#10 Grand Valley State tallied a GLIAC DH sweep at Northwood (8-0, 11-6) Friday (April 26) afternoon and in the process claimed the 2019 GLIAC Regualr Season Softball Championship. The Lakers are now 40-8 overall and 24-6 in GLIAC action. GVSU, which will be the top seed at the GLIAC Tournament, has now won three consecutive GLIAC regular season crowns. 

Game 1
It took a while for the Laker offense to get going, but two runs in the top of the fourth and six in the top of the fifth proved to be too much for the Timberwolves. Laker ace Allison Lipovsky upped her record to 23-2 on the year with the 2-hit shutout. Lipovsky struck out six and walked just one in the 5-inning, run rule game. The Lakers scored two runs on three hits in the top of the fourth, highlighted by a bases loaded 2-run single by RF Joanna Cirrincione that scored LF Bailey Thatcher and SS Shannon Flaherty.

The flood gates opened in the top of the fifth Nikoma Holmen followed a Lydia Goble single with a HR to center. Flaherty hit a 2-run blast to right, scoring Brooke Henning who was a pinch runner for Kelcie LaTour who walked. GVSU added a pair of  unearned runs with two outs for the final margin. 

Holmen was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, while Flaherty and Cirrincione each plated a pair. C Morgan Wagner was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Lipovsky yielded just two hits with six strikeouts in 5.0 innings or work. 

Game 2
The Lakers scored early and often in the opening two frames to give freshman hurler Samantha Gehrls some comfort. GVSU plated five in the top of the first and added three more in the top of the second to take an 8-0 lead. Goble doubled home C Kaylie Rhynard  who opened the game with a single. Holmen plated Goble with a single and Thatcher singled to put two aboard. Flaherty then blasted a 3-run HR to right to up the Laker lead to 5-0. Goble then joined the HR parade with a 3-run shot to center to up the lead to 8-0. Cirrincione and Rhynard singled prior to the HR. Henning drove in Thatcher who opened the top of the fifth with a double to give the Lakers a 9-0 lead. Gehrls did not allow a hit through the first four innings, but Northwood scored six in the bottom of the fifth to stay alive. 

Leading 9-6, Rhynard reached on an error and Taylor Rieger followed with a 2-run HR to left to give the Lakers an 11-6 lead. Gehrls yielded just two hits in the final two frames to up her season record to 9-2. 

Rhynard, Rieger, Goble, Holmen, Thatcher and Flaherty each collected two hits, while Goble drove in four and Flaherty three. Gehrls went the distance, yielding six runs on six hits with seven strikeouts.