Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics
LINCOLN, Neb. – After playing No. 1 Nebraska as closely as any opponent during its 23-game winning streak, Grand Canyon will get another crack at toppling the Huskers on its home field in Sunday’s NCAA Lincoln Regional final.
With Saturday night’s elimination game on the cusp of a lightning delay in extra innings, GCU struck lightning with three bolts of two-out singles that culminated in sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper’s walk-off RBI hit beating South Dakota 5-4 in eight innings. The Lopes are headed to their second regional final in three years with the task of beating No. 1 Nebraska twice on its home field Sunday.
GCU (54-8) knocked out Summit League champion South Dakota with its fifth walk-off win of the season. The Lopes had taken a 4-2, sixth-inning lead with solo home runs from junior catcher Tinley Lucas and sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond on back-to-back pitches, but South Dakota tied the game in the top of the seventh to set up GCU winning on an eighth-inning walk-off hit just like the previous Saturday’s Mountain West Championship title game.
GCU delivered three consecutive two-out singles, starting with senior center fielder Sydney McCray before freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf followed with her fourth hit, a GCU season high. Cooper, the Lopes’ RBI leader with 66, lined a 3-1 pitch up in the zone back up the middle to send McCray sliding home for the win.
The Lopes’ Sunday task will be to do what all Bowlin Stadium visitors have not done cumulatively all season – win twice. Nebraska (48-6) takes the nation’s longest active streak into the first game at noon (Phoenix time) at Bowlin Stadium, where UCLA has been the only visitor to beat the Huskers this season.
Just as it did in February with a 1-0 loss in Phoenix, South Dakota gave GCU a full-game challenge after eliminating No. 24 Louisville with a 4-2 afternoon victory.
The Lopes led 1-0 in the first inning on back-to-back doubles from freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf and Cooper, whose blast was hard enough to deflect off Coyotes third baseman Brooke Carey’s glove. Holtorf recorded GCU’s only first four-hit game of the season besides senior center fielder Sydney McCray’s four-hit game vs. Wisconsin.
Another double, a two-out rip by sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond, led to the Lopes loading the bases before South Dakota sophomore right-hander Campbell German recorded her first strikeout to leave GCU’s lead at 1-0.
South Dakota junior Kiya Johnson tied the game at 1-1 with a two-out single in the third inning, when GCU senior center fielder Sydney McCray’s off-target throw to third allowed a second run to score on the play.
GCU bounced back to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third, when an opposite-field double by graduate left fielder Trinity Martin set up the scoring opportunity. After drawing her 110th career walk, senior designated player Emily Gonzalez stunted a steal toward second to draw a throw that went well wide and allowed Martin to score.
Lopes freshman right-hander Abi Jones, who relieved sophomore starter Natalie Fritz, left a South Dakota runner on third base in the fifth inning by getting center fielder Autumn Iverson’s first out of her two-game day. With two on base in the sixth, Jones drew an inning-ending double play with Pond fielding a hot grounder, stepping on third and throwing to first.
That set up GCU’s chance for a breakthrough inning, when its record-breaking power season flexed for a critical pair of round-trippers. The previous single-season program record of 75 was buried by Lucas and Pond each belting their ninth home runs of the season to put the team’s season total at 91.
South Dakota got to Jones in the top of the seventh, when pinch-hitter Katie Hoffman delivered a one-out, two-run single to tie the game at 4-4. GCU senior Taryn Batterton entered to record the final two outs of the seventh and a shutout eighth, ultimately earning her 11th win that extended GCU’s single-season wins record to 54.
