Bulldog Softball Opens Homestand With Sweep

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University softball team rolled past Lake Erie to open a six-game weekend homestand on Friday (April 13) as the Bulldogs swept the Storm in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) twinbill.

The Bulldogs registered a 4-1 victory in the opener at the FSU Softball Field before posting a decisive 10-0 triumph in five innings during game two.

In the first game, Ferris State struck for two runs in the initial inning.  Lake Erie trimmed the margin to only one run in the fourth, but the Bulldogs answered back with two more in the sixth to account for the final score.

Junior pitcher Dana Bowler improved her record to 9-8 overall this season by tossing all seven innings for the Bulldogs in the early contest.  She struck out nine Lake Erie batters and walked only one while giving up four hits and a single run.

The Bulldogs totaled six hits at the plate in the opener off Lake Erie pitcher Dawn Ondercin, who walked three and struck out one in six innings of work. 

FSU's six opening-game hits came from six different batters.  Lainee Clay notched her 11th double of the campaign and had an RBI to lead the Bulldogs at the plate.

The second game was all in favor of Ferris State.  The Bulldogs scored once in the first, three times in the second and once more in the third to build an early 5-0 edge.  FSU was then able to put the game away by scoring five more in the fifth and shutting down the Storm in the bottom of the inning.

The Bulldogs rolled up 13 hits in game two to only one for Lake Erie. Shortstop Michelle Tononi tallied three hits and had two RBI's for the Bulldogs offensively while both Amy Dunleavy and Liz Hamming tallied two hits each to go with three RBI's apiece.

Clay posted both a triple and a double in the nightcap with Hamming notching her sixth home run of the campaign and senior Makenzi Peterson recording her fifth double of the year.

In the circle, Dunleavy picked up the victory by hurling four scoreless innings and giving up only a single hit with seven strikeouts and no walks.  Emily Carlson pitched the final inning and struck out one.

With the sweep, the Bulldogs improved to 20-18 overall this season and 11-9 in the GLIAC.  FSU has currently won eight of its last nine outings to date this season.

Lake Erie fell to 5-32 overall and 2-18 in conference play with the back-to-back setbacks.

Ferris State continues its weekend league homestand against Ohio Dominican on Saturday (April 14) with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. (ET).  The Bulldogs then host Ashland in conference play for a two-game set on Sunday (April 15) beginning at 12 p.m. (ET).