Ferris Begins Florida Trip Today With Two Games

The Ferris State University softball team resumes its season today in Florida with a pair of games to open competition in the Rebel Spring Games in Kissimmee, Fla.

The trip to Florida generally is a tough one for the Bulldogs. Perhaps, however, the season-opening trip to Alabama has eased the transition for the Bulldogs into competition they will face during the next week-plus in the Sunshine State.

Here is the schedule for the Bulldogs of head coach Keri Becker today in the Rebel Spring Games. First up, Ferris faces an old rival in former Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference member Gannon University before taking on North Dakota-based Mary in an early-afternoon contest in central Florida led by standouts such as shortstop Lynsay Weaver (pictured).

3/6/10

Softball

Ferris State
Gannon (Pa.)

11:00 AM

@ Kissimmee, Fla.
Florida Rebel Spring Tournament

3/6/10
Softball

Mary (N.D.)
Ferris State

1:00 PM

@ Kissimmee, Fla.
Florida Rebel Spring Tournament

These should be interesting games to see if the Bulldogs can get off to a nice start in Florida and return to Michigan with a record well above 500.

The Bulldogs (2-4 this season so far) will play 14 games in seven days (with a day off for relaxation).

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One Of The Friendly Faces To Great At The Rebel Spring Games

This is such sad news.

She was always such a friendly face when we came into the gates of the Osceola County Softball Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. for the Rebel Spring Games:

This is from the Rebel Spring Games Web site:

Norma Metrolis, 84, passed away Tuesday, February 2,2010 at her home in Melbourne, Fl. Born in Kittery Maine, Norma moved to Florida in 1939. She will be dearly missed by her many friends. Norma is survived by her brother, George Metrolis of Collingsville, MS and her sister Phyliss Pettyjohn of Stillwater, OK.

Norma worked for the US Department of Agriculture for thirty years. She played proffessional baseball at the catcher position for five years and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. After retiring, she became an avid golfer and is credited with six holes in one.

For the past several years Norma worked at the gate at the Rebel Spring Games and often was called upon to talk to teams of her days in the All American Girls Baseball League (a league of their own).

Players, coaches fans, and umpires wishing to contribute to the Norma Metrolis Memorial Fund may do so at the games. A donation box will be available at the gate. All contributions will go towards the promotion of women's softball.

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SPRING 2008 BLOG 5: Another Important Day Begins With A Fresh Start For The Bulldogs

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Facing Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, the defending NCAA Division II national softball champion is tough enough, but facing the Cougars on a three-game losing streak is even tougher.

Still, that was precisely the position the Bulldogs found themselves in as they took the field at Fortune Road Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. as part of their schedule at the Rebel Spring Games. That was just to start a pivotal day of softball, however, as the Bulldogs then had to face the challenge of Southern Indiana. Then, on top of all that, Ferris came face to face with the realization SIUE and USI are regional opponents in games that could – ironically enough as it is still March – loom large at the end of the season when regional bids are awarded in May.

The challenge for the Bulldogs was to rediscover a higher energy level, remember that softball is fun, and clean up those little mistakes that appear large in the middle of a big game. It was evident – fairly early in the morning game against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville – the Bulldogs were closer to playing their brand of softball – well ahead of their performances the day before in a tripleheader that featured a heartbreaking loss to American International followed by decisive losses to C.W. Post and regional rival Indianapolis.

Thursday, the Bulldogs also had to face SIUE’s top pitcher Kaitlin Colosimo – a thrower they and a lot of other opponents have had a tough time with over the years. Colosimo pitched eight innings, allowed 10 hits, four runs (one earned run), walked one and struck out six. She had a solid effort as she did her best to bend – with those 10 hits and four runs allowed – without totally breaking. Colosimo was mostly matched, however, by Ferris’ Sarah Mueller, a junior pitcher, who allowed eight hits and four runs (only one earned) in eight innings with six strikeouts.

Ferris trailed 3-1 entering the seventh inning when a 2-run single by Amanda Jager knotted the score at 3-3 on the scoreboard and ultimately forced extra innings. It was one of those clutch hits the Bulldogs have desperately sought in key situations during several games so far this spring.

In the eighth, with International Tiebreaker rules in effect, SIUE picked up one run on an RBI triple to left field and another on a sacrifice fly to right to grab a 5-3 lead.

Junior Holly Bruntjens singled in a run for the Bulldogs, but that was all the offense Ferris could muster – in the eighth – as SIUE shut the door and held on for the 1-run win.

In the day’s second contest, those key hits finally came around as the Bulldogs grabbed a rare early lead going up 3-0 on Southern Indiana – right off the bat – in the first inning. Third-year catcher Krystle Bailey singled and doubled, senior third baseman Katie Kraai drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and then one more on a single. Junior first baseman Amanda Jager was credited with an RBI on a single.

The loss to USI could be a confidence builder for Ferris as the Bulldogs proved to themselves that they could come through in big games.

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SPRING 2008 BLOG 1: Almost ready to start

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – An acute case of cabin fever can wreak havoc on northern college softball teams – trapped indoors – in their best possible effort to gear up for a sport traditionally is played outdoors.

Just ask Ferris State University’s softball team.

The Bulldogs, with their bags packed for the annual trip to central Florida, for a week’s worth of action on the diamond, could hardly wait to kick up real dirt, play on real grass and savor a legitimate feel for what it’s like catching a softball – on the infield or in the outfield. After taking in a spring training game between the Detroit Tigers and the Atlanta Braves, at Champions Stadium which is a part of the Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World, the Bulldogs hustled back home to gear up for a late-afternoon practice session to replace the earlier one that was postponed due to wet field conditions.

“The girls were definitely excited to be out there on the field and practicing with the dirt and the grass after being indoors for so long,” said long-time Ferris assistant softball coach Chad Haberland, who like the players was excited to finally get on a real softball field. “It was definitely nice to get outside because, like some of the girls said … they didn’t realize or had forgotten how large the outfield is after being inside so much in the (Ewigleben) Sports Complex.”

This season, though it hardly feels like spring in Big Rapids as snow falls with nightmarish frequency in bone-chilling mid-Michigan temperatures, in many ways could be a pivotal one for Ferris – coming off a 31-17 record last season that included a trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament. That squad, one that put a good little scare in eventual NCAA Division II national champion and perennial powerhouse Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, set the table for this year’s squad to take the baton and move beyond.

With nearly everyone returning from head coach Keri Becker’s 2007 squad (the biggest loss being power-hitting veteran first baseman Laura Crower), expectations already were running high and those expectations increased courtesy of a top-25 national ranking (in the 2008 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Preseason Top 25 Poll). But, now is a time for the Bulldogs to quickly become comfortable with the weight of expectations as their status as a “hunter” has been rewritten as the “hunted” – the product of past successes and future expectations.

The cupboard, as proven by being ranked No. 25 in the national preseason poll, is hardly bare as Sarah Mueller, who was an All-American utility player last season, returns hopeful she can duplicate herself and take it beyond to her pitching this spring. Even beyond Mueller, the Bulldogs have a strong cast of returners that include senior third baseman Katie Kraai, junior shortstop McKenzie West and junior catcher Krystle Bailey.

“(Friday), for the first time in a long time, I felt like we got a lot accomplished with that first outdoor practice of the spring,” said Haberland, who along with head coach Keri Becker, put the team through a tough practice into the darkness and just prior to the arrival of more rain and thunderstorms in central Florida at a local high school’s softball complex. “We really did get a lot accomplished to get ready for our first games of the season.”

The Bulldogs open the 2008 season with games at the Rebel Spring Games against St. Joseph’s and Northern Kentucky – a pair of regional opponents.

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