First Regional Poll
vs. Ashland (Friday, April 19 - 3 & 5 PM)
Live Stats
ESPN3 (Game One)
ESPN3 (Game Two)
vs. Saginaw Valley State (Saturday, April 20 - 1 & 3 PM)
Live Stats
ESPN3 (Game One)
ESPN3 (Game Two)
The #15-nationally ranked Grand Valley State softball team was tabbed as the #1 seed in the first NCAA Division II Midwest Region rankings, per a release from the NCAA late Wednesday afternoon (April 17). The Lakers, now 33-7 overall and 17-5 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play, boast an in-region record of 23-7 to lead the Midwest region. The reigning GLIAC regular season and tournament champion Lakers were also the #1 seed throughout last season's regional rankings and earned the right to host the tournament in Allendale before falling to the eventual national champion Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles.
Two more regional rankings will be released before the final field is announced during the NCAA Division II Selection Show on Monday, May 6. The show can be watched on NCAA.com at 10:00 AM (ET) that morning. The 2019 DII softball championship operates like the Division I tournament and Women's College World Series beginning with Regional play, then moving onto Super Regional play, and then concluding with eight teams in the finals. Once the 64 teams are selected, four teams will participate in 16 different regional sites, with the top seed earning host privileges
Despite the end of the season looming, the Lakers still have quite a bit of softball left to play. After going 4-0 the last two days with doubleheader sweeps of Wayne State and Purdue Northwest, GVSU will host Ashland and Saginaw Valley State this Friday and Saturday (April 19-20) to close out a busy week on the diamond.
This will be the second meeting between the teams' as both series currently stand at 1-1. Back on March 24, the Lakers and Eagles split a twin bill with the Lakers taking game one 14-6 and the Eagles game two 4-3. A few weeks later, GVSU split again with the Cardinals, taking game one 7-0 before falling in game two, 9-8.
The Lakers boast the most dangerous offense in the league, as they lead all other teams in batting average (.335), on-base percentage (.388), slugging percentage (.508), total hits (387) and runs (271), as well as RBI's (241), home runs (35), and extra base hits (115).
Individually, two Lakers are hitting over .400 and four more are hitting .300 or above. Sophomores
Bailey Thatcher and
Nikoma Holmen are hitting a blistering .435 and .403, respectively, while Holmen ranks second on the team with 20 RBI's, 11 doubles and seven homers. Leading the home run and RBI race is freshman
Lydia Goble (.362) who has 11 home runs and 45 RBI's so far this season. Sophomore
Taylor Rieger (.319) is second with eight homers and third with 39 RBI's as well.
Shannon Flaherty (.374), and
Kaylie Rhynard (.309) have also been solid at the plate, combining for 40 RBI's between them.
In the circle, senior
Allison Lipovsky has continued to build on her stellar career, as she leads the league with 19 wins (19-2), a 0.94 ERA, 207 total strikeouts, and 11 shutouts. She's also allowed just 26 walks as her 8.52 strikeout-to-walk ratio is seventh in the country. Freshman
Samantha Gehrls has stepped into the #2 spot nicely due to an injury earlier this season as she's 6-1 with a 3.88 ERA, five complete games, and 35 strikeouts.
The Eagles have hit a rough patch as of late, dropping six of their last eight contests but did split their last twin bill with Ohio Dominican. On the season, they are batting .298 as a team and boast a 2.80 combined ERA in the circle.
Leading the offense charge for the Eagles is junior Dayna Denner. She's hitting a team-high .411 with 38 RBI's, 11 doubles, and 51 total hits to go with her eight homers. Behind her is Emma Lawson who is batting .352 with 43 hits and just eight strikeouts, while Kylie Asmus (.324), Laney Jones (.316), and Abigail Butler (.303) are all hitting over .300.
Jones is also a solid pitcher as she's 12-7 on the season with 127.2 innings pitched and a 2.14 ERA. She's tallied 98 strikeouts and 15 complete games as the second most used pitcher. Hannah Stroe leads the way with 132.1 innings, going 11-10 so far with 17 complete games. She's picked up 102 K's and walked 48 batters in the process.
SVSU comes into this weekend with a 5-3 record in their last four doubleheaders and are winners of their last three. After taking the nightcap from Wayne State last Thursday, the Cardinals earned a sweep of former GLIAC member Hillsdale on Friday. GVSU will face Ferris State on Friday before making their way to Allendale on Saturday.
The Cardinals are hitting an impressive .331 as they only trail the Lakers in the category in the league. Aubree Mouthaan leads the way with a .427 average to go with her 44 hits, 12 doubles, five homers, and 27 RBI's while also leading the team with 34 runs scored. Of the other Cardinal players who have played at least 30 games, seven of them are hitting at least .300. Meagan VerVaecke is batting a solid. 361 as she's racked up 35 hits to just three strikeouts all season long. Julia Salisbury and Blasia Moyler are hitting .351 and .350, respectively, with Moyler leading the squad with 11 homers.
Six different Cardinals have seen double digit innings in the circle. Mikayla Alexandrou has seen the most action with 63.0 innings pitched where she's gone 4-4 with a 4.56 ERA and 28 strikeouts. Julia Mundy is next with 46.0 innings, going 5-5 while Hannah Atwell (4-2) has pitched 36.1 innings and Jaclyn Groves (3-2) has tossed 35.1.
