FERRIS STATE SOFTBALL EARNS NCAA TOURNAMENT BERTH
 | Senior first baseman Laura Crower and the Ferris State Bulldogs will be making their second NCAA Division II post-season appearance in the last three years. |
The Ferris State University softball team will be making its fifth NCAA Division II Regional appearance as the Bulldogs have been selected to compete in the 2007 NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Softball Tournament (May 10-14) at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. The announcement was made late Sunday (May 6) evening by the NCAA-II Softball Committee.
The Bulldogs, who are presently 29-15 overall this season, will be making their second NCAA Tourney trip in the last three years after earning an at-large berth. Ferris State competed in the 2005 NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional (May 12-15) at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Ky.
Ferris was among eight teams to qualify for this year's double-elimination Great Lakes Region Tournament, which will be conducted at the Lewis Softball Field. The Bulldogs are seeded sixth and will face the third-seed Gannon Lady Knights (37-13 overall) in Thursday's (May 10) opening round at 2 p.m. (CT). Gannon was the 2007 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament Champion. The winner will then take on the winner of game four, which pits second-seed and host Lewis (34-12 overall) against seventh-seed Missouri-Rolla (28-16 overall) in a 4:30 p.m. (CT) matchup. The winning teams in game three and four will square off in a winners' bracket contest to be held Friday (May 11) at 4:30 p.m. (CT).
The tournament's number one seed is Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (40-8 overall), which was both the Great Lakes Valley Conference's (GLVC) Regular-Season and Tournament Champions for the second consecutive year. The remainder of the 2007 NCAA-II Great Lakes Region Tourney field is comprised of fourth-seed Grand Valley State (32-16 overall), fifth-seed Wayne State (39-15 overall), and eight-seed Shepherd (25-17 overall). Wayne State claimed the 2007 GLIAC regular-season title while Shepherd won the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAA) championship crown. Four schools affiliated with the GLIAC garnered post-season regional tournament berths.
The eight teams winning their regional will advance to the 2007 NCAA-II Championship Tournament (May 17-21) at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio. Ashland University, also a GLIAC-member institution, will serve as the host for the 26th annual softball championship tournament.
Tickets for the 2007 NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional are $10 for adults and $5 for children/students/seniors. Children age two and younger will be admitted free of charge. There are no all-sessions passes.
The Bulldogs, under 10th-year head coach Keri Becker, will appearing in a NCAA-II Regional for the fifth time in the program's history.
Ferris State made its initial regional appearance in 1982 at the NCAA-II East Regional (May 14-15) in Stratford, Conn., and compiled a 2-2 mark. FSU then claimed its first NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional title in 1998 (May 8-9) at Ashland, Ohio, winning all three of its contests and eventually finishing third place at the NCAA-II National Championship Tournament (May 14-18) in Pensacola, Fla. Ferris then defended its Great Lakes Region crown in 1999 (May 14-15) at Allendale, Mich., by registering a 3-1 tourney mark and advanced for the second straight season to the NCAA-II National Championship Tournament (May 20-21) in Salem, Va., where the Bulldogs captured sixth-place honors.
In the 2005 NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional (May 12-13), Ferris State posted a 1-2 mark as the Bulldogs won 2-0 over Northwood (May 12) in their tourney opener before suffering a 9-1 loss to host Northern Kentucky (May 12). FSU was eliminated from the tournament after dropping an 8-5 decision to West Virginia Wesleyan (May 13).
2007 NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament Schedule
Thursday, May 10
Game 1 -- #4 Grand Valley State vs. #5 Wayne State, 9 a.m.
Game 2 -- #1 Southern Illinois-Edwardsville vs. #8 Shepherd (W.Va.), 11:30 p.m.
Game 3 -- #3 Gannon vs. #6 Ferris State, 2 p.m.
Game 4 -- #2 Lewis vs. #7 Missouri-Rolla, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, May 11
Game 5 -- Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 9 a.m.
Game 6 -- Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 11:30 a.m.
Game 7 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 8 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 12
Game 9 -- Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 9 a.m.
Game 10 -- Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 11:30 a.m.
Game 11 -- Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m.
Game 12 -- Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 13
Game 13 -- Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11, 12 p.m.
Game 14 -- Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 13, 2 p.m.
Monday, May 14
Game 15 -- Winner Game 14 vs. Loser Game 14, 12 a.m. (Necessary only if Game 13 Winner defeats Game 11 Winner in Game 14)
All start times are local and the higher seed is the designated home team
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