West Chester Faces No. 13 Grand Valley State in Elimination Game Friday Night

DENVER, CO. - West Chester University takes on No. 13 Grand Valley State in an elimination game at the NCAA Division II National Championships Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. EST. The Golden Rams dropped their opener, 3-2, in walk-off fashion Thursday afternoon against No. 18 Saint Anselm. Grand Valley State was blanked by No. 12 West Texas A&M, 1-0, in its opener Thursday.

Fans can watch Friday night's contest via the web stream by clicking HERE. The game will also be shown at Barnaby's of West Chester on S. High Street in the borough. Live stats for the game will also be available at the link above.
 
Grand Valley State (44-9) represents the most familiar opponent of the other seven schools at the national finals site. West Chester (34-15) has played the Lakers six times since 2009, winning just two of those six matchups. The two schools last met during their spring break trips to Florida for the PFX Spring Games in Clermont, Fla., in 2018.
 
WEST CHESTER ON THURSDAY: Saint Anselm's Abbie Murrell hit a ball down the right field line, scoring the winning run from third, with one out in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Hawks to a 3-2 victory over West Chester at the NCAA Division II National Championships at Assembly Athletic Complex Thursday afternoon. West Chester got a splendid pitching performance from senior righty Jen Hanshaw. Two solo home runs by Saint Anselm's Bre Klaiber was all the Hawks could muster until the seventh when a costly error opened the door for the Northeast-10 Champions.

GRAND VALLEY STATE ON THURSDAY: The No. 13 Grand Valley State Lakers fell, 1-0, in the opening round of the 2021 College World Series to the No. 12 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs Thursday at the Assembly Athletic Complex on the campus of Metro State of Denver. Hannah Beatus retired the first eight batters she faced, before an infield single, a hit batter and a ground ball single pushed across the game's only run in the third inning. Beatus allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out six, but suffered the loss.

ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR GARBER: Fifth-year Sr. 2B Bri Garber eclipsed another milestone in Thursday's loss to Saint Anselm. Garber became just the second player in PSAC history to record at least 800 at bats in a career. She has 801 official at bats, which is 10 shy of the conference's all-time record of 811 held by former Kutztown standout Maria Schiavo.

MELVIN RUNNING INTO RECORD BOOKS: So., OF Madison Melvin is literally running into the WCU softball record books with her stolen bases this spring. The speedy outfielder has stolen 29 bases in 30 attempts this year as she continues to chase Megan Kelly's single-season record of 36 steals in 2013. That puts Melvin fourth on the single-season charts. Her .967 percentage of successful steal attemps trails only Sarah Walasavage's percentage of .968 in 2016 (30 of 31) for individuals with at least 27 steal attempts.
 
MELVIN'S BATTING AVERAGE AMONG THE BEST SINGLE-SEASON MARKS IN SCHOOL HISTORY: So., OF Madison Melvin's .437 batting average this spring is the second-best mark in a year at WCU. Only former standout Sam Ingersoll (.484 in 2010) posted a higher single-season batting average. Ingersoll transferred into the program from University of North Carolina.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Grand Valley State leads, 4-2
LAST MEETING: March 10, 2018 at PFX Spring Games [Clermont, Fla.] – Grand Valley State, 11-1
NCAA TOURNAMENT OVERALL: 30-22 (10 years)
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2-7 (3 years)
WCU HEAD COACH DIANE LOKEY vs. GRAND VALLEY STATE: 2-4
GRAND VALLEY STATE HEAD COACH DANA CALLIHAN vs. WCU: 2-0
DIANE LOKEY COACHING RECORD: Overall: 619-374 [.624] (20th season);
      at WCU: 570-347 [.622] (18th season)
      in the NCAA Tournament: 30-22 (10th appearance)

• (Winningest softball head coach at WCU)
• (2 PSAC Championships [2017, 2021]; 4 PSAC Championship Game appearances [2011, 2017, 2018, 2021])
• (7 PSAC Eastern Division titles)
• (5-time PSAC East Coach of the Year)
• (10 appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament; 4 Atlantic Region Championships [2014, 2018-19, 2021)

WEST CHESTER vs AUGUSTANA (SD): would be first meeting
WEST CHESTER vs BIOLA (CALIF): would be first meeting
WEST CHESTER vs NORTH GEORGIA: 0-2 (last meeting, North Georgia [9-1] on Feb. 16, 2020)
WEST CHESTER vs SAINT ANSELM: 0-2 (last meeting, Saint Anselm [3-2] on May 27, 2021)
WEST CHESTER vs VALDOSTA STATE: would be first meeting
WEST CHESTER vs WEST TEXAS A&M: would be first meeting