Game 3: Ferris eliminated in a 4-0 loss to Wayne

MIDLAND – Ferris, returning to the diamond early Saturday morning in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, needed a big bounce-back effort against a solid Wayne State squad.

The Bulldogs appeared to have a little fire in the beginning of the game and both teams were scoreless until the top of the fourth inning. Playing some small ball, Wayne pushed a run across for a 1-0 lead, added two runs in the top of the sixth and one more in the top of the seventh. Ferris managed just three hits (one each by Rachel Wade, Holly Bruntjens and Lynsay Weaver) against Wayne’s ace pitcher, lefty Casey Hanes, who showed why she was the 2009 GLIAC Pitcher of the Year.

With that, the Bulldogs were eliminated from the GLIAC Tournament with a record of 1-2 in Midland.

Ferris now is 33-8 on the season.

Analysis: Ferris had a lot of fire early in the game as both teams battled through three scoreless innings to start the action. The Bulldogs needed to grab the early lead to (1) not give Hanes the luxury of pitching with a lead and (2) to regain some confidence that might have been bruised in the previous day’s loss to Saginaw Valley. Hanes was superb in allowing only three hits and one walk in seven innings. She was not particularly overpowering (only two strikeouts), but the Bulldogs had a difficult time mustering many hard-hit balls against her.