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After nearly three weeks since its last contests, the Grand Valley State softball team will open the home portion of its 2015 schedule on Thursday afternoon (Mar. 26) in Allendale. The Lakers will play their last scheduled non-conference doubleheader with a twinbill against nearby Aquinas. Game times are set for 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.

GVSU owns a 13-4 overall record, but has not played since the team's annual Spring Break trip from Mar. 1-7. On the final day of the trip, the Lakers defeated Truman State 5-3 in nine innings before falling to #21 Indianapolis, 8-2. The split on the final day left Grand Valley State with a 9-3 record during the week, which featured wins in its first seven games.

Coupled with two wins at the Lewis Dome Tournament in late-February, the Lakers had rolled off nine consecutive wins to get off to an 11-1 start. GVSU split its final six games of the Florida trip.

The Lakers were scheduled to face GLVC opponent Lewis on Tuesday afternoon (Mar. 24), but those games were cancelled due to inclement weather. No make-up date will be scheduled.

Despite having not played in nearly three weeks, Grand Valley State still ranks second as a team in the GLIAC in RBI (93), walks (68), hit by pitches (11), on-base percentage (.406), and earned run average (1.95). The Lakers are third in the league in runs (99), batting average (.312), and opponents batting average (.226).

GVSU has seven players batting above .300, led by junior Chelsea Horvath's .406 mark. Horvath - along with classmate McKenze Supernaw - rank second on the team with 12 RBI, just one behind sophomore outfielder Kelsey Dominguez and her team-leading 13 ribbies. Freshman Heather Sperlazzo has also collected 11 RBI, while fellow rookie Teagan Shomin's two homers and 19 runs scored are tops on the Lakers.

In the circle, Grand Valley State has two players with five wins apiece. Both sophomore lefty Ellie Balbach and freshman righty Courtney Reinhold are 5-1 this season; Reinhold's 1.07 ERA is the second-best in the GLIAC, while Balbach's 1.55 figure ranks fourth. Junior Sara Andrasik has recorded a team-high 40 strikeouts in just 41.2 innings pitched.

Aquinas enters Thursday's twinbill with a 12-8 record and the Saints are currently on a four-game winning streak. At the Davenport Tournament last weekend (Mar. 20-21), the Saints won all four games and outscored their opponents (Cleary, Judson, Roosevelt twice) by a combined 35-12 margin.

14 of Aquinas' 20 games came in Tucson, Ariz. in early March, where the team went 8-6 at the Tucson Invitational. As a team, the Saints own a .303 batting average, while Ellie Adams and Jenn Woolard have connected for four home runs apiece. Adams is hitting .438 and has 11 doubles and 26 RBI to go with the four roundtrippers. She has also not struck out in 64 at-bats this season. Woolard is batting .400.

Grand Valley State begins conference play this weekend, when the Lakers travel to Ohio for four games. On Saturday (Mar. 28), GVSU faces Malone at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. before taking on Walsh at 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. on Sunday (Mar. 29).