From GVSU Sports Information
ALLENDALE - The No. 7 Grand Valley State softball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Midwest Super Regional Tournament next weekend with their 8-1 victory over Southern Indiana in the Midwest Region 1 championship game on Saturday afternoon (May 11). The win pushes the Lakers to a 47-8 record on the season while the Screaming Eagles close their 2019 campaign with a final 35-21 mark.
With the Lakers holding the #1 seed in the region, they will now host the Super Regional Tournament where they will face the winner of Illinois-Springfield and Indianapolis, who are playing for the NCAA DII Midwest Region 2 Tournament Title this afternoon. This will be the first time since the 2016 season the Lakers will be playing in a super-regional. In their last trip, they beat Wayne State 5-4 and 1-0 for the regional crown.
Senior Allison Lipovsky got the nod in the championship game and delivered another gem as she improves to 29-2 on the year after tossing a complete game and allowing just a single run. She allowed eight hits while striking out 11 Eagles compared to just two walks in her 119-pitch effort. The Laker defense was also solid behind her as they failed to commit a single error all game.
The Laker offense managed to churn out eight runs on 11 hits as four Lakers tallied multi-hit games. Sophomore Bailey Thatcher led the charge in the box, going 2-4 with a team-high three RBI's while fellow sophomores Nikoma Holmen and Brooke Henning, and freshman Lydia Goble all added two hits as well.
The Laker offense managed to churn out eight runs on 11 hits as four Lakers tallied multi-hit games. Sophomore Bailey Thatcher led the charge in the box, going 2-4 with a team-high three RBI's while fellow sophomores Nikoma Holmen and Brooke Henning, and freshman Lydia Goble all added two hits as well.
After losing a coin toss, the Lakers would play as the away team on their home field and take the first at-bats. After a couple of strikeouts, Goble nearly got the Lakers on the board in the top of the first after crushing a ball into left center that bounced off of the top of the fence and back onto the field. Despite getting the wrong hop, she managed to stretch it to a triple for the first hit of the game but was stranded at third a batter later.
Lipovsky allowed just three hits in the first three innings as she found a groove early and helped the Lakers to a 1-0 lead after they got the scoring started in the top of the third with a Taylor Rieger RBI single to left to score Kaylie Rhynard from second.
Holmen then doubled the lead with her 11th bomb of the season as the Lakers went up 2-0. The Screaming Eagles would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth however as the Laker lead was cut back down to one, 2-1.
Lipovsky found herself in a jam in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded and just one out recorded. A clutch strikeout and an amazing over-the-shoulder sliding catch from Flaherty in shallow left field would put an end to the threat and set the Lakers up for a four run sixth inning.
With two outs, Kelcie LaTour drove a double into left center before Thatcher singled home pinch-runner Rachel Terwilliger one batter later. Henning then singled back up the middle to score Thatcher before she scored herself on a wild pitch. Flaherty then delivered an RBI double off the left field fence to score Kayla Plastiak and give the Lakers the 6-1 lead.
GVSU would add two more in the top of the seventh inning thanks to a two-RBI single from Thatcher for the 8-1 lead.
Lipovsky tallied her 10th and 11th K's of the day before a final fly out to Thatcher in left field secured the win for the Lakers.
