SOFTBALL OPENS GLIAC TOURNEY ACTION THIS FRIDAY

No. 2 Seed Ferris State Takes On Mercyhurst In Its Conference Tourney Opener

Sophomore pitcher Holly Bruntjens and Ferris State will begin 2007 GLIAC Softball Tournament action this Friday morning in Midland, Mich.

The number two-seed Ferris State University softball team will open 2007 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament action this Friday (May 4) against the seventh-seed Mercyhurst Lakers in Midland, Mich.

The double-elimination GLIAC Softball Tournament will be held this weekend (May 4-6) at Currie Stadium and an adjacent field in the Emerson Park Complex.

The Bulldogs, who are presently 28-13 overall and 14-6 in the GLIAC this season, will take on Mercyhurst (22-21 overall; 11-9 GLIAC) in a 10 a.m. (EDT) contest at Currie Stadium. An opening-round win for Ferris State would advance the Bulldogs to a 4 p.m. (EDT) Friday tilt versus the winner of Gannon-Ashland game. The second-round outing will be held at field three which is directly adjacent to Currie Stadium. Gannon (33-13 overall; 13-7 GLIAC) is the No. 3 seed while Ashland (29-18 overall; 11-9 GLIAC) is seeded sixth. If FSU drops its tourney opener, the Bulldogs will face the loser of the Gannon-Ashland contest in a 2 p.m. (EDT) matchup this Friday at Currie Stadium.

Wayne State (36-13 overall; 15-5 GLIAC), which captured this season's regular-season conference title, has earned the No. 1 seed and will take on No. 8 seeded Saginaw Valley State (23-18 overall; 9-11 GLIAC) in a 12 p.m. (EDT) first-round matchup. The 2007 GLIAC Tournament championship game will take place this Sunday (May 6) at 10 a.m. (EDT) and if necessary due to double elimination, will be held at 12 p.m. (EDT) to determine the tourney champion. The overall GLIAC Champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament (May 10-14) at a campus site yet to be determined.

Last season (May 5-6), the Bulldogs were the tourney's seventh seed and were eliminated as a result of suffering back-to-back losses to Northwood (1-0) and Hillsdale (5-4). Ferris concluded the 2006 campaign at 26-26 overall and 10-10 in the conference. The Bulldogs won the 2005 GLIAC Tournament and were co-overall conference champions. FSU went on to make its fourth NCAA Division II Regional Tournament appearance in the program's history and finished the season at 31-20 overall.

FSU is seeking its third GLIAC Tournament Championship title. The Bulldogs won the conference tourney in 2000 and again in 2005 with four straight tournament victories.

Ferris State, under 10th-year head coach Keri Becker, has won 16 of its last 20 games this spring to date. The Bulldogs are listed fifth in the latest (April 25) NCAA-II Great Lakes Region rankings as released by the NCAA-II Softball Committee.

The 2007 season represents the third consecutive year in which only the top eight of the GLIAC's 11 teams will qualify for the GLIAC Softball Tournament. The criteria is based upon each team's regular-season conference record. The 1985 season marked the conference's first-ever post-season softball tournament.

All of the 2007 GLIAC Softball Tournament games will feature live scoring through GameTracker by College Sports Television (CSTV). The live in-game statistics can be accessed at this link: http://gvsulakers.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/07-gliac-tourney.html.