May 13, 2011

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

Updated Regional Tournament Bracket

Allendale, Mich. - In its first NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament game since 2007, Grand Valley State received a dominant pitching performance from junior righty Andrea Nicholson and timely runs from the Laker offense to earn a 4-0 victory over Quincy on Friday afternoon (May 13). A scoreless tie was broke open by a GVSU run in the fourth and the three ensuing runs in the fifth inning completely opened up the game. Grand Valley State will face Lewis on Saturday morning, as the Flyers upset top-seeded Tiffin in Friday's first game.

The Lakers, the #4 seed in the tournament, improve to 39-14 on the year, as the team's 39 victories are the eighth-most in a single season in team history. #5 Quincy falls to 33-17 with the loss. In game one on Friday, #8 Lewis used an RBI single in the seventh inning to upset #1 Tiffin, 1-0. Grand Valley State and Lewis will square off at 11:00 a.m. before Tiffin and Quincy meet in the 1:30 p.m. contest. Due to coin flips, GVSU and Tiffin will be the home teams in those respective games.

When the tournament pairings were released, the Grand Valley State-Quincy game was very intriguing. The Lakers entered this week with the highest batting average (.369) and slugging percentage (.586) in all of Division II, plus 72 home runs, which is the third-highest figure in the country. Quincy, however, was sending out senior ace Torie Bunzell to the circle. Bunzell entered the tournament with a 29-11 record, a 0.91 earned run average, and exactly 500 strikeouts this season. She is one of just two Division II pitchers to ever strike out 500 batters in a single season.

What it all meant was something had to give - it was the Lakers' powerful offense against one of the toughest pitchers to hit in all of Division II. While GVSU did not hit Bunzell all over the park, the Lakers put together four runs on five hits, which was more than enough since Nicholson shut down the Hawk offense. Bunzell did strike out eight batters, but she walked a pair of Lakers and hit three GVSU batters, while the QU defense committed a pair of errors.

The game was scoreless going into the fourth inning, when Grand Valley State got on the board on a bizarre play. Sophomore designated player Katie Martin started the bottom of the fourth with a one-out single through the left side of the infield. Head coach Doug Woods inserted pinch runner Maggie Kopas into the game to run for Martin.

Up next for the Lakers was right fielder Emily Jones, who put down a terrific sacrifice bunt. Quincy first baseman Lauren Francis charged the play, fielded the bunt, and turned to throw to first base. When she began to throw, she realized that second baseman Monica Gray was still several feet away from the bag and Francis tried to hold onto the ball despite being halfway through her throwing motion.

That resulted in Francis still throwing the ball, but instead of going to first base, the hesitation caused the ball to go directly into the ground and skip into right center field. Quincy right fielder Erin Gregory was properly backing up the play and was already in foul territory at the time of the throw, so the ball literally was in no man's land in right center field. Kopas rounded second and Woods waved her home when no Quincy fielder could get to the ball quickly. QU center fielder Cristina Hughes finally got to the ball and threw home, but Kopas beat the throw, scoring all the way from first, putting GVSU up 1-0.

Bunzell and the Hawks would get out of the inning, but the Lakers would add more runs in the fifth frame. Second baseman Kayleigh Bertram reached on a one-out walk and moved to second on a single to left center from left fielder Brittany Taylor. When sophomore Nellie Kosola dropped down a sacrifice bunt, the Quincy fielders tried to force Bertram out at third, but she beat the throw, which loaded the bases with one out.

The Lakers' second run was as unconventional as its first tally. Shortstop Briauna Taylor came up after Kosola's bunt and was hit by a Bunzell pitch in the left leg, forcing in a run for 2-0 lead and an RBI on a hit by pitch. GVSU's next two runs were very conventional, as Martin followed with a line drive single to left field with the bases still loaded. Brittany Taylor scored easily, but Kosola was thrown out at home on a terrific throw from QU left fielder Whitney Kroeger.

Jones followed Martin's run-scoring single with one of her own, blooping a single down the left field line, which scored Briauna Taylor for a 4-0 lead. The Lakers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Nicholson retired 11 of the last 12 batters, including going 1-2-3 in both the fifth and sixth innings and issuing a harmless two-out walk in the seventh.

Nicholson moves to 19-6 on the year by tossing the third seven-inning shutout of her Laker career and first since Mar. 13, 2010 in a 6-0 win over Franklin Pierce. She allowed just three hits and walked on batter, striking out five Hawks. Bunzell dropped to 29-12 for Quincy, as she gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits in six innings of work in the circle.

Martin was the lone player in the game with more than one hit, as she put together a 2-for-3 performance with an RBI. Jones, Brittany Taylor, and Carli Raisutis had the other three Laker hits, while both Taylor sisters, Kopas, and Bertram tallied the four runs.