Bulldog Softball Suffer 4-0 Loss At Northwood

The Northwood Timberwolves jumped on the Ferris State University softball team early with three runs in the first two innings while holding the Bulldogs to five hits en route to a 4-0 victory in Tuesday's (April 27) game one of a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) doubleheader at NU's Fisher Stadium in Midland, Mich.

The loss drops the Bulldogs to 23-16 on the year and 14-9 in the GLIAC.  Ferris State will close out its regular-season slate this Saturday (May 1) with a pair of league matchups versus the Grand Valley State Lakers in Allendale, Mich.  Game times are 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. (EDT), respectively.

Freshman pitcher Dana Bowler (Lockport, Ill.) started for Ferris State and threw the first five-plus innings before yielding to senior Rhea Flores (Dearborn Heights/Southgate Anderson) after facing one Northwood batter in the sixth.  Bowler (7-10) gave up five hits, four runs (two earned), three walks, and struck out seven while Flores fanned one batter in pitching a hitless sixth inning.

Northwood's Jessica Wojcik (9-6) held the Bulldog offense in check the entire contest, allowing five hits while issuing two walks and tallying five strikeouts in the shutout decision.

The Timberwolves pushed a run across in the bottom of the first inning on a RBI sacrifice foul fly off the bat of Marissa Borkowski.  A sacrifice bunt by Jessica Wojcik in the second gave Northwood a 2-0 lead which the Timberwolves promptly stretched to a three-run advantage with Jamie Swick's two-out RBI single.  The contest's final run came in the fourth inning when Rachel Hammer hammered a two-base hit into left centerfield to put the hosts up 4-0.

Ferris State had a couple of scoring opportunities in the first, second, and fourth innings as the Bulldogs stranded two runners on base in the three frames.  However, FSU's best chance occurred in the top of the sixth inning as the Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs.  But, NU pitcher Jessica Wojcik was able to record the third out by fielding a groundout by senior second baseman Amanda Harrington (St. Joseph/Stevensville-Lakeshore) to neutralize the potential scoring threat and end the stanza.

Rachel Mueller's (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) two hits were tops for the Bulldogs, who left nine runners on base for the contest.