Ferris State Softball Wraps Up Weekend Action With Pair Of Tough Outings At Hillsdale

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University softball team dropped a pair of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) road decisions against the Hillsdale Chargers as FSU wrapped up a league weekend road trip on Sunday (April 2) in Hillsdale.

The Bulldogs and the Chargers battled thru six and a half scoreless innings in the opening game before the Chargers pulled out a 1-0 win by scoring the lone run in the bottom of the seventh.

Hillsdale then picked up right where it left off in game two as HC jumped out to an early edge and held on for a 10-2 triumph in six innings.

In the opener, the Chargers' Haley Lawrence drove in the lone run with an RBI single as Hillsdale prevailed. The Chargers received a strong pitching performance from Dana Weidinger, who held the Bulldogs scoreless on two hits with five strikeouts and two walks in seven innings of work.

FSU's Sam Bates also pitched well in the opener as she gave up only five hits and the game's only run with a strikeout and two walks in going the distance. The Bulldogs' two hits came off the sticks of Emily Reed and Emily Smith while Lexi Hongisto drew two walks.

In the final game of the day, Hillsdale scored three runs in the first and four more in the second to take a 7-0 lead. Both teams notched a pair of runs in the fourth with Hillsdale scoring once in the sixth and holding FSU to finish the game in six innings. The Chargers pounded out 15 hits to four for FSU.

Weidinger again earned the win for Hillsdale with only two runs allowed on four hits in six innings of work. She struck out three and walked three to improve to 12-10 overall this year.

Abby Highway got the start for Ferris State and allowed six runs on five hits with a strikeout in one and two-thirds of an inning. Senior Megan Hiler tossed four and one-third innings with four runs given up on 10 hits. She walked one.

Hongisto homered for the Bulldogs while senior third baseman Bailey Darwin doubled and had an RBI. Bates also doubled in the decision.

The two games wrapped up a league-opening eight game road swing for the Bulldogs in GLIAC play.

Ferris State is slated to play its home opener on Saturday, April 8, against the Tiffin Dragons at the FSU Softball Field. Game one gets underway at 1 p.m. (ET) with second game at approximately 3 p.m. (ET). FSU then hosts Findlay on Sunday, April 9, to complete the four-game weekend homestand in Big Rapids.