Ferris State Suffers Heart-Breaking Loss In 11-Inning Thriller At GLIAC Tournament

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University softball team suffered a heart-breaking 1-0 loss to the Wayne State Warriors in an 11-inning thriller on Saturday (May 5) in the quarterfinal-round of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament at the Marathon Diamonds Complex in Findlay, Ohio. 

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs and second-seeded Warriors battled thru more than 10 scoreless innings before the Warriors finally won the game on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th to end FSU's season. Weather had previously forced a change in format for the conference tourney with the event changed from a double-elimination to a single-elimination event. 

The showdown was a pitcher's duel as the Bulldogs' Sam Bates tossed all 10 plus innings for FSU and gave up only a single run on nine hits. She had one strikeout and two walks in the loss. 

Meanwhile, Wayne State standout Lyndsay Butler hurled all 11 innings for the Warriors and tossed a shutout with only four hits allowed in improving to 22-8 overall this season. She had five strikeouts and walked none.

The Warriors' lone run came on the walk-off homer from shortstop Hannah McClounie in the 11th. She led all batters with three hits in the contest with catcher Brooke Turkalj adding two hits for WSU. Megan Guitar also doubled for Wayne State.

Ferris State's hits came off the bats of four different hitters with second baseman Logan Fleming, catcher Emily Reed, third baseman Lexi Hongisto and designated player Bailey Darwin all notching a single hit.

Overall, Wayne State had nine hits for four for the Bulldogs, but WSU also totaled three errors in the field compared to two for Ferris State in the contest at Anderson Field. 

The Bulldogs, who were making their second-straight GLIAC Tournament appearance, concluded the season with an 18-23 overall record and posted an 11-11 mark in league regular-season action this year.