The #15 Grand Valley State softball team split a home doubleheader against the Ashland Eagles, taking game one 2-0 before falling in the nightcap, 6-1. GVSU is now 34-8 on the season and 18-6 in conference play while the Eagles improve to 26-18 and 11-11 in the GLIAC. 
 
Senior righty Allison Lipovsky earned her 20th win of the season in game one, as she improves to 20-2 overall. The Harrison, Mich. native threw a complete game shutout, notching six strikeouts and two walks while allowing five hits. Freshman Samantha Gehrls was stuck with the loss in the second game after she tossed four innings, allowing five runs (two earned) while striking out and walking a pair. Fellow freshman Hannah Dieck came on in relief of Gehrls as she allowed a run in her 3.0 innings pitched. 
 
It was a relatively quiet night for the usually explosive Laker offense as they mustered just three runs on nine hits between the two games, hitting at a .213 clip on the afternoon. Senior Kaylie Rhynard collected three of those hits herself, going 3-5 at the dish with a run scored as well. Only sophomore Nikoma Holmen was able to manage more than one hit, as she went 2-5 at the plate with a double and run scored as well. Joanna Cirrincione, Kaitlyn Plocinski, Lydia Goble, and Kelcie LaTour all added hits as well. 
 
Game One (W, 2-0)
Game one was a quiet game that saw pitching rule supreme as Lipovsky and AU's Laney Jones allowed just nine hits in the contest and two total runs.
 
After the Eagles tallied two hits in the first there wasn't another multi-hit inning for either team until GVSU made their push in the bottom of the sixth. Their two runs with an inning to go turned out to be the game-winners as it was the only frame to feature any scoring. 
 
Rhynard drew a one-out walk before stealing second with two away to put a runner in scoring position. Holmen then delivered a single to center before Rhynard made a great slide into home to score the first – and what would eventually be – game winning run. Plocinski then singled down the right field line as Holmen scored from second after moving up on the throw that tried to get Rhynard. 
 
Lipovsky would tally a strikeout, pop out, and groundout to end the game and secure the victory for the Lakers. 
 
Game Two (L, 6-1)
Ashland would get ahead early in game two with a two-run homer in the top of the first inning, which would ultimately turn out to be the game-winning hit as the Laker offense just couldn't get anything going off of Ashland's Hanna Stroe. 
 
The Laker offense would tally just two hits in the first five innings while the Eagles managed to push across three runs in the third before adding another seventh. GVSU would tack on their first run in the bottom of the final inning but would eventually fall, 6-1. 
 
GVSU will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they host Saginaw Valley State for a doubleheader at 1 and 3 PM.