MIDLAND, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team continued to move towards their second consecutive GLIAC Tournament Championship today (May 1), with a 9-5 victory over No. 6 Ferris State. Saginaw Valley entered the 2009 tournament as the second seed, while Ferris State was seeded third.

Ferris jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning chasing starting pitcher Stacy Kraatz (Howell, Mich./Hartland HS) just two thirds of an inning into the contest. Kari Bowlby (Elkhart, Ind./Central HS) would come on to pitch the final 6.1 innings to pick up her 12th win of the season. She would scatter five hits, while allowing just two runs in the effort.

The Cardinal would answer with a run in the bottom of the first when Angela Kaiser (Waterford, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes HS) scored on a Nicole Fick (Columbiaville, Mich./Lapeer West HS) single up the middle to cut the Bulldog lead to 3-1.

Ferris State would increase its lead to 4-1, but the Cardinals would answer right back in the bottom of the inning with a run when Fick lined a single through the left side that scored Billi Hoeppner (Hemlock, Mich.) to cut the Bulldog advantage to 4-2. The Cardinals looked to add more, but left the bases loaded.

In the top of the fourth inning the Bulldogs added another run to push their lead to three runs. The Cardinal offense responded in the bottom of the inning when Jessica Anhel (Oxford, Mich.) line a single up the middle to score Kaiser. Fick would follow that up with a two-run homer to knot the score at 5-5.

Vanessa Briggs (Freeland, Mich.) lined a one out single in the top of the fifth to get the Cardinals offense rolling again. Kaiser would then blast a homerun down the right field line to give SVSU the 7-5 advantage. 2009 GLIAC Player of the Year Marsha Beaubien (Alpena, Mich.) would reach on an infield single and then advance to second on a Kraatz single through the right side. Beaubien would then score on Fick single up the middle and Kraatz would come into score on a Jordan single down the right field line to put the Cardinal up by the final of 9-5.

The Cardinals move to 33-9 overall on the season and will play top seeded Ashland at noon on Saturday (May 2).