The script was similar in Grand Valley State's fourth straight doubleheader sweep on Friday (Apr. 14) in Midland. GVSU received another tremendous outing in the circle from sophomore Allison Lipovsky and timely hitting from the Laker offense led to a pair of conference victories, as Grand Valley State topped Northwood by scores of 3-0 and 7-2.
 
With the road wins on Friday, GVSU improves to 21-15 overall and 9-5 in conference play. The Lakers have won nine consecutive games and 12 of their last 14 outings. Northwood falls to 14-22 on the year and 5-9 in league action. It was announced earlier on Friday that Grand Valley State's previously scheduled twinbill at Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Apr. 15) has been postponed due to inclement weather and will be rescheduled for Apr. 30.
 
Game One (W, 3-0)
 
Lipovsky - the conference's back-to-back Pitcher of the Week - made a bid for her third straight award with perhaps her best effort to date. The sophomore righty struck out a career-high 15 batters in Friday's opening game victory, earning the complete game three-hit shutout victory.
 
It was another dominant outing for Lipovsky, the reigning GLIAC Freshman of the Year. A dozen of her 15 strikeouts were swinging K's and she struck out at least two batters in six of the seven innings. Lipovsky struck out the side in the first, fourth, and sixth frames and fanned five batters in a row in the third and fourth stanzas.
 
Her 15 strikeouts are the most in quite some time by a Laker pitcher. The last GVSU hurler to record more K's was former Laker great Jen Mackson (now assistant coach Jen Rivera), who struck out 18 batters in a 2-0 victory over Mercyhurst on Mar. 4, 2004 in Clermont, Fla.
 
With the victory, Lipovsky is 9-3 on the season and has recorded 124 strikeouts in 101.0 innings pitched. She has 12 complete games, with six shutouts. On Friday, she allowed just three hits and two walks. In her last five outings, Lipovsky has notched 10, seven, 11, 13, and 15 strikeouts.
 
All the offense she would need came in the fifth and sixth innings. Freshman Kelcie LaTour led off the fifth with a single up the middle and was lifted for pinch runner Brooke Little. Two batters later, senior Kelsey Dominguez laced a two-out double to left center field, bringing Little across home plate for the game's first run.
 
In the sixth, senior Janae Langs started things with a one-out double, followed by a Teagan Shomin walk. Senior Jenna Lenza singled back up the middle to score Langs for a 2-0 lead. Shomin advanced to third on Lenza's base hit and then scored on LaTour's sacrifice fly.
 
Lipovsky came out and promptly struck out all three Northwood batters in the bottom of the sixth inning, then worked another 1-2-3 frame in the seventh to seal the win. GVSU outhit Northwood 6-3, while Langs and Dominguez each had doubles for the game's only extra base hits. No player in the game had more than one hit.
 
Game Two (W, 7-2)
 
Northwood opened a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, but the Lakers responded with two of their own in the home half of the frame. Sophomore Shannon Flaherty led off with a triple and tied the game when she scored on Dominguez's RBI single. Junior Marianne Deppe singled to moved Dominguez to second base and junior Tanner Kiessel followed with an RBI double to score Dominguez for a 2-1 advantage.
 
Junior Allie Grys relieved Laker starter Courtney Reinhold in the third inning and used a swinging strikeout to escape a jam with two Timberwolves on base. GVSU pushed the lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning, as a run scored on a Northwood error.
 
Dominguez led off the sixth with a double and scored two batters later on another Kiessel two-bagger. A bunt single from Langs and an intentional walk to Lenza loaded the bases for LaTour, who promptly unloaded them with a three-run double down the right field line. The two-bagger scored Kiessel, Langs, and Lenza and turned a 4-1 edge into a 7-1 Laker cushion.
 
Grys allowed just a two-out RBI double in the seventh inning, closing out the win. The transfer is now 4-1 on the year, as she gave up one run on three hits in five innings effective relief. She did walk five batters and struck out two on 85 pitches.
 
Kiessel put together a 3-for-3 effort with two doubles, two runs, and two ribbies. Dominguez was 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. LaTour drove in four runs in the win and now leads the Lakers with 27 RBI on the year.
 
Lenza went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks and she doubled twice, giving her 19 doubles on the year. That is tied for the second-most two-baggers in a single season in Laker history, behind only Katie Martin's 22 in 2013.
 
Seven of GVSU's 11 hits in game two were for extra bases, including six doubles and Flaherty's triple. The Lakers did not commit an error in either game.