Bulldogs Showing How Much They Want Success At Nationals

HOUSTON – Who knows how long Ferris State University’s remarkable streak will continue in the NCAA Division II Softball Championships?

Currently, the streak is five games and 43 innings; and, most incredible of all, it has come in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship Tournament.

Wednesday, in its first competition at the NCAA Division II Softball National Championships since 1999, the Bulldogs kept their streak of shutouts alive. Since a disappointing 3-2 loss to Wayne State, in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, Ferris has regained its focus. In the Great Lakes Regional Championship, in Edwardsville, Ill., the Bulldogs recorded a shutout of Saginaw Valley State, 1-0; another of Lewis, 1-0 in 15 innings; Wayne State, 4-0; and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, 1-0, in the title-clinching victory. Then, on Wednesday at Memorial Park in Houston on day one of the national tournament, Ferris earned a 2-0 win over Francis Marion to keep that streak alive.

“I think we’ve just wanted it and I think that has been the big key to our success (since the GLIAC Tournament),” said Ferris junior pitcher Sarah Mueller, who picked up the win against Francis Marion and also had a couple of hits with a run scored as the Bulldogs improved to 35-16. “I think we’re all focused again and we all just want to win so bad right now so we can keep this season going.”

There also is another motivation for Mueller and so many of the other Bulldogs.

“We want to keep our season going for as long as possible … we just don’t want it to end,” said Mueller, who leads the Bulldogs into today’s (Thursday) second-round NCAA Division II National Softball Tournament against No. 22 St. Edward’s, a first-round winner over Barry. “We don’t want Katie (Kraai, the Bulldogs’ lone senior) to play in her last game. … We want her to play for as long as possible.”