Grand Valley State starts the 2016 softball season indoors this weekend, as the Lakers travel to Rosemont, Ill. for the Lewis Dome Invitational. The Lakers will play a total of four games on Feb. 26-27 against opponents from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).
 
Prior to playing a dozen games and spending a week (Mar. 6-12) in Clermont, Fla. for the team's annual Spring Break trip, GVSU will play four in-region opponents that have already played so far this season.
 
On Friday (Feb. 26), the Lakers will face Missouri S&T at 4:30 p.m. and Illinois Springfield at 9:00 p.m. Grand Valley State will follow up with games against Wisconsin-Parkside at 7:00 p.m. and William Jewell at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 27). All times are Eastern Standard Time.
 
This is the team's third trip to Rosemont for the indoor tournament, as the Lakers own a 6-3 record in two previous seasons. In 2014, Grand Valley State went 2-2 with wins over Lewis and Wisconsin-Parkside. Last season, GVSU was 4-1 and defeated Wisconsin-Parkside, Illinois Springfield, Upper Iowa, and Kentucky Wesleyan; the Lakers' only loss was a 1-0 defeat to #5 Missouri-St. Louis.
 
Grand Valley State was selected to finish fourth in the GLIAC this season, announced in a preseason poll earlier this month. The Lakers return 16 letterwinners, its entire starting lineup, and its top three pitchers from last year's team that finished the season with a 32-17 record and earned a fifth straight berth in the NCAA Tournament.
 
Last season, five Lakers earned All-GLIAC recognition and all five players return to this year's team. Junior second baseman Jenna Lenza and junior designated player/pitcher Ellie Balbach were both First Team All-GLIAC choices, while senior third baseman McKenze Supernaw was an All-GLIAC Second Team honoree and also gathered NFCA All-Midwest Region Second Team laurels.
 
A pair of sophomores - shortstop Teagan Shomin and pitcher Courtney Reinhold - were All-GLIAC Honorable Mention selections in 2015. Balbach (a lefty) and Reinhold (a righty) make up half of what looks to be a deep and strong pitching staff, including senior righty Sara Andrasik (2013 GLIAC Freshman of the Year) and freshman righthander Allison Lipovsky.
 
Second-year head coach Dana Callihan's lineup will look nearly identical to last season, when the lineup looked basically the exact same each and every game. Four Lakers - Shomin, Supernaw, junior Kelsey Dominguez, and sophomore Heather Sperlazzo - started all 49 games last season, while Lenza started in all 48 contests in which she appeared. Senior outfielder Chelsea Horvath made 43 starts and sophomore outfielder/catcher Kaylie Rhynard was in the starting lineup 42 times.
 
The team won 32 games last year and all of those victories return in the form of Reinhold (team-highs of 13 wins and 135.1 innings, 1.97 ERA), Andrasik (11 wins, team-high 93 K's), and Balbach (8-2, 2.04 earned run average).
 
Last season, the Lakers ranked third in the GLIAC in earned run average (2.30), fourth in batting average (.307), and tied for fourth in fielding percentage (.959). GVSU's .388 on-base percentage was second-best in the conference, as the Lakers were in the top half of the 14-team GLIAC in nearly every statistical category.
 
Grand Valley State starts off with Missouri S&T on Friday, as the Miners finished 2015 with an 11-28 overall record and 8-22 in GLVC play. S&T, picked to finish 15th in the 16-team GLVC, is off to an 0-8 start. Friday's second game is against Illinois Springfield, which ranked sixth in the preseason rankings in the GLVC. Last year, UIS was 32-22 and went 16-14 in league play.
 
Saturday's first opponent - Wisconsin-Parkside - is a team the Lakers have defeated each of the past two years in this tournament. UWP went 7-36 last season and 2-26 in GLVC play. The Rangers are 2-7 so far this season and were selected 16th out of 16 teams in the preseason poll. The last opponent of the weekend is William Jewell, picked to finish ninth in the league. WJU is 4-4 this year after going 30-21 last season, with a 16-14 conference mark.
 
The Lakers' next trip will be a much warmer one. GVSU opens up with Sioux Falls (S.D.) and Winona State on Mar. 6 in Clermont, Fla. at the annual NTC Spring Games trip. Those are the first two of a 12-game slate for the Lakers down south.