Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics
A record crowd of 1,906 fans came to watch an undefeated Grand Canyon softball team play a top-25 game Tuesday night at GCU Softball Stadium.
After No. 21 Oklahoma State delivered No. 22 GCU’s first loss of the season, they all seemingly still wanted to see the Lopes as hundreds lined up for postgame autographs.
The scene was a testament to GCU’s six weeks of work to become the nation’s last undefeated team. Tuesday’s 10-5 defeat was a cruel fate for how the game unfolded.
The Lopes (30-1) certainly would take back many of their mistakes, but the one that was out of their control flipped momentum like a switch.
With the Cowgirls (19-9) leading 4-3 in the top of the sixth, GCU freshman right-hander Abi Jones ripped an 0-2, two-out, center-cut pitch and took off her mask off as she headed for her jubilant dugout. But the pitch was called a ball, drawing a circle visit from Lopes head coach Shanon Hays to simultaneously and heatedly protest the call.
On two of the next three pitches, Oklahoma State punched an RBI single and a two-run home run to change the complexion of the game with a 7-3 lead.
The Lopes team that had been repeatedly clutch through 30 wins, including six one-run victories, did not recover despite scoring five runs off All-America second-team pitcher Ruby Meylan, who had not yielded that many in any of her last 11 outings.
“That happens sometimes, and then it makes it a 2-2 count where we’ve got to go after a good hitter,” Hays said. “She knows she’s probably going to get something in the zone, and she made it count. Then the momentum flips. We’ve got to be good enough to turn the momentum back in our favor.
“We were all celebrating because it’s a 4-3 game, and one swing of the bat can win it for you.”
In a planned staff outing, GCU sophomore Oakley Vickers opened with two no-hit innings that she closed by inducing foul fly outs on consecutive pitches. Already with more innings this season (55) than last season (47 1/3), the left-hander dropped her ERA to 1.27.
The top of the Lopes’ lineup applied pressure on the Cowgirls to create the first run, when senior center fielder Sydney McCray drew a full-count walk and a hit-and-run play turned freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf’s grounder into an infield single.
On a night when sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper reached base four times, she was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no out. But GCU came away with only one run on an infield error before two of Meylan’s eight strikeouts killed the rally.
“That’s a high-dollar NIL pitcher, and she gave us opportunities,” Hays said. “I was disappointed that we didn’t take advantage of more of those opportunities. We left too many runners on early, and we allowed her to get a rhythm. A good pitcher like that, you better get her when she doesn’t have a rhythm.The Lopes increased their lead to 3-0 in the second inning when junior third baseman Mackenzie Nolan masterfully worked an 0-2 count into a leadoff walk. After a McCray infield single and Holtorf walk, Cooper pounded a high-hopping double over the third baseman for her 30th and 31 RBIs in 31 games.
The first of two three-run home runs by Oklahoma State designated player Amanda Hasler tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning, when Rose Davis also fought off an inside pitch for a two-out RBI single and 4-3 Cowgirls lead.
It was Davis again in the tide-turning sixth inning, which was extended on the RBI single before she added her fifth home run on the next pitch. Hasler’s second three-run homer rolled that Cowgirls cushion to 10-3 in the seventh inning before GCU tightened the final score. Freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett fouled off three pitches to a pitch that she ripped for her fifth home run, cutting the damage to 10-5″Going 30-0 is great, but at the end of the day, everybody has to lose some time,” McCray said. “We didn’t want to lose. We’d rather have gotten beat, which we did. We played our hearts out. We fought to the last pitch. I’m proud of this team. I always will be. It’s going to help us. We had to get the first loss out of the way some time, so I’m excited to see how we come out this weekend to play and our next midweek against UofA.
“Everything didn’t go our way, but we’re a team full of heart. We’re a team that loves to have fun and compete. Nobody can take that from us.”
Meylan logged her 57th career win, but GCU reached base 12 times to score five runs. She hit Cooper twice, walked her once and gave up a hit in her other plate appearance.
“I feel like our team is set up to face the better arms more than the teams who try to thumb us and go off-speed with us a lot,” Hays said. “If we can keep growing and find a way to make it the postseason, we’re going to see teams like that, the top-15 teams, and it won’t be something new for us.”
With runners in scoring position, the Lopes went 1 for 10 to make it difficult to keep up with the Cowgirls’ scoring. GCU had not surrendered 10 runs in a game since April 2023.
And until Oklahoma State’s four-run sixth inning, the game was trending toward late dramatics to match with the electricity of a crowd that topped last season’s record crowd of 1,687 fans against Arizona, another loss to ranked team that was more competitive than the final score (7-3 in eight innings) suggested.
“It was awesome,” Hays said. “The energy was just magnificent. Obviously, you want to pull those games out and not give those games away. But we played great team. To play in front of that atmosphere makes you want to keep doing it more and more.”
GCU stays home for its second Mountain West weekend series against San José State before another getting another ranked foe next Tuesday at No. 12 Arizona.
“We came out ready to compete,” McCray said. “At the end of the day, this game will help us grow to compete against other tough competition. It was nice to play a team that we have to do everything and execute properly, so we know better how to execute next time.”
