On Wednesday afternoon, the Grand Valley State University softball team hosted Lake Superior State University in a doubleheader for its first home games of the 2014 season.

In the first of the two games, GVSU sophomore Sara Andrasik took to the circle with hopes of extending the team’s streak of three straight scoreless games.

It appeared that the streak would continue in game one, until LSSU picked up a run in the sixth inning. Despite the sole run allowed, Andrasik still picked up the win as she pitched a complete seven-inning game with four strikeouts while giving up just three hits in the 13-1 win.

“Sara did a nice job of keeping the hitters off stride,” coach Doug Woods said. “She stayed consistent throughout the game, which was key to her getting the outs that she needed.”

The Laker bats were hot right from the start, as they tallied runs in every inning but the fifth. None was bigger than senior Briauna Taylor’s two-run shot to left-center field in the third inning, which pushed the Laker lead to 4-0.

It was Taylor’s 30th career home run, which ranks fourth all time in program history.

The team’s top four hitters (freshman Jenna Lenza, freshman Kelsey Dominguez, Taylor, and senior Miranda Cleary) went 9-18, with three doubles, one homer, six total runs and 10 RBIs.

“That’s probably where the strength of our lineup is, and they proved it,” Woods said. “I think that they feed off of each other, it was great to see them all going at once. I was looking for it in their second game, however.”

It was a completely different story in the second game as GVSU struggled to get anything going offensively. In fact, the team’s first hit didn’t come until Lenza hit a single in the fourth inning.

Luckily for GVSU, junior starter Lauren Gevaart was in complete control on the mound.

“You have to credit our defense; they did a great job of backing me up throughout the game,” Gevaart said. “Staying calm in tight situations and trusting your defense had a lot to do with my performance today.”

A big reason for GVSU’s ineffectiveness at the plate was due to Taylor’s absence. She had a school-related function around the start of the nightcap.

“Briauna is graduating and will be soon getting into our nursing program. She had a meeting that she had to attend and it was something that she couldn’t miss,” Woods said. “We would’ve loved to have her here for the second game, but it’s academics, and you have to take care of that first.”

The Laker bats, which were quiet through the first seven innings, came to life in the bottom of the eighth inning of the 0-0 game when Lenza hit a line drive to deep-right center, just over the center fielder’s head.

Next up was Dominguez, who stepped up to the plate and hit a gapper for the walk-off RBI.

“I was just trying to tell myself that I needed to get something going for us offensively,” Lenza said. “Any sort of spark was what I was hoping for. Thankfully I got the hit that we needed and my teammates stepped up and finished it off for us.”

Next up for GVSU is a three-game homestand this this weekend against a trio of GLIAC foes.