Big Rapids, Mich. - For the second-straight day, the Ferris State University softball team swept a pair of games on Saturday (March 5) in Florida as the Bulldogs topped Lake Superior State and Shippensburg (Pa.) in non-league action at The Spring Games in Clermont.
Ferris State beat fellow Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) foe Lake Superior State 6-4 in the opening game of the non-league double dip and then came back to notch a 11-6 triumph over Shippensburg in the nightcap.
With the two wins, the Bulldogs are now an impressive 10-2 overall to date this campaign.
In game one against LSSU, Ferris State plated a run in the first inning and three more to build a 4-0 edge. After the Lakers cut the margin two a single run with three of their own in the bottom half of the inning, the Bulldogs added another run in the third and one in the fifth. LSSU could muster only one more run in the fifth as FSU held on for the victory.
Ferris State outhit the Lakers 12-8 in the game with senior Alyssa Smith, Michelle Tononi, Bailey Darwin and Emily Smith all recording two hits each. Alyssa Smith also scored two runs while Alexx Astorga drove in a pair of runs for the Bulldogs.
Offensively, Alexis Hongisto and Sam Bates both doubled for Ferris State and Alyssa Smith tripled in the win. Bates and Tononi added RBI's of their own.
Along with her performance at the plate, Bates pitched the first four innings of the game and struck out two while walking two. She allowed three runs on five hits. Megan Hiler threw two innings in relief with a single run allowed on two hits with a strikeout. Finally, senior Stacy Thompson hurled a final scoreless inning with only a single hit allowed.
Ferris State then topped Shippensburg in game two as the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead with four runs in the bottom of the second inning. FSU also scored twice in the fourth and five times in the fifth while holding off the visitors, who totaled two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth.
FSU again outhit the opposition by a 12-9 count and also benefited from four Shippensburg errors in the field.
Thompson started the nightcap and threw four and one-third innings with five runs and eight hits allowed. She walked two and struck out one. Megan Jean toss two and two-thirds innings of action with a single run and hit allowed to go with one K.
Alyssa Smith drove in four RBI's for the Bulldogs in game two and scored twice with a hit while Stephanie Neuman had a team-high three hits. Both Darwin and Sarah Johnson notched two hits apiece. Hongisto tripled and Neuman doubled in the victory.
Ferris State, which has won five-straight games and nine of its last 10 overall, will be back in action with yet another doubleheader on Sunday (March 6). FSU faces West Chester (Pa.) starting at 5 p.m. (ET) and then battles Shippensburg again in second game at 7 p.m. (ET) in Clermont.
