The Grand Valley State softball team dropped a 3-1 decision to #20 Ashland in the GLIAC Tournament on Saturday morning (May 2), as the Eagles plated three runs in the fifth inning to secure the victory. GVSU was eliminated from the conference tournament with the loss and awaits its NCAA Tournament fate.

After winning an elimination game (4-3) over Tiffin on Friday afternoon, the Lakers looked to stay alive in the loser's bracket against Ashland. Those three late AU runs ended the tournament for GVSU, who is 32-15 overall and hopes for a berth in next week's Midwest Region Tournament. 

Heading into this weekend, Ashland (38-7 overall) was the third seed in the regional rankings, while Grand Valley State was ranked fifth. The Lakers have advanced to the NCAA Tournament each of the past four seasons and 12 times in school history. The top eight teams in the region will advance to the tournament, as the seedings will be announced Monday morning.

GVSU and Ashland split a conference doubleheader on Apr. 3 in Allendale, while Saturday's meeting was the 13th conference tournament contest between the two schools.

The Lakers opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Sophomore Kelsey Dominguez worked a one-out walk and classmate Jenna Lenza came up next. She drilled a double to right field, scoring Dominguez to give GVSU the 1-0 advantage.

Freshman Courtney Reinhold took the circle for Grand Valley State. Ashland put runners on second and third base with two outs, but Reinhold induced a groundout to escape trouble. The Eagles put runners on first and third base with two outs in the third inning, but the inning came to a close as Reinhold fielded a grounder back up the middle to end the threat.

In the fourth inning, the Lakers loaded the bases. Lenza led off with a single, sophomore Ellie Balbach reached on a one-out error, and junior Chelsea Horvath followed with a bloop single. Ashland pitcher Amber McDermott got out of trouble with a strikeout and a groundout to keep the score 1-0.

The lead was still 1-0 in the fifth inning, when AU struck for all three of its runs. Ashland tied the game on a suicide squeeze bunt and took the lead on an RBI double from cleanup hitter Jen Moore. The Eagles moved the score to 3-1 on a run-scoring groundout.

GVSU had one final chance in the top of the seventh inning. Freshman Kaylie Rhynard and sophomore Janae Langs reached on consecutive one-out bunt singles to put the tying runners on base. However, Ashland forced back-to-back groundballs to end the game.

Reinhold took the loss, moving to 13-7 on the season. She allowed three runs (one earned) on 10 hits in 5.2 innings, recording 12 outs via groundballs.

Lenza reached base all three times, going 2-for-2 with a double, an RBI, and a walk. She has now reached base in 35 consecutive games, the second-highest mark by a Laker since at least the 2002 season. Langs was 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.

Both teams had just one extra base hit - a double. Ashland left eight runners on base, while GVSU stranded seven runners.