The #8 Grand Valley State softball team split an afternoon doubleheader against the Ashland Eagles on Sunday (March 24). GVSU fell in a marathon first game, 4-3, after 12 innings of play before bouncing back in the nightcap with a 14-6 mercy rule victory after scoring six runs in the top of the sixth. The Lakers are now 19-3 on the season and 3-1 in GLIAC play while the Eagles – who received votes in the last national poll – are 17-9 overall and 3-3 in the league. 
 
GVSU will finally play inside the friendly lines of the GVSU Softball Field when they host their home opener this Wednesday, March 27 against Wisconsin-Parkside. First pitch is slated for 3:30 PM in Allendale. 
 
Senior righty Allison Lipovsky suffered her first loss of the season in game one after throwing an 11.0 inning, 180 pitch, 11 hit, four run (one earned) marathon of an outing that also saw her strikeout 15 Eagles. She is now 10-1 on the season. The Laker offense was a little more helpful in game two, as they put up 14 runs to give freshman Hannah Dieck her first collegiate win. She spun a 5.2 inning, 10 hit, six run effort while fellow freshman Samantha Gehrls earned the final out of the game. 
 
Both Lydia Goble and Nikoma Holmen knocked in four runs on the afternoon as they were 6-11 and 2-9 at the plate, respectively. Taylor Rieger finished 4-9 at the dish with three RBI's while Kaylie Rhynard (3-9) and Kelcie LaTour (1-8) each added two ribbies as well. Goble and Rhynard also combined for eight runs scored (four each) while Bailey Thatcher and Shannon Flaherty both notched hits as well. 
 
Game one (L, 4-3)
The Lakers got their first scoring chance early in game one, as they loaded the bases with one out after a pair of singles and a walk but failed to push anything across as they would pop out and fly out to end the early threat. The Eagles took advantage of their early chance after knocking a leadoff double before pushing the runner to third on a sac bunt. A wild pitch let them race home and take the early 1-0 lead. 
 
The Lakers would tally just one hit over the next three innings but Lipovsky kept it within one as she hit her groove on the mound during that stretch as well. 
 
Flaherty drew a leadoff walk to start the fifth that was followed by a Goble single and a Rhynard sac bunt to push her over to third with just one out. Rieger then laced a single the opposite was to knot the score at one apiece. 
 
At that point the offenses for both teams completely fell off as 20 straight batters would be retired as the game dragged into the 10th inning still tied at 1-1. 
 
The Lakers would finally get some offense as Flaherty sacrificed a pinch running Rachel Terwilliger to third before Goble launched her seventh homer of the season to put the Lakers up 3-1. Just like that however, the Eagles answered with two runs of their own as a fielding error by the Lakers allowed the first run to score before another RBI knock tied things up. 
 
After a quiet 11th inning and a disappointing top of the 12th that saw the Lakers leave two on base, the Eagles walked it off with a single to center field to score the runner from third base. 
 
Goble finished 4-6 with 2 RBI's while Rieger tallied the other RBI as she was 2-5 at the plate. 
 
Game two (W, 14-6)
After the first game saw offense nearly impossible to come by at times, the Lakers got things going quickly in game two by scoring two runs in the first. A leadoff error put Goble on before she moved to second on a Rhynard bunt single before they both scored off the bat of Holmen who ripped a single into center field. 
 
They would add three more runs in the second after Goble scored Thatcher from third who originally got on thanks to an Eagle error. Rieger then doubled to right center one batter later to score Rhynard and Goble, both of which were unearned runs.
 
The Eagles answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the frame after a double, single, and walk loaded the bases and set up back to back singles that scored three total runs to cut the Lakers lead to 5-3. 
 
Both teams traded a run in the third after Thatcher tripled with two outs to score Flaherty while the Eagles got a solo shot in the bottom of the inning. 
 
The Lakers would explode for six runs in the top of the sixth, which would turn out to be enough to end the game early. Henning was hit by a pitch and LaTour drew a walk before Flaherty sacrificed them over. Two straight walks would score one before a Goble single would score another and a Rhynard single would plate two more. Holmen then capped the inning off with a two-RBI single herself to put the Lakers up 14-4. 
 
AU would score two in the bottom of the sixth but Gehrls came in and induced a final fly out to end the game early and give the Lakers the win in game two.