INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The eighth-seeded Trevecca Nazarene University softball team (45-17) finished another great season at the NCAA DII Midwest Region 1 Championship. The Trojans finish as runners up in the Midwest Region 1 with a pair of losses (4-2, 2-1) to the fourth-seeded Grand Valley State University (41-11) on Saturday. The NCAA Division II Midwest Regional #1 was played at UIndy's Baumgartner Field. 

Trevecca upset the top-seeded University of Indianapolis (50-4), 2-1 in nine innings, in the opening round on Thursday. They went on to defeat Grand Valley State, 5-1, on Friday. Grand Valley bumped to the loser's bracket and eliminated the top-seeded host, University of Indianapolis, with a 5-4 victory and came back to top Trevecca in two games for the final.

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The Lakers are now 3-1 in the all-time series vs Trevecca. The teams played earlier this season with GVSU winning 4-3 at the PFX Spring Games in Clermont, Fla. on March 10th. 

The Lakers were an at-large selection to the regional after finishing second in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season.

The Lakers defeated the University of Southern Indiana (35-20), 4-3, in the first game of the regional on Thursday. They scored a run, a walk-off walk, in the bottom of the seventh to avoid extra innings. 

GAME ONE RECAP

Grand Valley plated the first run in the top of the third inning. Trevecca answered with a run in the bottom of the third, 1-1. GVSU put the leading run over in the fourth, 2-1, and TNU tied it again in the sixth, 2-2. GVSU brought in two runs in the top of the seventh to secure their lead and eventual win, 4-2.

Ansley Brantley (SR/Kite, Ga.) reached on a muffed throw to first in the bottom of the third inning. She advanced on a SAC bunt from Danielle Tyson (SO/Smithville, Tenn.) and scored on a SAC bunt from Alex Richardson (JR/Ten Mile, Tenn.) in the squeeze play.

Three hits in the fourth produced a run for Grand Valley. 

Richardson walked in the sixth. A Shelby Andrews (SR/Dyersburg, Tenn.) single advanced her to second. Caitlyn Hudgins (FR/Springfield, TN) reached on fielder's choice and no out was made to load the bases for TNU. A SAC fly from Collins sent Richardson tagging back and sliding into home. Richardson executed the slide perfectly to score safely.

One hit for the Lakers and two Trojan errors resulted in two runs for GVSU. The Trojans were unable to produce runs in the bottom of the seventh giving Grand Valley the win, 4-2.

Haley Fagan (SR/Cornersville, Tenn.) (36-12) pitched a complete game taking the loss with five strikeouts, one walk and letting four runs on nine hits. 

Lipovsky (11-1) pitched a complete game for GVSU to take the win with four strikeouts.

Collins was 1-2 with an RBI. 

GAME TWO RECAP

Both teams scored their first runs via the solo home run, Grand Valley in the third and Trevecca in the fourth. Grand Valley scored the go ahead run in the sixth inning to win it, 2-1.

Sammie Jo Ivy (SO/Enville, Tenn. ) hit the solo home run to tie it for TNU in the fourth. 

The Lakers produced the final run on two hits in the sixth inning.

The Trojans put up a strong defense behind the work of Haley Fagan's (36-13) seven strikeouts.

TNU totaled three hits to GVSU's four. Niether team had any errors.  

The Midwest 2 Regional was hosted by second-seeded University of Missouri - St. Louis. GLIAC-champ Wayne State University (50-8) took the Midwest Region 2 Championship with a 3-1 showing, defeating Maryville in the final game, 1-0 (8 inn.). 

Grand Valley State will go on to face Wayne State in a best-of-three series at the NCAA Midwest Super Regional May 11-12. The winner of that series will advance to the NCAA D-II Championships in Denver, Colo., May 17-21.