The Grand Valley State softball team earned a couple of big wins on Friday morning with an 8-0 victory over Bentley and a 13-3 win over New York Tech. The Lakers are now 8-2 on their spring trip and are winners in their last three games. GVSU's bats were alive on its sixth day in the sunshine state, collecting 11 hits against the Falcons before adding on 8 more to their daily tally against the Bears.
 
Senior Allie Grys joins Allison Lipovsky as GVSU pitchers to toss a no-hitter this week after the senior tallied nine strikeouts to just three walks in five innings of work as the Lakers won by mercy rule after the top of the fifth. Freshman Hannah Beatus was also only on the mound for five innings against New York Tech after GVSU had built up a 10-run lead by that point. In her short time on the mound, Beatus tallied eight strikeouts, three walks, and just four hits for her third win of her collegiate career.
 
Offensively, the Lakers couldn't be stopped, tallying 21 runs on 19 hits in just ten innings of play. Nine different Lakers collected hits in the victories, with Kaylie Rhynard racking up a team-high four while Teagan Shomin and Nikoma Holmen each tallied three, Brooke Henning and Shannon Flaherty each had two, and Taylor Rieger, Kelcie LaTour, Bailey Thatcher, and Tanner Kiessel all added one as well.
 
Game One vs. Bentley (W, 8-0)
Shomin got things started off in fashion, blasting a homer to right center field to put the Lakers up 1-0 after just one batter. Rhynard laid down a bunt single before stealing second and advancing to third on a Rieger groundout. Holmen collected the second RBI of the game with a single to center field that scored Rhynard. A walk from LaTour and a single down the right field line from Henning loaded the bases with just one out but Holmen was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice a batter later. With two outs and the bases still loaded, Flaherty laced a single back up the middle to score both Henning and LaTour and give GVSU the 4-0 lead.
 
The Lakers weren't done however as Shomin drew a walk to score Thatcher before Rhynard slipped a single through the left side to score Flaherty for the Lakers sixth, and final, run of the inning. The Laker lineup didn't get much time to rest however, as Grys came out firing and struck out the side to end the first inning.
 
In the second, GVSU got runners on first and second with two outs before Flaherty collected yet another RBI after a single to right field scored Henning from second for the 7-0 lead. After surrendering a leadoff walk, Grys buckled down in the bottom of the second frame, collecting two strikeouts that sandwiched a sac bunt to get out of the inning unscathed.
 
The whole third inning went by with just seven batters walking up to the plate and with neither team tallying either a run or a hit. Thatcher managed to rope a two-out triple to left center field in the fourth but was left stranded after a strikeout. Grys kept pumping through the Bentley lineup, collecting another strikeout in the fourth.
 
Kiessel opened up the fifth inning with a single and stolen base to put herself on second with no outs. Shomin roped a double to left center to score Kiessel and get the Lakers to an 8-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the inning. Grys allowed just one base runner in the bottom of the fifth while collecting two more strikeouts to secure the 8-0 mercy rule victory for the Lakers.
 
Game Two vs. New York Tech (W, 13-3)
The Bears struck first in game two, tallying one run on one hit in the top of the opening inning. Beatus tallied a strikeout before hitting the Bear's #2 batter who scored one hitter later after stealing second. Beatus tallied back to back groundouts to end the inning. The Lakers carried over their offensive might from game one, answering New York's one run with three of their own. Shomin was put on by a leadoff hit by pitch and advanced to second on another Rhynard bunt single before they both scored on a Rieger double. Rieger managed to advance to third on the play after an error and came around to score just one batter later as Holmen grounded out to shortstop for the 3-1 lead.
 
Beatus found her groove in the second inning, tallying a strikeout, groundout, and flyout to quickly send the Lakers bats back up. Unfortunately, GVSU was sat down in order to end the second inning.
 
With one out in the third after a Beatus strikeout, Plocinski caught a Bear baserunner trying to steal second and Beatus sat down the next batter. GVSU's bats caught fire once again in the bottom of the third as they scored 10 runs on six hits and two Bear miscues. Rhynard opened the frame with a single and a steal before Rieger walked and Holmen singled to load the bases with no outs. LaTour proceeded to smash a double to right field to score both Rhynard and Rieger and push Holmen to third. Flaherty walked to load the bases before Henning tallied two RBI's on an error by the shortstop for GVSU's third and fourth runs of the inning. Plocinski fired another double to left field, scoring Flaherty in the process. After a Laker groundout, Shomin doubled down the left field line and brought in both Plocinski and Henning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Holmen blasted a three-run homer to left center for her second round-tripper in as many days and gave GVSU a huge 13-1 lead.
 
New York would get one in both the fourth and fifth but Beatus got two straight strikeouts in the bottom of the inning to preserve the 10-run lead and force a second mercy rule win on the day.