The #15 Grand Valley State softball team earned a doubleheader sweep of Purdue Northwest on Wednesday afternoon (April 17), taking game one 6-1 before an unusual 9-1 game two victory in six innings. The pair of victories pushes the Lakers to 33-7 overall and 17-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) to extend their lead in the standings. 
 
It was cloudy around the GVSU Softball Field all afternoon long but with one on and nobody out in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 1-1 second game, lightning was seen in the area to force a mandatory suspension of play until the all-clear was given. Luckily, the weather cooperated and play resumed as the Lakers would manage to rattle off eight straight runs with two outs to earn the walk-off mercy rule victory. 
 
Freshman Samantha Gehrls earned the win in that game as she improves to 6-1 on the season after she tossed a complete game four-hitter, allowing just one run while striking out two and walking a pair. In game one, senior righty Allison Lipovsky allowed just one run over 7.0 innings pitched as she struck out 11 and walked three for her 19th victory of the season. 
 
Bailey Thatcher continued her tear, going 5-7 (.714) with an RBI and two runs scored while Lydia Goble (4-8, 2 2B, 1 HR) and Taylor Rieger (3-7, 2 2B, 1 HR) both drove in four runs apiece to lead the Laker offense. Both Nikoma Holmen and Kaylie Rhynard added three hits apiece while Joanna Cirrincione and Shannon Flaherty added two apiece. Kelcie LaTour also notched a hit as a pinch hitter while Morgan Wagner added the final single to the Lakers 24 total hits. 
 
Game One (W, 6-1)
It was a quick and quiet start to the game as the teams combined for just one hit in the first two and a half innings of play before the Lakers finally broke through in the bottom of the third. Flaherty knocked her fourth triple of the season and scored after an errant cutoff throw from the outfield shot passed the third baseman. Rhynard then singled with two outs before Rieger ripped a double into right center to score her and give the Lakers the 2-0 lead. 
 
Lipovsky stayed hot through the fifth inning while the Laker offense added another run in the bottom of the inning thanks to Rieger's eighth homer of the season. 
 
PNW finally got to Lipovsky in the top of the sixth when they were able to tag up after a long foul ball fly out to left field. 
 
GVSU would add three insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to put game one out of reach. Thatcher led things off with a single back up the middle before Cirrincione knocked another single into left to put runners on first and second with nobody out. LaTour then knocked a double down the right field line to score both runners before Goble would add her 11th homer and the teams' 35th to put the Lakers up 6-1. 
 
Lipovsky would earn her 19th win of the season after getting two more strikeouts in the top of the seventh and a final foul out to Goble at third base to secure the win. 
 
Game Two (W, 9-1 – 6 Inn.)
Once again it was a quick and quiet start to the game as both teams were held scoreless through the first two and a half innings. GVSU broke through in the third inning again thanks to a Goble double into right center to score Henning who reached on a Pride error to start the inning. 
 
The Pride answered right back to start the fourth with a leadoff homer to tie the game back up, 1-1. GVSU would go scoreless in the bottom of the inning. In the top of the fifth, PNW got their first runner on after a Goble error but she made sure to redeem herself with an inning-ending double play after snagging a liner out of the air and rifling it over to first to double up the runner. 
 
Gehrls would get the Lakers back up to bat in the sixth after a solid top of the inning. After a Holmen single to lead the offense off, lighting was spotted in the area and forced the game into a 30-minute delay. 
 
The delay allowed the Lakers to regroup in a big way as they exploded for eight straight runs to earn the mercy rule victory on a walk off single. Holmen knocked a single to lead things off before the delay while Thatcher picked things back up with a one out knock once play resumed to put runners on first and second with one out. After a groundout to first, LaTour would reach on a pinch-hit error that allowed Rachel Terwilliger to score and cut the tie, 2-1. From there however, Goble would double to score two, Rhynard would single to score one, Rieger would double in another two runs, while another PNW error allowed two more to score. Thatcher finally came up and delivered the final blow with a two-out single into left to score Holmen and end the game, 9-1.