ALLENDALE, Mich. — The two-seeded Grand Valley State softball team claimed a 1-0 win over three-seeded Saginaw Valley State in the NCAA Midwest Region No. 2 Championship game in eight innings. The Lakers advance to the NCAA Midwest Super Regional series next weekend at one-seeded Indianapolis (Thursday, May 18th – Friday, May 19th).
"We have been here before but this is not what we want," GVSU head coach Dana Callihan said. "This is not the end goal. We've got a lot more work to do so we are going to take tomorrow off. We are going to enjoy it then we are going to get back to work on Monday."
The final game was a pitchers' dual through eight innings. Grand Valley State's Hannah Beatus recorded out eight strikeouts, three walks and allowed only two hits for the Cardinals on the day.
"It's super exciting," Beatus said. "But we have to stay hungry from the things we did really well this past weekend and push it just one more step to get on top."
The Lakers had four hits in the final game, Morgan Wagner went 1-3 with a double to right field, Hannah Hollister was 1-2 with a single and Eliana Eiland went 1-3 with a hard single to the shortstop.
Heading into extra innings, Wagner walked with two outs to give the Lakers a base runner in the top of the eighth. Kelsey Komorous broke it open for Grand Valley State with a deep shot to left center for a double and plated Wagner.
"It feels amazing," Komorous said. "We fell short last year and we really want to make it back to the World Series so we came to fight."
Beatus took the Cardinals down in order in the bottom of the eighth to seal the 1-0 victory.
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