Softball season has finally come for Grand Valley State, this weekend the Lakers participated in their season opening matchups. GVSU split both days of the Lewis Dome tournament on Friday Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22, making their season begin with a record of 2-2. The Lakers played the William Jewell Cardinals and the Winona State Warriors on Friday then moved to face off against the Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars and the Lindenwood Lions the next day.

The Cardinals were the first team that the Lakers faced up against this season, where they ultimately lost 4-3. Freshman Ashley Platek had her pitching debut for the Lakers where she struck out seven players and had five scoreless frames in a row. Nikoma Holmen hit her first home run of the season as well, knocking in two runs in the bottom of the fifth. However, these performances would not be enough to overcome the 4 runs that the Cardinals had already scored in the first two innings.

The second match-up on Friday was against the Warriors, where GVSU was able to secure their first win of the season. The Lakers started off strong with a homerun in the top of the first inning from Lydia Goble. Holmen had two RBIs this game to help lead the team with scoring.  The freshman sophomore Hannah Beatus had 11 strikeouts, a career high for her during her first game back on the mound. The Lakers were able to end the game winning 5-1.

The first day of the tournament started with GVSU winning against the Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars with the score of 8-1. The Lakers had a quick start in the game with Holmen, Globe and Taylor Rieger knocking in two runs each, two of these being from a homerun from Reiger this being her first of the season. Kayla Plastiak and Kelcie LaTour were also able to add a run each to the Lakers score. Hannah Beatus was able to secure her second win with 10 strikeouts, in total this weekend she pitched 21 strikeouts over the past two days.

The final game of the day was against the Lindenwood Lions in a tight game. The score was scoreless for both teams until the eighth inning where GVSU would break through and score their first run, which was quickly answered by Lindenwood scoring during the bottom of the inning as well. The game would stay tied until the bottom of the 10th inning where the Lions were able to send another run in, ending the game 2-1.  

“We need to clean up our defense a bit, we made some key errors that hurt us,” said GVSU coach Dana Callihan. “I was very pleased with our pitching. Both pitchers threw very well and kept up in both games. We just didn’t get some timely hits when we needed them.”