March 20, 2005

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill.--Ferris State's hot bats overcame a 3-0 lead by the Lewis University softball team and led to the Bulldogs winning its fourth game in the Lewis Invitational.

Ferris State (7-7) went 4-0 at the Lewis Invitational to claim the tournament crown. The Flyers allowed four Ferris State home runs in an 8-6 extra inning affair.

Lewis (9-11) claimed an early lead scoring a single run in the second, third and fifth innings. Carla Musillo had an RBI single in the second; Kristy Vanek recorded an RBI double in the third; and Amy Yusko banged a double off the left field fence in the fifth to score Robin Martz.

Lewis starter Kasey DeLair worked 4 2/3 shutout innings before giving way to Ashley LeGrand. LeGrand recorded the final out in the fifth inning and recorded an out in the sixth before Ferris State awoke from its slumber.

The Bulldogs answered with three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game at 3-all. LeGrand surrendered a one-out solo home run to Lindsay Riskovitch to begin the FSU rally. A pinch-hit single by Kristin Hollister set the stage for pinch hitter Heather Newton. Newton launched a two-run home run that tied the game and ended LeGrand's day.

A one-out walk followed by an RBI double by Allison McKibbin in the seventh inning found Lewis trailing 4-3.

The Flyers responded with an unearned run in the bottom half of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

Neither team scored in the eighth, but Ferris State erupted for four runs in the top of the ninth inning. Emily McClean homered to give the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead, but the biggest blow was a three-run shot from Riskovitch that made the score 8-4.

Lewis managed to score a pair of runs in the bottom half of the ninth, but it wasn't enough as the team dropped its second game in as many days to Ferris State.

"The gopher ball killed us today," said Lewis head coach George DiMatteo. "Home runs have hurt us too many times this season. Our pitchers are making mistakes out over the plate that are getting hit hard. In 20 games, we've given up 10 more home runs than we did in 58 games last season. It's something we need to start eliminating."

Kristen Porzel (2-5) took the loss working three innings of relief. She allowed six hits and five earned runs.

Offensively, Martz went 3 for 5 and scored four runs. Yusko was 3 for 5 with three RBI and Vanek was 2 for 5 with two RBI.