Box Score vs. Northwood (W, 12-3, 5 innings)
Box Score vs. Ferris State (L, 2-0)
Findlay, Ohio -
Grand Valley State played a pair of GLIAC Tournament games on Saturday (Apr. 28) in Findlay, defeating Northwood and falling in a pitchers' duel to Ferris State. The #20 Lakers easily handled NU by a 12-3 final before Ferris State captured a 2-0 victory in an elimination game, ending GVSU's run in the conference tournament.
On Friday (Apr. 27), Grand Valley State played three games over the course of the opening day - defeating Northwood (5-1), dropping a 4-3 score to FSU, and toppling Tiffin (10-0, five innings). It set up a rematch between GVSU and Northwood in the opening game on Saturday, one in which the Lakers tallied a dozen runs on 13 hits in a mercy rule game that took four hours to play due to a lengthy rain delay. That victory brought Grand Valley State and FSU together for another rematch, as the Bulldogs scored single runs in the third and sixth innings to advance to the GLIAC Tournament championship on Sunday.
The Lakers came into the tournament as the #1 seed after winning the regular season conference title. GVSU went 3-2 over the weekend and now sports an overall record of 44-13. Northwood's season ends at 20-28, while Ferris State moves to 31-23 and plays Wayne State on Sunday, needing to beat the Warriors twice to win the conference tournament championship.
In GVSU's opening game on Saturday against Northwood, the Lakers tallied runs in all four of their at-bats, including scoring four times in the first inning. Sophomore shortstop Briauna Taylor reached on a one-out double down the left field line. She was brought around for the game's first run on an RBI single up the middle from junior Katie Martin. After sophomore Tonya Calkins and junior Kayleigh Bertram singled to load the bases, junior Emily Jones drove in a run with an RBI groundout, making the score 2-0. Consecutive Northwood errors brought in both Calkins and Bertram for a 4-0 cushion after just one inning.
The Timberwolves cut that deficit in half with an RBI double and a run driven in on a fielder's choice, making the score 4-2 before GVSU answered back with three more runs. Martin doubled down the left field line and two batters later, Bertram crushed a two-run homer to left center field for a 6-2 Laker lead. Jones then singled up the middle before sophomore Miranda Cleary hit a sharp grounder to shortstop. The ball took an incredible hop, bouncing over the Northwood shortstop's head and rolling all the way to the wall in left center field. Jones raced around from first base and easily scored on the RBI double from Cleary.
NU and Grand Valley State each traded runs in the third inning, as Taylor walked and later scored on a wild pitch. Junior Hannah Santora got the Lakers through the top of the fourth inning with the 8-3 advantage before a 2-hour, 30-minute rain delay postponed the game for an extended time.
When play resumed, GVSU added a run on an RBI single from senior catcher Carli Raisutis and put runners on second and third base for Kosola. She drove a liner to center field over the head of the Northwood outfielder for a two-run triple, easily scoring Raisutis and pinch runner Becky Gill. Kosola later scored on an RBI single from Taylor, upping the lead to 12-3.
Northwood loaded the bases in the top of the fifth inning, but Santora struck out the final hitter of the game, ending the contest due to mercy rule. The win pushed Santora to 23-3 on the season, as she allowed three earned runs on four hits in five innings in the circle.
Five Lakers - Kosola, Taylor, Martin, Bertram, and Cleary - all recorded two hits, while Taylor, Martin, Bertram, and Jones each scored two runs. Kosola and Bertram drove in a pair of runs, as GVSU recorded five extra-base hits. Taylor, Martin, and Cleary all doubled, Kosola smacked her seventh triple of the season, and Bertram notched her sixth roundtripper of the year.
Against Ferris State, Santora and the Bulldogs' Amy Dunleavy put together a nice pitchers' duel. Each team was hitless in the first inning, while both squads recorded their first base hit in the second stanza. It was not until the third inning that FSU got to Santora - on a bizarre scoring play.
Morgan Kramerich led off with a single up the middle and was on second base after Santora retired the next two hitters. The following hitter, Lainee Clay, hit a high flyball that appeared to be heading to GVSU left fielder Maggie Kerrigan. With high winds wreaking havoc on any ball in the air, the flyball started moving back toward the infield. Kerrigan, keeping a beat on the play, turned to a full sprint and tried to make a tough diving catch in the infield, as the ball fell to the infield dirt for an extremely odd RBI infield double. Santora retired the next batter to end the inning, but Ferris State had taken a 1-0 lead.
The Lakers left one runner on base in each of the four innings, but Santora began to cruise through the FSU lineup, retiring nine straight batters after the strange run-scoring double. In the bottom of the fifth, junior catcher Emily Holt led off with a sharp single to left field. Junior Jackie Teutsch pinch ran for Holt and moved all the way to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Kerrigan. A Ferris State throwing error on the bunt moved Kerrigan to second base, putting two runners in scoring position with no outs.
Dunleavy got the next two outs of the inning, as Teutsch and Kerrigan never moved from their respective bases. FSU head coach Dawn Thompson called for Dunleavy to intentionally walk Martin, loading the bases with two outs for Calkins. She hit a sharp grounder up the middle that looked as if it would get through the infield for a two-run single. However, FSU shortstop Michelle Tononi made a great diving play, flipping to Clay at second base for a force out, ending the inning and the Lakers' best scoring threat to that point of the game.
Ferris State added a run in the sixth inning when Lindsey Pettit walked with two outs and Stephanie Dusendang doubled to right center field, scoring pinch runner Ali Amodeo for a 2-0 lead. GVSU left another runner on base at the end of the sixth inning and although the Bulldogs tallied a leadoff double in the seventh, Taylor turned an unassisted double play on a line drive to shortstop.
Grand Valley State was able to again load the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Kosola walked with one out, Martin singled to left field with two outs, and Calkins followed on a hit by pitch. Dunleavy, however, ended the game by getting Bertram to fly out to right field, pushing the Bulldogs to Sunday's championship game.
Santora was the tough-luck loser despite pitching very well in her second outing of the day. She allowed two runs on five hits in seven innings, walking four and striking out three. The loss puts Santora's record at 23-4 on the year. Dunleavy (now 11-8) gave up five hits and three walks in seven innings for FSU.
No player in the game had more than one hit, as Martin, Calkins, Jones, Holt, and Kerrigan recorded the five Laker hits. GVSU did not tally an extra-base hit in the game and the Lakers left 11 runners on base.
GVSU must now await its NCAA Tournament fate. The Lakers were the #3 ranked team in last week's Midwest Regional rankings, while the top eight teams in the region advance to the NCAA Tournament. The official word will be announced on Monday morning (Apr. 30). Stay tuned to gvsulakers.com for more information.
