broncos will then recognize this year's seniors who have confirmed they will not return for 2022, including
Logan Carter,
Kaylen Glenfield,
Sydney Stefanick and
Mackenzie Swinehart. That ceremony will take place at approximately 11:50 a.m. on Sunday.
| Scouting the Broncos
Western Michigan (11-29, 7-19 MAC) is paced by the senior duo of
Mackenzie Swinehart and
Sydney Stefanick at the plate. Swinehart is batting .389 on the year with seven homers, both tops on the team. Stefanick is batting .344 with a team-best 23 RBI. The Broncos use a rotation of four pitchers, led
Reily Galloway who has four victories on the year behind a 4.64 ERA, both tops on the team. The Broncos played a pair of midweek doubleheaders this week, getting swept at Bowling Green on Tuesday before losing both games to Toledo on Wednesday.
| Scouting the Cardinals
Ball State (28-17, 22-7) visits Kalamazoo coming off a double-header split with Northern Illinois on Wednesday. The Cardinals are one of three teams in contention for the MAC title, which will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Ball State is currently in second place (.759), trailing leader Miami (.929) and just ahead of third-place Kent State (.621). Faith Hensley leads the Cardinals at the plate with a .402 average and a team-best 38 RBI. Deborah Jones and Tieghan Morio pace the pitching staff. Jones is 10-6 with a 4.17 ERA, while Morio is 9-4 on the year with a 4.17 ERA.
| On Deck
The Broncos continue their sprint to the finish with eight games in the final week of the season. WMU hosts Toledo on Tuesday, May 11, and Bowling Green on Wednesday, May 12, before visiting Kent State for a four-game series to conclude the year Friday-Sunday, May 14-16.
