Grand Valley State split a pair of regional games on Tuesday (Mar. 7) in Clermont, Fla., as the #7 Lakers tallied a 13-5 mercy rule victory over Quincy in the opener before dropping a 2-0 decision to Missouri-St. Louis in a pitcher's duel. GVSU blasted three home runs and totaled 15 hits in the morning victory over Quincy, while outhitting UMSL 6-4 in the afternoon contest.
 
The split contests put Grand Valley State at 4-6 overall, with Wednesday (Mar. 8) being the team's lone off day during the weeklong trip to Florida. GVSU will return to action on Thursday (Mar. 9) against Rockhurst (1:00 p.m.) and Winona State (3:30 p.m.) before playing two more doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday.
 
Game One - vs. Quincy (W, 13-5)
 
A wild first inning highlighted this game, with the teams combining for eight runs in their first at-bats. Junior Teagan Shomin led off the game with a solo home run to right field, her first of the season. Two batters later, senior Jenna Lenza was issued a walk. Classmate Ellie Balbach followed Lenza with a two-run blast of her own to center field, upping the Laker lead to 3-0. It was the second roundtripper of the season for Balbach.
 
The lead did not last long, as Quincy (1-2) plated five runs on four hits in the bottom of the first, with two GVSU errors helping the Hawks' offense. The big blow was a three-run homer from Abby Burton, which put Quincy in front 5-3.
 
Grand Valley State immediately got a run back in the second inning after freshman Kayla Plastiak doubled to center field to lead off the frame. After Shomin drew a one-out walk, Lenza ripped a double to left center to score Plastiak and cut the deficit to 5-4.
 
Junior Allie Grys relieved junior starter Courtney Reinhold in the circle during the first inning and stranded two QU runners in the bottom of the second.
 
Trailing 5-4 in the third, the Laker offense exploded for seven runs on just four base hits. A two-run double from junior catcher Jessica Ramos put GVSU in front, 6-5. The Lakers scored again on a wild pitch and on an infield single from Shomin, which brought in Plastiak for an 8-5 advantage.
 
Lenza followed with a single up the middle to score junior Tanner Kiessel, who reached earlier in the inning on an error. With two outs and leading 9-5, sophomore Shannon Flaherty delivered a two-run opposite field single, bringing in both Shomin and Lenza to cap the seven-run stanza and put GVSU in front, 11-5.
 
Grys kept Quincy off the board in the third - she allowed just a two-out single - and worked around a one-out double in the fourth to keep the lead at six runs. In the top of the fifth, Lenza led off the frame with a solo blast to left field, her first big fly of the season.
 
In the home half of the fifth, Grys induced a flyout to escape a bases loaded jam and keep the score at 12-5. Lenza then drove in Shomin - who smacked a one-out double - to extend the cushion to 13-5 in the top of the sixth.
 
Grys went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth to cap off the victory. The transfer improved to 2-1 on the year, as she allowed only four hits and three walks in 5.2 innings of relief. Grys notched seven strikeouts in the win.
 
The Lakers outhit Quincy by a 15-8 count, with seven of those hits going for extra bases. Lenza went 4-for-4 with a double, a homer, three runs scored, and four RBI. Shomin was 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, while collecting a pair of RBI and scoring three times. Flaherty tallied a 2-for-4 line with two RBI.
 
Balbach and Ramos also drove in two runs and Plastiak crossed home plate twice.
 
Game Two - vs. Missouri-St. Louis (L, 2-0)
 
The afternoon contest featured a pitching duel between sophomores Allison Lipovsky and UMSL's Carly Kingery. Lipovsky and Kingery allowed only 10 hits in 14 innings in the circle and recorded 18 strikeouts between the counterparts.
 
Missouri-St. Louis (15-6) plated the first run on a second inning leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI double to right field. Lipovsky ended the inning with back-to-back swinging strikeouts, then notched two more swinging strikeouts to begin the third inning.
 
Plastiak's one-out single in the first inning and Balbach's two-out double in the fourth were all the Lakers could muster off Kingery as the teams headed to the fifth frame. UMSL upped the lead to 2-0 after a pair of singles, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI groundout.
 
The Lakers collected one-out singles in both the fifth (freshman Kelcie LaTour) and sixth (Shomin) innings, but left both runners stranded.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh, Balbach led off with a walk and Flaherty singled up the middle to put a pair of runners on base with no outs. However, UMSL turned a Laker sacrifice bunt attempt into a double play, which was even tougher when LaTour followed with a single to right field that pushed pinch runner Jenna Czart to third base. With runners on the corners and two outs, Kingery induced a comebacker groundball for the final out of the game.
 
Lipovsky (1-1) took the loss, despite allowing just two earned runs on four hits in the complete game effort. She walked three and recorded 10 strikeouts. Kingery (8-3) gave up six hits and a walk, while striking out eight in the victory.
 
LaTour went 2-for-3 and was the only player in the game with more than one hit. Balbach and UMSL's Sara Kern each had a double, which were the lone extra base hits in the contest.