Grand Valley State posted a pair of completely different victories on Tuesday (Mar. 8) at the NTC Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. The Lakers earned a 3-2, 10-inning, in-region, walk-off victory over Southern Indiana before coming back to pound out 13 hits in a 9-1 win over Saint Rose to cap off the day.
 
It is the second sweep in three days for GVSU on its Spring Break trip, as the Lakers improve to 5-1 in Florida and 9-1 overall in 2016. Grand Valley State will enjoy an off day on Wednesday before coming back on Thursday morning (Mar. 10) to face Trevecca Nazarene and Saint Joseph's (Ind), two more Midwest Region foes.
 
Speaking of in-region opponents, the Lakers and Southern Indiana squared off in the 2015 Midwest Region Tournament in St. Louis, Mo., with USI scoring two late runs in a 4-2 victory. The teams played another terrific battle on Tuesday in Florida, capped off by a 10th inning walk-off RBI single from junior catcher Marianne Deppe.
 
Senior Chelsea Horvath reached second base on an error to lead off the Laker home half of the third inning. She moved to third base on a Deppe groundout and sophomore Teagan Shomin ripped a single through the left side of the infield to bring in Horvath for the game's first run.
 
Southern Indiana (11-6) used a pair of fifth inning doubles to knot the score at 1-1 and pieced together a run on three hits in the sixth inning to take a 2-1 lead. The USI advantage nearly was 3-1, but GVSU left fielder Kelsey Dominguez caught a fly ball and threw out the potential scoring runner at home plate for the inning-ending double play.
 
The Lakers carried that momentum into their half of the sixth frame. Sophomore Kaylie Rhynard reached second base on an error to start the inning, moved to third base on a single from junior Ellie Balbach, and came home to tie the game on a run-scoring single from senior McKenze Supernaw. The game would stay tied at 2-2 and head into extra innings.
 
Utilizing the international tiebreaker rule, surprisingly neither team could score in the eighth or ninth innings. GVSU senior righty Sara Andrasik worked out of trouble in both innings, stranding the automatic runner in each frame. She used consecutive groundouts to escape the eighth inning and a pair of popups to get out of a jam with runners on second and third in the ninth.
 
After Grand Valley State also failed to capitalize, Andrasik was lifted after nine strong innings for freshman righty Allison Lipovsky. In the 10th inning, Lipovsky never allowed the runner to move off of second base, getting a pair of foulouts and a swinging strikeout to bring GVSU back to the plate.
 
Freshman Shannon Flaherty was placed at second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Horvath. On the very first pitch she saw in the at-bat, Deppe singled back up the middle to bring Flaherty in for the walk-off winner. On May 1, 2015, Deppe also recorded a walk-off RBI single (also in extra innings and also on the first pitch of the at-bat) to defeat Tiffin in the GLIAC Tournament, 4-3.
 
Andrasik pitched extremely well against the Screaming Eagles, allowing just two runs on eight hits in nine innings in the circle. She walked three batters and struck out two. Lipovsky's hitless inning of relief earned her the victory, moving the rookie to 4-0 on the season. She has yet to allow a run in her Laker career.
 
Deppe was the only GVSU player with multiple hits, as she went 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI. Southern Indiana outhit the Lakers, 8-6, as all six of GVSU's hits were singles.
 
The offense came alive against Saint Rose (2-5), as Grand Valley State notched 13 base hits and used a six-run third inning to blow the game open. Rhynard worked a seven-pitch walk to start the game and two batters later, Supernaw delivered her first home run of the season, a two-run blast to left center field to give GVSU a 2-0 cushion.
 
Saint Rose cut the deficit in half with a run in the second inning before the Lakers answered with six runs on six hits in the third frame. A bases loaded walk to sophomore AJ Castle and a Rachel Terwilliger RBI groundout upped the lead to 4-1. Horvath smoked a two-run double to left center to push the GVSU advantage to 6-1 before Rhynard and Dominguez followed with RBI singles to close the six-run inning.
 
Laker sophomore righthander Courtney Reinhold had little trouble from that point. She retired six straight batters in the third and fourth inning, then worked through the fifth on a lineout double play and a looking strikeout. Another GVSU double play ended the sixth inning and she worked around a leadoff single in the seventh to record the final three outs.
 
Reinhold moves to 2-0 on the season with her one-run, five-hit complete game effort. She struck out two batters and has not issued a walk in 15.2 innings this season.
 
Balbach went 3-for-5 in the game, driving in the final run with a sixth inning single. She also notched a double, one of three for the Lakers. Dominguez was 2-for-5 and scored twice, while Terwilliger doubled and was 2-for-4. Horvath and Supernaw each drove in a pair of runs.