the word has 3 uses: a circle, a ball, sphere or orb, or a balled-up heap or pile.
Isaiah wrote over a hundred years before Ezekiel, and properly used the word in the sense of a sports ball.
He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord's house.
(Isaiah 22:18)
in the NIV the same word is translated "pile"
take the pick of the flock. Pile wood beneath it for the bones; bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.
(Ezekiel 24:5)
the idea being 'ball up a bunch of wood' beneath the bones.
just because the scripture doesn't have much occasion to talk about playing ball doesn't mean the word didn't exist in the vocabulary.