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 Lindsey Perry had two hits including a home run against GVSU. |
May 5, 2007
Midland, Mich. - Despite letting two early leads slip away in an 11-4 loss to Grand Valley (32-15) in the loser's bracket final of the 2007 GLIAC tournament, the Wayne State University softball team (39-15) earned the league's automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.
WSU won the GLIAC regular-season title plus finished third in tournament for four points (like golf the lower the score the better). Ferris State, the runner-up in the regular season, finished tied-for-fifth in the tournament, and has 7.5 points. Gannon will finish either first or second in the league tournament and was third in the regular season. If the Lady Knights win the tournament they will be co-GLIAC champions with the Warriors but WSU won twice at Gannon during the regular season. If fourth place Grand Valley wins the GLIAC tournament, Wayne State will be the outright GLIAC champions.
WSU started the contest against Grand Valley, its third in a row, with a three-run first inning. Lindsey Perry (Taylor, Mich./Kennedy) had a leadoff single and Sarah Kish (St. Catharines, Ont.) was hit by a pitch. After a fly out, Meredith Boxberger (Plymouth, Mich.) had an infield single to load the bases. Robyn Haig's (Waterloo, Ont.) then laced the next pitch into right center scoring the first two runs of the game. After another hit by pitch, Stephanie LeClair's (Kitchener, Ont.) groundout scored Boxberger.
The Lakers tied the contest with three runs in the top of the second but only one was earned. Wayne State regained the lead in the bottom of the inning as Perry smacked the first pitch of the frame over the center field fence for her team-leading eighth four-bagger of the season.
In the top half of the next inning, Crista Buresh hit a two-run home run giving GVSU its first lead of the game at 5-4. The Lakers scored twice in the fifth and four times in the sixth to complete the scoring.
Perry led the Warrior offense with a two-for-four performance as WSU was outhit 12-5.
Sarah Ytsma (Chatham, Ont.) went the first two innings and recorded the final six outs. Nicole Abel (Kitchener, Ont.) worked 2.2 innings and Lauren Warkentien (East China, Mich./Marine City) tosses 1/3 of an inning.
The NCAA will announce the seedings on Monday, May 7th for the Great Lakes Regional being held at Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. The three automatic bids will be Wayne State (GLIAC), Shepherd (WVIAC) and either Lewis or SIU-Edwardsville (GLVC), who are meeting in Sunday's GLVC tournament championship. Five at-large teams will be selected with the GLIAC expected to earn at least four spots.
