May 14, 2011

Box Score

Updated Regional Tournament Bracket

Midwest Regional Tournament Central

Allendale, Mich. - After falling behind 3-0 to #22 Lewis in the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament on Saturday afternoon (May 14), Grand Valley State came back to score eight unanswered runs and defeat the Flyers, 8-3. A three-run homer from sophomore second baseman Kayleigh Bertram put the Lakers ahead 4-3 in the fourth inning and GVSU added four more runs the next two frames. With the victory, Grand Valley State will play for the Midwest Regional 1 Championship at noon on Saturday against Lewis, which came out of the loser's bracket on Saturday night.

The rematch on Sunday (May 15) between GVSU (40-14) and Lewis (36-13) will determine who faces the winner of the Midwest Regional 2 Tournament, being hosted at Saginaw Valley State this weekend. Either Grand Valley State or Lewis will face the winner of the SVSU regional in a Super Regional best-of-three series next weekend at a site to be determined. Sunday's championship game is scheduled for 12:00 p.m., but if Lewis wins the first game in this double elimination tournament, the teams will play again at roughly 2:30 p.m. in a winner-takes-all final game.

In the first meeting between Grand Valley State and Lewis, the Flyers jumped ahead 3-0 in the top of the third inning against GVSU righthander Andrea Nicholson. The junior, who pitched a seven-inning, zero-run gem on Friday against Quincy, struggled with the Flyers a bit in the third. Lewis had a runner at second with two outs, but Alyssa Moseley singled to left field for the game's first run, driving in Traci Freitag, who started the inning with a bunt single.

Lewis added two more runs later in the frame on a two-run single to right center from Mary Giancarlo to up its lead to 3-0. After another Flyer base hit, Nicholson was pulled in favor of sophomore Hannah Santora, who ended the frame by striking out Lauren Hanford swinging.

GVSU was able to get a run back in the bottom half of the inning, but it could have been much worse for the Flyers. Bertram started things with a double to left center and sophomore Nellie Kosola recorded an infield single to shortstop. After a walk to Brittany Taylor loaded the bases with nobody out and the Lakers' 2-3-4 hitters coming up, things were looking good for the home team. However, Grand Valley State netted just one run on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Katie Martin, as Lewis' Diana Pickrum worked her way out of trouble by getting three straight outs in the air.

Defensively in the fourth inning, Santora got out of a mini-jam (a Flyer on second with one out) as Michelle Vucsko lined out to shortstop Briauna Taylor, who then flipped the ball to Bertram (covering second base) for the inning-ending double play.

That play appeared to give the Lakers some momentum and it showed in their next at-bat. Junior catcher Carli Raisutis lined a double to left center field to lead off the inning. GLIAC Freshman of the Year Miranda Cleary then singled to third base to put a pair of runners on. After a fly out, Bertram came up and deposited her seventh home run of the year over the fence in left center field for a three-run blast that put the Lakers up, 4-3.

Santora cruised through the fifth inning with just a harmless one-out walk and GVSU added two more runs in the bottom of the frame. Martin started things with a double to right center and pinchrunner Becky Gill moved to third base on a single to left from Emily Jones, who then advanced to second on the throw. Raisutis came up and sharply singled to left center, scoring Gill and moving Jones to third base. The lead grew to 6-3 when Jones scored on a wild pitch.

The Lakers added the final two runs of the game in the sixth. Martin singled back up the middle and moved to third on a two-out single to right field from Raisutis. Cleary then walked to load the bases and junior Maggie Kerrigan came to the plate. Entered as a defensive replacement in the top of the inning, Kerrigan smacked a line drive two-run single to right center field, giving GVSU some insurance runs and an 8-3 advantage.

Lewis went down in order in the top of the seventh, as Santora finished off a strong relief effort. The righthander came out of the bullpen to toss 4.1 innings of two-hit ball, not allowing a run. Santora moved to 11-3 on the season, as she walked three batters and struck out two Flyers. Pickrum took the loss for Lewis, giving up eight earned runs on 13 hits in six innings in the circle. She is 18-5 on the season.

Five different Lakers had two or more hits, led by a 3-for-3 performance for Raisutis, who scored twice and drove in a run. The #8 and #9 hitters in the GVSU lineup on Saturday, Bertram and Kosola, combined to go 4-for-5. Bertram was 2-for-3 with a double, the three-run homer, two runs scored, and three RBI, while Kosola was 2-for-2 with a walk. Martin went 2-for-3 with a double, a run, and a ribbie, while Jones added a 2-for-4 effort and scored once. Kerrigan added two RBI with her sixth inning single.