Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics
Grand Canyon improved its conference lead to four games after taking down second-place Nevada 4-3, Thursday night.
GCU (37-2, 10-0 MW) won thanks to the long ball, as GCU hit two home runs to take leads at different points in the game. The Lopes also received 4 1/3 innings of solid relief work from freshman Abi Jones, who just last week won MW Freshman of the Week.
Jones has three wins in the last four games moving to 6-1 on the season in her freshman campaign, only starting one game all year.
Grand Canyon struck first in an expected pitcher’s duel between each team’s best starters this season. The Lopes began with Vickers in the circle, who leads the team in ERA and has the best record (10-1) in the conference. Nevada threw their ace as well in Tess Bumiller.
Senior designated player Emily Gonzalez powered out an opposite-field blast just over the wall in right field to give the Lopes a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.
Nevada answered with a solo shot themselves in the next half inning. Wolf Pack leadoff batter Madison Clark reached on an infield single on a high-chopping slap that she was able to beat with her speed. She then stole second, making her way to third on an errant throw from Lucas at catcher. The sequence was eerily similar to GCU’s Savannah Kirk’s seemingly daily sequence in 2025.
The difference was Grand Canyon’s bench challenged that Clark left early from first on the steal attempt. Their assumption was correct and Clark was called out. The call saved a run, as a couple pitches later Hannah Di Genova, the MW home run leader hit a line drive that barely made its way over the center field fence to knot the game at one.
GCU answered back in the form of Trinity Martin, as the graduate left fielder hit a moonshot to right field, scoring two and hand-delivering the Lopes a 3-1 lead. Martin leads the team in home runs (11), hitting clean-up Thursday for the first time this season. Trinity has seven home runs in the last seven conference games.
“Trin made some really good adjustments,” said head coach Shanon Hays. “She has such talent and pop, so to see it coming together has been really fun to watch.”
Martin added the Lopes fourth and final run two innings later, lasering a double to left-center field to score Sydney McCray from second base after the senior earned her second stolen base of the game.
McCray is 24/24 on stolen bases this year, the most in the country without being caught.
Nevada provided a late scare in the top of the seventh, when Clark hit through the GCU defensive shift that put right fielder Addison Shifflett at first base as a fifth infielder, leaving right field empty. It is a defensive shift that the Lopes have used double-digit times this season and successfully at that.
Clark was the first batter to truly beat it with a hard ground ball through the right side that reached the wall and gave her a stand-up RBI triple. Clark scored the third run on a Katelyn Wetteland RBI single.
With two outs and the tying run on first base, the Lopes went to senior Taryn Batterton for the final out and she delivered. Batterton queued up a strikeout looking, giving GCU the win.
“I thought we hit the ball hard and truthfully should have put a couple more runs on the board tonight,” said Hays. “Luckily our pitching showed up against a great hitting team. Any time you can be 10-0 in a league like this, you have to be proud of your girls and how they consistently find ways to win.”
Grand Canyon and Nevada are right back at it Friday night at 7 p.m. for game two. Watch in person at GCU Softball Stadium or tune in live on AZ Family Sports or MW Network.
