Box Score - Game One (L, 2-1)
Box Score - Game Two (W, 11-0)
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Allendale, Mich. - It was a complete tale of two games on Friday afternoon (Apr. 6) in Allendale as #14 Grand Valley State and visiting Saginaw Valley State split a GLIAC doubleheader. The Cardinals held off a late Laker rally to win game one by a 2-1 score before GVSU exploded for 11 runs on 15 hits in an 11-0 game two victory. The two teams will meet again on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 7) at the GVSU Softball Field.
Saginaw Valley State got a terrific pitching performance from junior Alexa Gehrls in game one, as she got out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh inning to earn a tight one-run victory. GVSU responded with six extra-base hits in game two, including three home runs, en route to a mercy rule victory. After Friday's games, Grand Valley State is 29-7 overall and 12-4 in GLIAC play, while SVSU is 14-14 on the year and 7-7 in the conference.
Things did not start out well for Grand Valley State in the top of the first inning of game one, as SVSU recorded three straight singles from Jordan Randall, Kailah Happ, and Natalie Wellman. The first run of the game was pushed across the plate when Wellman reached on an infield single and after the attempted out to first base, Randall rounded third and headed for home, beating the throw and putting the visitors up 1-0. Laker pitcher Andrea Nicholson was able to get out of the inning by retiring the next three batters and keeping it a one-run game.
GVSU was unable to get a base hit off of Gehrls until the bottom of the fourth inning, when junior Emily Jones hit a sharp single to left field. She was just the second Laker to reach base in the game, but did not move any further. Saginaw Valley State then used a double from Lindsay Hayward and an RBI single from Jenna Holmes to push out to a 2-0 advantage in the top of the fifth frame.
The Lakers put the first two runners of the bottom of the sixth inning on base, as sophomore Briauna Taylor beat out an infield single and junior Katie Martin walked. However, that duo never left first and second base, as Gehrls retired the next three Lakers in order.
In the bottom of the seventh, still trailing 2-0, GVSU made its final push. After Gehrls notched the first two outs of the inning, senior Maggie Kerrigan doubled to right center field. Junior Nellie Kosola reached on an error, prolonging the inning for Grand Valley State. Taylor then came up and singled to center field, driving in Kerrigan and moving Kosola to second. Kosola was able to steal third base to put runners on the corners for Martin. However, the Laker rally came up short, as Gehrls got Martin to strike out swinging to end the game.
Gehrls moves to 9-5 on the year by giving up just five hits. The one run was unearned. She walked two batters and struck out six. Despite giving up 10 hits, Nicholson pitched her way out of trouble and allowed only the two runs. She walked one batter and struck out one, while getting 10 outs in the air. She is 12-5 on the season.
Taylor was the lone Laker with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with the RBI single in the seventh. Both teams squandered missed opportunities, as SVSU left nine baserunners and Grand Valley State left eight runners on base.
Game two was a completely different story. The first batter of the game, Kosola, tripled to right center field for her fourth three-bagger of the season. She scored two batters later on Martin's RBI single, also to right center field. Two batters after Martin was junior Kayleigh Bertram. She deposited an offering from SVSU's Jillian Williamson over the fence in left field for a two-run homer, her third blast of the season. GVSU quickly led 3-0.
It was the same score in the top of the third when Williamson recorded the first two outs for the Cardinals. Martin then singled through the left side of the infield and Jones doubled to the wall in left center field, scoring Martin in the process for a 4-0 advantage. Moments later, Bertram doubled to left field, pushing Jones home. Following those two doubles was sophomore Miranda Cleary, who smashed a home run down the left field line for a 7-0 Laker lead. It was Cleary's team-leading seventh homer of the year. Not to be out done, sophomore Tonya Calkins followed Cleary's blast with a solo homer to center field. Calkins' second roundtripper of the season gave the Lakers their first back-to-back home runs of 2012.
Grand Valley State plated three more runs on five hits in the top of the fourth. Singles from Kosola and Martin put runners on first and second for Jones, who also singled to right field, driving in Kosola for a 9-0 cushion. Bertram came up with a single through the left side of the infield for a run-scoring base hit, as Martin plated the Lakers' 10th run. Later in the inning, junior catcher Emily Holt singled to left center and scored Jones for the game's final run.
In the meantime, junior Hannah Santora's tremendous performance in the circle was almost going unnoticed, as GVSU continued to pile up runs. Despite allowing four walks, Santora did not allow a hit in the first four innings. She then struck out pinch hitter Katie Smith to start the bottom of the fifth inning and forced Kaitlyn Kenyon to ground out for the second out. Mallie Hall also pinch hit and singled off of Cleary's glove at third base for the first hit given up by Santora in the game, just one out shy of a no-hitter. Ashley Coffin followed with a sharp single to left field before Santora notched the third out and earned the two-hit shutout win.
Santora moved to 14-2 with the victory, giving up just the two late hits and four walks. She struck out three batters in her fourth shutout victory of the season.
Offensively, Martin went 4-for-4 (all singles) with an RBI and she scored three times. Bertram was 3-for-3 with a single, double, and a home run, as she added two runs and four RBI. Jones was 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two ribbies, while Kosola went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored twice. Holt was 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Cleary and Calkins each homered.
GVSU and Saginaw Valley State will play another doubleheader on Saturday afternoon (Apr. 7) in Allendale at 1:00 p.m.
