March 19, 2011
Box Score vs. Malone
Box Score vs. Notre Dame (Ohio)
Urbana, Ohio - Grand Valley State opened up day one at the Blue Knight Invitational in Urbana, Ohio on Saturday (Mar. 19) and the Lakers continued their strong play as of late with a pair of victories. GVSU moved to 12-3 on the season and pushed its winning streak to seven consecutive games by defeating Malone, 7-5, before blanking Notre Dame College (Ohio) by a 10-0 final score.
In the opener against Malone, the Lakers found themselves down 5-0 after four innings of play, but GVSU rallied to tie the score with a five-run fifth inning. Sophomore Jackie Teutsch started the rally with a single and moved to second when classmate Kayleigh Bertram was walked. Teutsch then scored the Lakers' first run on an RBI double off the bat of sophomore Katie Martin, as Bertram moved to third. Right fielder Emily Jones drove in Bertram with a sacrifice fly, making the score 5-2.
Freshman first baseman Tonya Calkins delivered an RBI single, scoring Martin to make it a 5-3 game, and Calkins was driven home on a two-run blast from freshman Miranda Cleary. It was the third homer of the season for Cleary, as she smashed two long drives on Thursday against Olivet. The Cleary roundtripper knotted the score at 5-5 and the Lakers would take the lead two innings later.
In the top of the seventh, Calkins reached on a single and was replaced on the bases by Brittany Taylor. Junior catcher Carli Raisutis moved Taylor to second on a single of her own. Next up was Taylor's twin sister, Briauna Taylor, who put together a great at-bat and singled up the middle, scoring sister Brittany from second base for the 6-5 lead. Center fielder Nellie Kosola provided the final run of the game with an RBI single that scored Raisutis for the 7-5 tally.
Martin earned the victory in the circle for the Lakers, moving to 3-1 on the year. She pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief and did not give up a run. At the plate, Martin was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Calkins went 2-for-3 with a run batted in.
After totaling the final seven runs of the opener, GVSU made sure it did not have to come from behind in the nightcap against Notre Dame College. The Lakers scored three runs in the first inning of game two, then put up six runs in the second. One more run in the fourth inning was all Grand Valley State would need, totaling a 10-0 mercy-rule victory.
Most of the scoring in game two was pushed across the plate by Martin and Cleary. Martin went 2-for-3 with a two-run double and added a three-run homer for a game-high five RBI. That was her ninth homer of the season, matching her total from all of last year and tying her for the fourth-most homers in a single-season in program history. Martin also moves into fourth place all-time in GVSU history with 18 career homers and is just one dinger shy of former Laker Kristin Moleski (19; 2005-08). Cleary homered again in game two and added two singles for a 3-for-3 performance with four runs batted in. That is the fourth straight game that Cleary has went deep and the second doubleheader in a row in which she homered twice. Calkins also went 1-for-2 for a double.
Junior righty Andrea Nicholson pitched the opening three innings and picked up the victory, giving up just three base hits. She is now 5-1 on the season. Freshman Kayla Hurd pitched the final two frames and did not give up a run. The Lakers ended the game nicely by turning a 6-4-3 double play from Briauna Taylor at shortstop to second baseman Maggie Kopas over to Becky Gill at first base.
GVSU returns to action on Sunday with a pair of contests. The Lakers face host school Urbana at 10:00 a.m., then square off again with Notre Dame at noon.
