Ferris State Wins One Of Two In Thursday Action In Florida

Ferris State Wins One Of Two In Thursday Action In Florida

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University softball team split two more games on Thursday (March 14) at the Florida Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee as the Bulldogs improved to 7-3 overall this campaign.

FSU dropped a 6-3 decision to Southwest Minnesota State in the opener, but came back to top Illinois-Springfield by a 5-2 score in a lengthy second game on Thursday night.

Southwest Minnesota State struck for five runs in the first two innings of the opening contest before the Bulldogs managed to trim the margin to 5-3 after four innings of play.  However, SMSU added an insurance run in the sixth to seal the victory.

The Bulldog combination of junior Amy Dunleavy and senior Emily Carlson combined for six strikeouts and gave up 13 hits in the setback.  The Mustangs scored five runs on six hits off Dunleavy before Carlson came on in relief and allowed only a single run on seven hits.

Offensively, Ferris State's six hits all came from different batters.  Senior Lindsey Pettit and Rachel Gabrielson both doubled for the Bulldogs while senior Liz Hamming belted a home run and had a team-best two RBI's in the loss at Oren Brown Park.

In game two, Ferris State jumped ahead by a 4-1 count en route to the victory over Illinois-Springfield, which is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) in the Midwest Region.  The contest took nearly three hours to complete due to an injury involving a UIS player.

Senior Dana Bowler picked up the win in the circle as she allowed only two run on seven hits.  She had nine strikeouts and a single walk in the complete game performance.

Ferris State tallied 10 hits to seven for the Prairie Stars, who also finished with three errors in the game.  Dunleavy and Alex Wittman both homered for the Bulldogs while Morgan Kramerich tripled.  Alyssa Smith had a team-high four hits in the game and Taylor Verbic drew three walks for FSU while adding a pair of hits.

Ferris State wraps up its seven-day trip to the Florida Rebel Spring Games with a pair of contests on Friday (March 14) in Kissimmee.  FSU faces Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) foe Tiffin in a non-league tilt to start the afternoon at 3 p.m. (ET) followed by a second matchup versus Southwest Minnesota State to wrap up the event at 5 p.m. (ET).

After the trip to Florida, the Bulldogs return home and will have a week off before opening GLIAC play on the road at Ashland and Malone with doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, March 23-24, respectively.