vs. Tiffin (DH)
Friday (March 29)
2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m.
Live Stats
Video / Audio
vs. Wayne State (DH)
Saturday (March 31)
1:00 p.m. & 3:00 p.m.
Live Stats
Video
The #15-ranked Grand Valley State softball team is set to hit the road for GLIAC action against the Tiffin Dragons on Friday, Mar. 30 and the Wayne State Warriors on Saturday, Mar. 31. Both contests will be doubleheaders with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 PM in Tiffin, Ohio before a 1:00 PM start in Detroit, Mich. the following afternoon. The Lakers will put their 11-game winning streak on the line and enter the contest with the Dragons with a 19-5 overall record and a 6-0 mark in conference play. Tiffin currently sports a 17-12 overall record and a 5-1 record in the GLIAC while Wayne State is currently 17-8 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Most recently, the Lakers earned home doubleheader sweeps of both Northwood and Saginaw Valley State last Saturday and Sunday (Mar. 24-25) before their series with Ashland was postponed due to inclement weather in Ohio. Against Northwood, the Lakers won game one 9-0 (5 inn.) before a 5-0 score in the second game as pitchers
Allison Lipovsky and
Hannah Beatus each earned a win. Combined, the two allowed zero runs on seven hits while striking out 17 and issuing just three walks. Offensively, the Lakers tallied 14 runs on 24 hits in 11 innings of play, led by
Kelcie LaTour who went 4-for-5 with three RBI's while
Nikoma Holmen and
Teagan Shomin both turned in 4-for-6 performances.
Against Saginaw Valley State, the Lakers won by scores of 8-2 and 2-1 with Lipovsky and
Allie Grys earning the wins this time around. Lipovsky had another impressive outing, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out 14 compared to just one walk. Grys was extremely effective in game two, as the senior allowed zero earned runs (one unearned) on five hits and 10 strikeouts while issuing zero walks. Shomin kept her hot streak going, going 5-for-7 on the day, including a leadoff homerun in game one to go along with two runs scored and an RBI. Holmen racked up four more hits and two RBI's while LaTour and
Brooke Henning tallied two hits as well. Heading into the bottom of the 7th inning of game two, the Lakers trailed 1-0 before Henning delivered an RBI triple to tie the game 1-1. A few batters later with two outs,
Kaylie Rhynard laced a hard-hit ball to the shortstop for the walk-off error and the Lakers 11th straight victory.
Rhynard currently leads the squad with 37 hits and a .440 average while Shomin is hitting .430 with 34 knocks on the season. Holmen currently leads both the team and the GLIAC with 31 RBI's to go with her .397 average. On the mound, Lipovsky sports a 9-2 record in 11 starts, all of which are complete games and six are shutouts, while sporting a 0.96 ERA with 120 strikeouts to just 10 walks. The junior ranks inside the top-10 nationally in multiple statistical categories including the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the country at 12.00. Grys and Beatus have been solid on the mound as well, holding 6-1 and 4-2 records, respectively.
So far this season, the Lakers have turned in impressive numbers both offensively and defensively as a team. The Laker lineup currently ranks second in the conference in multiple categories including batting average (.328), runs scored (132), hits (211), RBI's (127), and total bases (299). They also rank 4th in doubles (37), triples (6), and homeruns (13). The three GVSU pitchers have combined to rank 1st in the league in ERA (1.75), batting average against (.200), and shutouts (10).
The Dragons saw their 11-game winning streak snapped with a 2-1 loss to Purdue Northwest in the second game of a doubleheader yesterday afternoon (Mar. 28). Prior to their most recent loss, Tiffin had won 11 straight contests, four of which ended early due to the mercy rule but had been on a 10-game skid before their streak. Last weekend (Mar. 23-25) the Dragons earned four wins (two each) over Wayne State and Ashland.
Of Tiffin's players that have at least 40 at-bats, Brooke Lambert leads the way with a .369 average and also has 12 RBI on the season. Gabrielle Hess (.348, 18 RBI), Alayna Lytle (.302, 5 RBI), and Libby Crow (.289, 11 RBI) round out the top threats in terms of batting average. In the circle, Tiffany Snell leads the Dragons with an 8-4 record and a 2.15 ERA throughout her 89.0 innings pitched. Kimmy Reynolds and Faith Bogard have also seen significant time at pitcher, tallying 66.1 and 25.0 innings pitched, respectively. Reynolds holds a 2.43 ERA while Bogard is sitting at 3.92.
The Wayne State Warriors dropped two games to Tiffin last weekend that ended their eight-game winning streak but most recently took two from Davenport in a midweek matchup. The Warriors took down the Panthers by scores of 4-2 and 8-0 (6 inn.) to improve their overall record to 17-8 and their conference record to an even 2-2.
The Warriors have a trio of players batting over .400 at the moment. Emma Adams leads the team with a .442 average that includes 15 RBI while Brooke Turkalj (.423) and Hannah McClounie (.406) aren't far behind. McClounie has brought in a team-high 20 runs and hit a team-best four homeruns while at the plate. As a team, Wayne State is hitting an impressive .371 and sport a .410 on-base percentage, both of which rank first in the conference.
In the circle, Bryanna Kressler owns the lowest ERA on the team at 1.47 but Megan Guitar has racked up a 10-4 record and a 1.91 ERA with the ball in her hand. Those two have seen a vast majority of the time in the circle for the Warriors but Presly Buchanan has also seen 17.0 innings where she has tallied a 2-1 record (2.88 ERA).
Following this weekend's games, the Lakers will be back in Allendale for a doubleheader against Davenport on Tuesday, Apr. 3, before making the short trip to their place on Friday, Apr. 6.
