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Bay City, Mich. -- The Saginaw Valley State University softball team claimed the Midwest Regional #2 Championship with a 1-0 victory over GLIAC rival Ferris State University. The Cardinals are now set to host the Midwest Super Regional, which begins Friday, May 15 at 4:00pm. SVSU will face the University of Indianapolis in the best-of-three series. The Greyhounds advanced to the Super Regional after defeating Wayne State University in the Midwest Regional #1 finals, 6-4.
Midwest Super Regional
Hosted by Saginaw Valley State University
University Center, Mich.
Saginaw Valley State vs. Indianapolis
Friday, May 15
Game 1 2:00PM
Saturday, May 16
Game 2 Noon
Game 3* 2:30PM
* - If Necessary
Midwest Regional Results
Sunday, May 10
Midwest Regional #1
Indianapolis 6, Wayne State 4
Midwest Regional #2
Ferris State 5, Lewis 2
Ferris State 5, Northern Kentucky 1
Saginaw Valley State 1, Ferris State 0
Saturday, May 9
Midwest Regional #1
Wayne State 6, Ashland 2
Wayne State 1, Missouri-St. Louis 0
Midwest Regional #2
Saginaw Valley State 5, Northern Kentucky 2
Friday, May 8
Midwest Regional #1
Indianapolis 1, Wayne State 0
Missouri-St. Louis 1, Ashland 0
Midwest Regional #2
Northern Kentucky 3, Ferris State 0
Saginaw Valley State 2, Lewis 1
-- GLIAC Softball Weekly Notes --
Ashland - The Eagles saw their season come to a close last week as they went 0-2 at one of two NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournaments. For the second time in school history, AU hosted the event. Ashland lost its first game to UMSL, 1-0 and then fell, 6-2 to Wayne State. The Eagles were no hit in the first game and didn't score a run for the first 13 innings of postseason action...freshman pitcher Emlyn Knerem (Brunswick) ends the year with 254 strikeouts. That's the fifth highest single-season total in school history...this was AU's first postseason berth since 2003. The Eagles' all-time record in the postseason is 11-14...senior Shannon Gray (Nova, OH/Crestview) finished the year with a career-high 11 home runs. Her 13 career homers put sixth on AU's all-time list....AU's season fielding percentage of .973 is a school record. The previous high was set by the 2002 team (.969).
Ferris State - Ferris State's 35 victories (35-10 overall record) this campaign tied for the fourth highest season wins total in school history and matched last season's victory total (35-18 overall). The Bulldogs have won at least 30 games in a single season nine times in the program's 37-year history, which includes the last three seasons (2007-09) to date...With its 2-2 record at last weekend's (May 8-10) NCAA Division II sub-Midwest Regional Tournament, the Bulldogs presently have registered a 17-9 overall (.654 winning pct.) all-time mark in their seven NCAA-II regional tournament appearances ...Sophomore outfielder Rachel Wade recorded a career-best .304 batting average (45-148) in 45 contests this season, which was 78 points higher than her .226 average (21-93) in 42 outings a season ago...The Bulldogs' five-member pitching staff compiled a 1.45 earned run average this season with 64 earned runs allowed in 308.2 innings. Ferris State's team ERA in 2009 was the second best average in the last nine seasons (2001-09), trailing only the 1.44 earned run average set by the 2007 team (67 earned runs in 324.2 innings) which compiled a 31-17 overall record.
Saginaw Valley State- SVSU advanced to the NCAA Midwest Super Regional this past weekend after going 3-0 in the sub regional. The Cardinals defeated Lewis University on Friday (5/8) in their first game, 2-1 in nine innings. Nikki Bigelow dropped down a suicide bunt that allowed Kim Sills to slide across the plate for the win. In the winners bracket game, SVSU matched up with Northern Kentucky, a game the Cardinal won 2-1 in 13 innings to earn a spot in the championship game. The Cardinals faced GLIAC softball rival Ferris State in the championship game, and would come out on top, 1-0 after Nikki Bigelow broke up a Ferris State no-hitter with a homerun off the scoreboard in left center. Saginaw Valley will now host the University of Indianapolis in the Midwest Super Regional May 15-16. SVSU improved its record to 34-3 when scoring two or more runs in a game. The Cardinal pitching staff has held opponents to a .202 batting average, while striking out 313 batters. The Cardinals boast the GLIAC's second best team ERA of 1.36 and have combined for 18 shutouts on the season. The winner of this weekend's NCAA Super Regional will represent the Midwest Region at the NCAA Finals in Salem, Va. on May 21-25.
Wayne State - Wayne State lost in the championship game of Midwest Regional #1 to Indianapolis, 6-4. Despite the setback, the Warriors recorded the third-most wins in school history (40) and had four individual players etch their name into the GLIAC record book. Freshman designate player Alison Allen finished with 11 home runs which is tied-for-9th in GLIAC history. Freshman first baseman Becca Ryan recorded 390 fielding putouts the sixth best mark in conference history. Junior shortstop Jaci Banton was credited with 140 fielding assists, the 10th-place total in league history. Junior pitcher Casey Hanes put her name in the record book in four places - 2nd in innings pitched (274.0), tied-for-second in wins (30), sixth in strikeouts (283) and tied-for-seventh in saves (7). Five Warriors saw their final collegiate action in the NCAA Regionals - second baseman Lisa Seymour, center fielder Sarah Teller, right fielder Amanda Van't Wout, and utility players Laura Maiorana and Lauren Warkentien. WSU will return 11 letterwinners in 2010 for head coach Gary Bryce's 29th season at the helm. Plus Brittany Omelanchuk will be a redshirt freshman after being injured in the seventh game of 2009.