ALLENDALE, Mich. – The No. 14 Grand Valley State Lakers swept the Purdue Northwest Pride on Friday (April 30) to clinch an outright Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) regular season championship for the third straight season. The Lakers won by scores of 4-0 and 9-8 to improve to 33-7 overall and 24-4 in GLIAC play.
Hannah Beatus hurled the 23
rd recorded no-hitter in GVSU Softball history in game one, striking out nine and walking just one. She remains undefeated in GLIAC play and improved to 16-2 overall on the year.
The Lakers scored two in the first inning to give Beatus an early lead.
Nikoma Holmen laced a single into left field before a
Hannah Hollister groundout pushed a second run across. The Lakers would double their lead in the sixth when
Megan Koenigshof bowled a single up the middle then scored later in the inning on a beautiful slide to avoid the tag at the plate on a squeeze bunt by
Taylor Rieger. The win clinched at least a share of the GLIAC regular season championship for the third straight year.
The Lakers offense picked right back up in game two with a four-spot in the first inning. Holmen,
Morgan Wagner, Koenigshof and
Bailey Thatcher all singled home runs in the frame. The pride would respond with a four-run frame of their own, on just two hits, in the third inning but the Lakers immediately responded with a run in the home half with Thatcher's second RBI-single of the game.
Brooke Henning broke things open with a two-run single in the fifth and
Joanna Cirrincione followed suite with a run-scoring knock of her own one batter later. The Pride rallied back with a three-spot in the seventh but the Lakers held them at bay for the win.
Genesis Eggart (6-1) got the win, allowing six runs – five earned – on three hits and five walks while striking out three.
The Lakers are back in action Saturday to host the Davenport Panthers at 2:30 PM. Grand Valley State will celebrate three seniors finishing their Laker career this season between games. Both contests will air on ESPN3 and GVSULakers.com and @GVSUSoftball on Twitter will provide live updates and coverage links.