ALLENDALE—The Grand Valley State softball team returns home for a pair of doubleheaders this week at the GVSU Softball Field.
 
The Lakers are set to face Northwood at 3 p.m. on Tuesday for a doubleheader and will take on Wayne State at 3 p.m. on Wednesday for their first action of the year against the Warriors.
 
SCOUTING THE TIMBERWOLVES
Northwood and the Lakers squared off earlier this season during The Spring Games and the Timberwolves won the game by a score of, 9-4.
 
Overall, Northwood comes into the matchup with a 24-13 record, including an 8-4 mark in G-MAC play.
 
Ashley Ziel leads the Timberwolves on offense, leading the team with a .389 batting average and six home runs. Delanie Gale leads the Timberwolves with 31 RBI on the season. The Northwood offense leads the G-MAC in runs scored this season with 208. 
 
Hailey Leister has been in the circle for nearly half of the innings pitched by the Timberwolves' pitching staff. She holds a 1.31 ERA and has struck out 102 batters this season. She leads the G-MAC in shutouts with seven, victories with 15 and WHIP, holding a 0.76 mark in that stat category.
 
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
Wayne State comes into Wednesday's contests with a 12-18 record and a 2-8 record in GLIAC play. The Warriors' only two GLIAC wins have come against Davenport and Parkside.
 
Becky Hodder leads the Warriors in batting average, hitting .395 on the season. She also leads Wayne State with 20 RBI and five stolen bases. Taryn Peru leads Wayne State in home runs with five home runs on the season.
 
Hayden Batton leads the way in the circle for Wayne State. She leads the team with a 2.91 ERA and 54 strikeouts. Sasha Buckberger has also thrown over 70 innings for Wayne State and she holds a 4.71 ERA on the season.
 
GLIAC PITCHER OF THE WEEK… AGAIN
Hannah Beatus earned her fourth GLIAC Pitcher of the Week honor, the conference announced on Monday.
 
Beatus was stellar for the Lakers last week, pitching in four games and starting in three of them. 
 
Beatus was the winning pitcher in each of her four appearances for GVSU. She totaled 23 innings of work over four games, tossing three complete games. Beatus struck out 27 batters to extend her GLIAC lead. She gave up six earned runs, which marked her first earned runs given up this season. 
 
She came into Saturday's second game against Saginaw Valley State in relief and shut down the Cardinals to help the Lakers come back from a five-run deficit. In four innings of relief against the Cardinals, Beatus allowed just two hits and issued two walks.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
The Lakers are one of the top teams in the country when it comes to two major statistical categories.
 
GVSU is No. 6 in the nation in batting average, hitting it at a .358 clip. The Laker pitching staff has the ninth-best ERA in the country with a 1.63 ERA.
 
The Lakers are leading the GLIAC in batting average (.358), ERA (1.63), fielding percentage (.975), on-base percentage (.420), scoring (6.39 runs/game), slugging percentage (.459) and WHIP (1.05).
 
Lydia Goble leads the GLIAC in batting average, hitting at a .489 clip. Morgan Wagner and Joanna Cirrincione are second and third in the conference, hitting .469 and .436, respectively.
 
In the circle, Hannah Beatus is third in the nation in ERA, holding a 0.55 ERA so far this season. She also leads the GLIAC in strikeouts with 85 and WHIP with a 0.70 mark.