Box Score - Game One (W, 4-2)
Box Score - Game Two (W, 4-3, 8 innings)
Ceremony for Coach Woods' 800th Win
Allendale, Mich. - #17 Grand Valley State swept its first GLIAC doubleheader since Mar. 31 on Friday afternoon (Apr. 13) in Allendale, taking care of visiting Ohio Dominican in a pair of well-played games, 4-2 and 4-3. With the win in game one, the Lakers earned head coach Doug Woods the 800th victory of his illustrious career. GVSU went on to notch the sweep with an extra-inning win in the nightcap.
A meeting of two of the top teams in the GLIAC turned out to be an exciting doubleheader. Grand Valley State scored a pair of runs in both the second and third innings and received a strong performance from senior Andrea Nicholson to win the opening game. The Lakers needed extra frames - and a pinch-hit, two-out RBI double from junior Maggie Kopas - to secure the win in game two.
With the victories, GVSU is 33-9 overall and 16-6 in conference play. Ohio Dominican slips to 18-22 overall, but the Panthers are 12-8 in GLIAC games. Entering Friday's games, the Lakers were in a first-place tie in the league standings with Ashland, while Ohio Dominican was next in line in third place in the conference.
The game one victory was quite a milestone win for Woods. The 22-year veteran head coach of Grand Valley State, Woods is now 801-368-3 over his career. He is just the 16th coach in Division II history to reach the 800-win plateau and now ranks as the eighth winningest coach in Division II.
ODU got to Nicholson in the top of the second inning to put the Panthers ahead 1-0 in game one. It was an RBI single from Rebekha Lucas that gave ODU its only lead of the opener. Grand Valley State would answer back in the bottom of the inning and regain the advantage.
The Lakers' first run came on a Panther fielding error, as sophomore Miranda Cleary hit a groundball that ODU's shortstop mishandled. Junior Kayleigh Bertram scored on the play, after she reached third base on a one-out double from sophomore Tonya Calkins. After Calkins moved to third base on the error, Woods substituted senior Becky Gill as a pinchrunner. Gill was able to score on the next play, as classmate Carli Raisutis reached on a fielder's choice. GVSU led 2-1 after two innings of play.
In the bottom of the third, junior Nellie Kosola led off with an infield single and was pushed to second base on a walk to sophomore Briauna Taylor. Kosola scored easily on an RBI double to right field for junior Katie Martin, putting Lakers on second and third base with no outs. Up next was junior Emily Jones, who hit a groundball to Ohio Dominican's shortstop. Taylor was running on contact, so when the Panther shortstop tried to get her out at home plate, Taylor was sliding in safely for a 4-1 Laker lead.
Nicholson took over from there, allowing just one baserunner in the fourth and fifth innings - and that came on a Laker error. ODU did put a run across the plate in the sixth inning, but Nicholson worked her way out of a jam (runners on first and second with two outs) by inducing a groundball for the final out.
After ODU put a runner on base in the top of the seventh, still trailing 4-2, Nicholson recorded the final two outs on fly balls to left fielder Maggie Kerrigan. Nicholson moved to 14-7 with the victory, allowing two runs on seven hits in a complete game performance. She walked one batter and notched two strikeouts.
There was a short ceremony after the game at home plate for Woods in honor of his 800th career victory. Click the link at the top of this page to see highlights of the ceremony.
GVSU, with six hits in the game, had six different Lakers record base hits. Martin and Calkins each tallied a double, while the three RBI went to Martin, Jones, and Raisutis.
Game two was scoreless until the third inning. Taylor led off the inning and was hit by a pitch in her back. Just a few pitches later, Martin crushed a two-run homer to left center field to put the Lakers ahead 2-0. The laser beam off the bat of Martin was a frozen rope over the fence, giving her five home runs on the year and the 34th blast of her career.
Jones then reached on a fielding error and Bertram singled to push Jones to third base. Calkins came through with a sharp single down the right field line, scoring Jones for a 3-0 GVSU advantage.
Ohio Dominican answered in the bottom half of the frame, as Brooke McCartney hit her first home run of the season - a two-run dinger to left center field off of junior pitcher Hannah Santora. McCartney and Lucas (who reached on a one-out single) were the first two Panthers to reach on a base hit in the game.
Santora and ODU's pitcher Kendall Lust both cruised through the next few innings, until the Panthers pushed across the game-tying run in the sixth inning. A leadoff single by McCartney was followed by a bunt single from Alex Cribari. They were moved to second and third base on a sacrifice bunt. Up came Ohio Dominican's clean-up hitter, Kylee Crislip, who was tied with Cleary and Taylor for the most homers (nine) in the GLIAC.
Crislip surprised everybody by putting down a suicide squeeze bunt - and a good one, at that - to score McCartney and tie the game at 3-3. The Lakers threw Crislip out at first for the second out, but Cribari was still at third base. Santora notched a clutch groundout to keep the game tied at 3-3.
The Lakers got a runner on second base in the seventh inning, but could do no further damage in their at-bat. ODU was able to put runners on first and second base with only one out, but Santora again dug down and recorded a swinging strikeout and a groundout to end the threat.
In the eighth inning, Bertram hit a sharp single to center field and Gill came in to pinch run. Calkins' sacrifice bunt was perfect, moving Gill to second base. Cleary smoked an absolute rocket down the third base line that ODU's Taylor Thomas somehow snagged for the second out. Woods then brought in Kopas as a pinch hitter and on one of the first pitches she saw, Kopas lined a double to right center field, easily scoring Gill for a 4-3 lead.
Ohio Dominican moved Crislip (who led off with a hit by pitch) over to third base with two outs after a sacrifice bunt and a groundball, but Santora fielded a comebacker and fired to first base for the final out of the game.
Moving to 16-2 on the season, Santora allowed just three runs and five hits in a career-high tying eight innings of work. She walked one batter and struck out three Panthers.
Martin was 2-for-3 with the home run and two RBI, while Bertram went 2-for-4. Jones and Kopas each tallied doubles for the Lakers, who earned their first doubleheader sweep in the month of April.
The schedule lines up on Saturday (Apr. 14) for the top two teams in the GLIAC to meet. GVSU will host Ashland at 1:00 p.m. in Allendale. In the first regional rankings, released on Wednesday, Ashland was ranked second in the Midwest Region, while the Lakers were the third seed. The top two teams in the region at the end of the season have the option of hosting the four-team sub-regional portion of the NCAA Tournament.
