Saturday (Apr. 1)
at Hillsdale (12-15 overall, 2-2 GLIAC)
2:30 p.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Live Stats: Game 1 | Game 2
 
Sunday (Apr. 2)
at #18 Wayne State (21-5 overall, 0-0 GLIAC)
12:00 p.m. & 2:00 p.m.
Live Stats: Both games
Video (pay-per-view): Game 1 | Game 2
 
A pair of home shutouts on Tuesday afternoon has given the Laker softball team some momentum as they head into a big slate of conference road games this weekend. After sweeping Lewis in the team's home opener earlier in the week, GVSU will travel to Hillsdale before a big rematch against #18 Wayne State to cap the road trip.
 
Grand Valley State will play its second consecutive weekend of GLIAC road games, as the Lakers will face Hillsdale on Saturday (Apr. 1) starting at 1:00 p.m. That twinbill precedes a doubleheader in Detroit on Sunday (Apr. 2) against Wayne State, with first pitch being thrown at noon.
 
Tuesday's home sweep over Lewis pits the Lakers' overall record at 11-13, while GVSU went 1-3 in road doubleheaders at Ohio Dominican and Ashland last weekend. Hillsdale enters the weekend at 12-15 on the year, but the Chargers are 2-2 in league play. Despite having not played a GLIAC contest yet this season, Wayne State is 21-5 overall and the Warriors have won 10 consecutive games.
 
For the second time in 10 days, the Grand Valley State pitching staff tossed a pair of shutouts in a doubleheader. On Mar. 19, the Lakers swept Purdue Northwest in consecutive 7-0 and 6-0 victories, as sophomore Allison Lipovsky and junior Allie Grys held the Pride to only six hits in the twinbill.
 
The second instance of the dominant Laker pitching came on Tuesday, as GVSU swept non-conference opponent Lewis by scores of 1-0 and 8-0. Lipovsky again worked the opening shutout, allowing one walk and four hits in the complete game win. She struck out four batters during her 101 pitches to move to 4-2 on the season. Grand Valley State's lone run came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when senior Jenna Lenza notched a two-strike, two-out, RBI single to center field to bring in classmate Janae Langs for the game's only tally.
 
Game two was not as dramatic, as the GVSU offense notched eight runs - its highest total in the last 15 games - and earned a mercy rule victory over the Flyers. Lefty Ellie Balbach allowed only three hits and a walk in five innings, striking out four during her tidy 69-pitch effort to notch her second win of the season. Langs (triple, three runs scored) and sophomore Shannon Flaherty (double, two RBI) each collected two hits, while Lenza's three-run bases-clearing double in the fourth inning gave the Lakers an 8-0 lead and was enough to seal the mercy rule win.
 
The last time Grand Valley State recorded a pair of home shutouts in a single doubleheader was on Apr. 28, 2013, when the Lakers swept Lake Superior State in a conference twinbill, 4-0 and 8-0.
 
Hopefully GVSU can carry that positive vibes from those wins over a solid Lewis team that entered the doubleheader with an 18-9 overall record this year. In the opening weekend of GLIAC play last Friday and Saturday in Ohio, the Lakers won just one of the four games, losing both contest at Ohio Dominican on Friday by one run, including a walk-off defeat in the opener. Grand Valley State rebounded with a 5-1 win at Ashland on Saturday before falling in the nightcap, 10-2.
 
Lenza continues her torrid pace at the plate, as the senior ranks in the top-five of all GLIAC players in on-base percentage (third; .528), batting average (fourth; .462), slugging percentage (fifth; .692), while her 12 doubles and 10 walks are second and fourth, respectively. She is also sixth in hits (36), RBI (21), and total bases (54). Lenza also moved into third place in Laker history with 47 career doubles, passing former Laker Emily Jones in that category. She also recently moved into ninth place in GVSU history with 130 career runs and fifth with 74 career walks.
 
Despite a sub-.500 team record, the Laker pitching staff has thrown the second-most shutouts (seven) of any team in the league and with a 2.58 earned run average, GVSU ranks third in the conference. The 137 strikeouts and 6.01 strikeouts per seven innings are also second-best in the league.
 
Hillsdale split a pair of conference twinbills last weekend, with oddly similar results. The Chargers won both opening games over Findlay and Tiffin by identical 4-2 scores, while losing the second game in each doubleheader by a 3-2 final. To start the season, HC went 3-2 at the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Fla. in early-February, followed by a 1-3 mark against GLVC opponents two weeks later. Hillsdale went 6-8 during its spring break trip to Clermont, Fla.
 
At this point of the year, Hillsdale ranks eighth in the GLIAC in batting average (.281), ninth in earned run average (3.96) and fielding percentage (.942), and last in opponents batting average (.319). The Chargers do have 38 stolen bases and 41 doubles, both of which are second-best in the league.
 
Winners of 10 in a row, Wayne State has not lost since a 5-4 extra inning loss to Merrimack on Mar. 11, a loss that snapped a different five-game winning streak. The Warriors did not have a scheduled GLIAC game last week and have not played since defeating Bloomsburg (5-0) and Nova Southeastern (4-2) on Mar. 18 in Clermont, Fla.
 
Wayne State does return last season's NFCA National Player of the Year in senior Lyndsay Butler, who leads the GLIAC in batting average (.505), on-base percentage (.549), runs (34), hits (47), RBI (27), total bases (73), but also in pitching victories (12), saves (three), shutouts (six), strikeouts (123), earned run average (0.42), and opponents batting average (.163). As a team, the Warriors lead all GLIAC programs in runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, hit by pitches, batting average, on-base percentage, earned run average, and shutouts.
 
Last year, Grand Valley State dropped a road twinbill at Wayne State on Mar. 29 by scores of 4-0 and 8-1. That came during the regular season, but the Lakers rebounded to stun the Warriors in Detroit in the Midwest Super Regional championship series, winning the opener by a 5-4 score and clinching the best-of-three series victory with a 1-0 win to advance to the College World Series. During this year's GLIAC Preseason Coaches' poll, GVSU was chosen to win the conference championship, edging out second-place Wayne State by just one point in the voting.
 
After the weekend of GLIAC action, the Lakers travel to Rensselaer, Ind. on Wednesday (Apr. 5) to take on non-conference opponent Saint Joseph's before returning home for doubleheaders next Saturday (Apr. 8) and Sunday (Apr. 9) against Findlay and Tiffin.