Time to Get Some MACtion! 2024 MAC Softball Championship Begins Today
AKRON, Ohio-- The 2024 Mid-American Conference Softball Championship begins today, May 8, at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio. Over the next five days, the MAC’s top six teams will face off to determine the 2024 MAC Tournament Champion and the conference’s automatic qualifier in the 2024 NCAA Softball Championship.
The Mid-American Conference and City of Akron announced on Aug. 15, 2023 that the MAC Softball Championship will return to Firestone Stadium in 2024. The MAC Softball Championship and City of Akron have renewed a longtime partnership as the tournament was previously held at Firestone Stadium from 2002-05 and 2008-19.
The event will kick off on Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET with fourth-seeded Toledo and fifth-seeded Central Michigan followed by game two between third-seeded Western Michigan and sixth-seeded Ball State at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The opening day of the championship will end with the losers of game one and two at 5:30 p.m. ET.
All games throughout the week will be available live on ESPN+ with a paid subscription.
To follow along with the events throughout the week, check out our MAC Championship Central page HERE.
For an all session ticket the price for an adult is $63, while single all-session passes are $20. CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS.
Stories Courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Department
BALL STATE
The sixth-seeded Ball State softball team opens play in the 2024 MAC Softball Championship Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. when it battles No. 3 seed Western Michigan at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio. With a win, the Cardinals would advance to Thursday's 2:30 p.m. contest versus No. 2 Ohio. With a loss, the Cardinals would battle the loser of the No. 4 Toledo vs. No. 5 Central Michigan in the first elimination match up at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Ball State enters the MAC Championship with a 1173-1169-4 (.501) overall record dating back to 1975. The Cardinals have tallied 30-or-more wins in 16 seasons, most recently a 37-18 mark in 2021. Of the 16 seasons with 30-or-more wins, 11 have come in the past 16 years.
Ball State enters the 2024 MAC Softball Championship with a 27-29 all-time record in league tournament play. The Cardinals won the event in 1998, 2010, and 2015 with perfect 4-0 marks. Ball State was also the runner-up in the 2001 tournament with a 3-2 record. A complete MAC Softball Championship history can be found on page 3.
Led by first-year head coach Helen Peña, the Cardinals own a 25-27 overall record. Ball State maintains a .271 team batting average, led by redshirt junior utility player McKayla Timmons at .394. Timmons ranks third both in the MAC and nationally with 23 home runs, while ranking fourth in the league and 25th among all NCAA Division I players with 53 RBIs.
Graduate third baseman Haley Wynn is second on the squad with a .320 average while also ranking second in runs scored (37) and third in both home runs (7) and RBI (25). In the circle, the Cardinals own a 4.08 ERA led by senior Francys King who boasts a 13-12 record, a 3.46 ERA and 75 strikeouts over 145.2 innings of work. King played a crucial role in helping BSU secure a berth in the MAC Championship, earning the pitching victory in a pair of must-win games at Central Michigan last weekend, including throwing just the second recorded perfect game in program history in Saturday's 8-0 (5) victory. Sophomore Bridie Murphy, who earned the save in Sunday's win at CMU, has a .276 average against over 124.2 innings, to go along with a 9-10 record, two saves and 70 strikeouts.
CENTRAL MICHIGAN
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MIAMI
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OHIO
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TOLEDO
For the first time since 2019, the Toledo softball team will begin its run in the Mid-American Conference Softball Championship. No. 4 seed Toledo (24-21, 14-10 MAC) will face No. 5 seed Central Michigan (16-31, 13-12 MAC) in Game 1 of the double-elimination tournament at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio on Wednesday, May 8 at noon. All 10 games of the tournament will be streamed on ESPN+.
Toledo's last appearance in the MAC Championships was in 2019 when it won the program's first tournament title. The Rockets were the No. 7 seed and upset No. 1 seed Miami followed by a doubleheader sweep vs. No. 3 seed Ohio on the final day to claim the crown.
Toledo has three regular season titles (1985, '87, and '92) to go along with its one tournament title, and has a 9-9 all-time record at the MAC Tournament.
Erin Hunt (2019-23) was named Toledo's first and only MAC Tournament MVP in 2019. Rhonda King (1990) and Dayna Denner (2021) are Toledo's two MAC Player of the Year honorees. Varsity T Hall of Famer Cheryl Sprangel was named MAC Coach of the Year three times (1985, '89, '92) and Kristen Butler earned the honor in 2018.
WESTERN MICHIGAN
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