The #7 Grand Valley State softball team punched their ticket to the NCAA Midwest Super Regional Tournament next weekend with their 8-1 victory over Southern Indiana in the Midwest Region 1 championship game on Saturday afternoon (May 11). The win pushes the Lakers to a 47-8 record on the season while the Screaming Eagles close their 2019 campaign with a final 35-21 mark. 
 
With the Lakers holding the #1 seed in the region, they will now host the Super Regional Tournament where they will face the winner of Illinois-Springfield and Indianapolis, who are playing for the NCAA DII Midwest Region 2 Tournament Title this afternoon. This will be the first time since the 2016 season the Lakers will be playing in a super-regional. In their last trip, they beat Wayne State 5-4 and 1-0 for the regional crown. 
 
Senior Allison Lipovsky got the nod in the championship game and delivered another gem as she improves to 29-2 on the year after tossing a complete game and allowing just a single run. She allowed eight hits while striking out 11 Eagles compared to just two walks in her 119-pitch effort. The Laker defense was also solid behind her as they failed to commit a single error all game. 
 
The Laker offense managed to churn out eight runs on 11 hits as four Lakers tallied multi-hit games. Sophomore Bailey Thatcher led the charge in the box, going 2-4 with a team-high three RBI's while fellow sophomores Nikoma Holmen and Brooke Henning, and freshman Lydia Goble all added two hits as well. 
 
After losing a coin toss, the Lakers would play as the away team on their home field and take the first at-bats. After a couple of strikeouts, Goble nearly got the Lakers on the board in the top of the first after crushing a ball into left center that bounced off of the top of the fence and back onto the field. Despite getting the wrong hop, she managed to stretch it to a triple for the first hit of the game but was stranded at third a batter later. 
 
Lipovsky allowed just three hits in the first three innings as she found a groove early and helped the Lakers to a 1-0 lead after they got the scoring started in the top of the third with a Taylor Rieger RBI single to left to score Kaylie Rhynard from second. 
 
Holmen then doubled the lead with her 11th bomb of the season as the Lakers went up 2-0. The Screaming Eagles would answer with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth however as the Laker lead was cut back down to one, 2-1. 
 
Lipovsky found herself in a jam in the bottom of the fifth with the bases loaded and just one out recorded. A clutch strikeout and an amazing over-the-shoulder sliding catch from Flaherty in shallow left field would put an end to the threat and set the Lakers up for a four run sixth inning. 
 
With two outs, Kelcie LaTour drove a double into left center before Thatcher singled home pinch-runner Rachel Terwilliger one batter later. Henning then singled back up the middle to score Thatcher before she scored herself on a wild pitch. Flaherty then delivered an RBI double off the left field fence to score Kayla Plastiak and give the Lakers the 6-1 lead. 
 
GVSU would add two more in the top of the seventh inning thanks to a two-RBI single from Thatcher for the 8-1 lead. 
 
Lipovsky tallied her 10th and 11th K's of the day before a final fly out to Thatcher in left field secured the win for the Lakers.