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BAY CITY, Mich. -  The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) was represented by Saginaw Valley State University at the NCAA Division II Softball World Series at the Moyer Complex in Salem Va. The Cardinals went 2-2 in the double elimination tournament ending the season in the national semi-finals.

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Saginaw Valley State Cardinals

The 2011 Saginaw Valley State University softball team saw its season come to an end in the semi-finals of the NCAA Division II Championships in Salem, Va. this past weekend.  The Cardinals would fall to Minnesota State-Mankato in the opening round before winning both games on “Elimination Saturday” against C.W. Post and North Georgia, before falling to UC San Diego in the semi-finals.  The Tritons of UC San Diego would go on to defeat Alabama-Huntsville 10-3 in the National Championship game. Jade Fulton was once again spectacular in the circle for the Cardinals, racking-up 42 strikeouts in Saginaw Valley’s four games at the Championships, including 15 in a one-hitter against C.W. Post.  For the season she pitched 282 innings, picking up 31 wins to just 11 losses and five saves.  She recorded a GLIAC single-season record 426 strikeouts, which ranked her second in the nation overall, and had a 1.19 ERA.  She was named the 2011 GLIAC “Pitcher of the Year”, NFCA and Daktronics, Inc. First Team All Midwest Region and also garnered Honorable Mention All-America Daktronics, Inc. accolades.  Fulton finished her SVSU career with a 71 and 21 overall record with 19 saves, ranking her third all-time in wins and first all-time in saves.  Her 907 career strikeouts also ranks her first all-time in SVSU history, 391 K’s ahead of the next closet player. Offensively, the Cardinals had a solid season, hitting .300 as a team with 42 home runs and 75 stolen bases.  Freshman Marcy Medina led the Cardinals offensively with a .375 batting average in 60 games played.  Jill Peterson led the team with nine home runs and was tied with Medina for the RBI lead at 42.  After a slow start, Jessica McKeith finished strong, leading the Cardinals with 16 stolen bases on 16 attempts  Opponents hit just .228 against the Cardinals in 2011, and the team had an ERA of 1.73 and struck-out 543 batters on the season compared to just 74 walks. The Cardinals end their season with a 42-18 record overall and ranked 6th in the final NFCA Poll.