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Grand Valley State will begin its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday afternoon (May 10) in St. Louis, Missouri, as the Lakers open up play in the Midwest Regional Tournament. At 12:00 p.m. CST (1:00 p.m. ET), GVSU will take on #17 Southern Indiana in an opening round contest.
 
The #4 seed in the Midwest Region, Grand Valley State brings a 32-15 overall record into the four-team sub-regional tournament. Southern Indiana, at 37-9 overall, is the #5 seeded team and is out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). The other matchup (which is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. CST first pitch) is top-seed and host school Missouri-St. Louis (44-6) against #8 Wayne State (42-18). UMSL is also the top-ranked team in all of Division II.
 
Last weekend in Findlay, Ohio at the GLIAC Tournament, GVSU went 1-2 against three different Ohio schools. The Lakers lost a pitcher's duel to Walsh (2-1) in the opener before bouncing back and defeating Tiffin (4-3) on a walk-off base hit in extra innings. On Saturday (May 2), Ashland tallied three late runs to capture a 3-1 victory and eliminate GVSU from the conference tournament.
 
The Lakers went 17-8 in regular season GLIAC play and GVSU was pretty solid regardless of the location of the game. Grand Valley State owned an 11-5 record in home games and went 21-10 away from Allendale, including a 14-6 mark in neutral site contests. Friday's game against Southern Indiana will be played at a neutral site on Missouri-St. Louis' home field.
 
Here is the schedule for this weekend's Midwest Regional #1 Tournament at the UMSL Softball Field in St. Louis:
 
Friday, May 8
 
Game 1: #4 Grand Valley State vs. #5 Southern Indiana, 1:00 p.m. ET
 
Game 2: #1 Missouri-St. Louis vs. #8 Wayne State, 3:30 p.m. ET
 
Saturday, May 9
 
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 12:00 p.m. ET
 
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 2:30 p.m. ET
 
Game 5: Loser of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 5:00 p.m. ET
 
Sunday, May 10
 
Game 6: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 5, 1:00 p.m. ET
 
Game 7: Same teams as above (if necessary), 3:30 p.m. ET
 
In the other sub-regional tournament being played at Indianapolis, as the #2 Greyhounds will take on #7 Trevecca Nazarene. The other game matches up #3 Ashland and #6 Truman State. The winners of the two sub-regional tournaments will play next weekend (May 15-16) in the best-of-three Super Regional series at the site of the highest remaining seed. Whichever team wins the Super Regional advances to the Division II College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. the following week.
 
Grand Valley State has made 12 previous appearances in the NCAA Tournament, also earning a postseason berth in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. The Lakers are 36-25 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, which features a pair of trips (2002 and 2013) to the Division II College World Series. While GVSU has never played Southern Indiana in NCAA Tournament play, the Lakers are 2-0 against Missouri-St. Louis and trail Wayne State by a 4-2 count.
 
The Lakers had five players named to the All-GLIAC Teams, which were announced at the conference tournament last weekend. Two sophomores - designated player Ellie Balbach and second baseman Jenna Lenza - earned All-GLIAC First Team honors, while junior third baseman McKenze Supernaw was a Second Team All-GLIAC selection.
 
A pair of freshmen - pitcher Courtney Reinhold and shortstop Teagan Shomin - were chosen as All-GLIAC Honorable Mention members. It was the first all-conference honors for all five players.
 
Lenza leads the GVSU offense with a .391 batting average and 36 RBI, while tying Supernaw for the team lead of six home runs. Also recording team-bests in hits (59), walks (20), total bases (88), and on-base percentage (.460) and slugging percentage (.583), Lenza has reached base in 35 consecutive games. That is the second-longest streak by a Laker since at least 2002; former slugger Katie Martin reached base in 49 straight games in 2011.
 
Supernaw fills out her statline with a .338 average and 35 RBI, while owning a .970 fielding percentage at the hot corner and only committing four errors. As a team, GVSU is hitting .313 (second-best in the GLIAC) with seven usual starters topping the .300 mark. Junior Chelsea Horvath is second with a .364 average, while centerfielder Janae Langs is hitting .338 in her 25 starts.
 
Shomin has scored a team-high 38 runs and owns a .315 average, but it is how she has reached her .452 on-base percentage that is quite remarkable. The rookie has been hit by 19 pitches this season, which ties her with former Laker and current GVSU assistant Briauna Taylor for the most hit by pitches in an entire career in program history. Shomin ranks seventh in all of Division II in HBP.
 
Balbach's .303 average is solid, but she has tallied 23 walks (a team-high), upping her on-base percentage .422. Fellow sophomore Kelsey Dominguez is also hitting .303 and leads the team with 12 doubles, while also recording 31 runs and 27 RBI.
 
While Grand Valley State's batting average is near the top in the league, so is the team's earned run average and fielding percentage. The Laker pitchers own a combined 2.33 ERA (third-best), while GVSU has .961 fielding percentage, tied for third-best of any team.
 
Reinhold is 13-7 on the season with a 1.89 ERA, notching 129.1 innings and tossing four shutouts. Junior Sara Andrasik is 11-6 with a 2.67 ERA and has recorded 92 strikeouts in 123.0 innings. Balbach, the only lefty on staff, owns an 8-2 mark with a 2.08 earned run average. Overall, Grand Valley State is 19-4 when holding its opponents to two runs or less.
 
Owners of a 37-9 record, Southern Indiana went 22-6 in GLVC action this season, but went 0-2 at last weekend's conference tournament. After a season-high 13 game win streak during April, the Screaming Eagles have won just one of their last five games. USI went 25-7 in games outside of Evansville, including a 15-3 neutral site record.
 
Southern Indiana is making its fifth-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament and second in the last three seasons. The Eagles went 1-2 at the regional tournament in Allendale in 2013, defeating Ferris State before losing twice to Missouri-St. Louis. Senior second baseman MacKenzi Dorsam was named the GLVC Player of the Year last week and was one of two Eagles - along with senior pitcher Brooke Harmening - to earn All-GLVC First Team accolades.
 
Just the second USI player to be named the league's Player of the Year (and the first since 1995), Dorsam is hitting .449 with 15 home runs and 50 RBI. She has been walked 28 times, scored 47 runs, and owns tremendous figures of an .850 slugging percentage and a .545 on-base percentage. Harmening, who also hit .353 with 10  homers and 42 RBI, is the team's top hurler. She is 21-3 on the year with a 1.65 ERA, while also collecting four saves. In 178.0 innings, Harmening - who has five shutouts - has struck out 131 batters.
 
Sophomore outfielder Grace Clark was an All-GLVC Second Team choice, while junior third baseman Toni Braun was voted to the All-GLVC Third Team. Clark is hitting .387 with 12 doubles, five homers, and 26 RBI. Braun is batting .353, but 52 of her 53 hits are singles. USI hits .327 as a team, have hit 40 home runs, and are holding opponents to a .245 average.
 
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