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| Emily Tucker |
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Ferris State beat the Lady Miners at their own game Friday afternoon, knocking out a big inning early in the contest to beat UMR 12-4 in six innings in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Romeoville, Ill.
The loss pushes UMR (29-17) into an elimination game Saturday morning, where it will take on Grand Valley State at 11:30 a.m. A victory will keep UMR alive for a 4:30 p.m. game against either Gannon or Wayne State (Mich.), while a loss would end the season.
The Bulldogs answered UMR’s three first inning runs with eight runs on eight hits, which included a pair of three-run homers.
UMR, who brought the top offensive team from the Great Lakes Valley Conference into the regional, got a jump on the Bulldogs, taking advantage of three errors in the top of the first to score the three runs
After Kandi Wieberg drew a leadoff walk, Ferris State pitcher Holly Bruntjens threw the ball away on a sacrifice bunt by Ashley Winter to put runners on second and third. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Kelsey Musselman allowed Wieberg to score the first run of the game.
With one out, Emily Tucker singled to the opposite field to bring in Winter and an error on right fielder Ashley Nieman allowed Tucker to reach second. The third error of the inning, this one on McKenzie West, allowed the third run to score.
But in the bottom half of the first, the Bulldogs jumped on starter Ashley Wallingford as they batted around and knocked her out of the game before the first inning ended.
Four consecutive one-out singles led to the first two runs, then Laura Crower belted a three-run homer over the left field fence to give Ferris State a 5-3 lead. Wallingford retired the next hitter, but Bruntjens doubled on a ball that Winter couldn’t come up with at the fence and Ashley Nieman followed with a hit to end the Lady Miner starter’s day.
Jen O’Hara took over in the circle, but was greeted by a three-run homer off the bat of Sarah Mueller to complete the first inning scoring.
After Ferris State added a run in the second, the Lady Miners got back on the scoreboard in the third when Winter singled and Musselman doubled into the gap. However, the rally ended right there as the next three hitters were retired in order.
The Bulldogs put two more runs on the board in the fifth and ended the game an inning later when Amanda Jager homered the lead off the sixth.
UMR was held to six hits by Bruntjens, with two of them coming from Winter. Ferris State finished with 13 hits in the contest.
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