Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics
Most teams win some and lose some. The Lopes win most and lose every once in a while. Friday night was every once in a while, as second-place Nevada held off GCU’s late rally to win 4-3.
A four-run second inning for the Wolf Pack proved to be enough as a slow night at the plate for the GCU offense kept them from ever reaching the four-run mark.
Senior Taryn Batterton earned her first loss of the season in the circle, as the starter lasted just an inning, when she allowed three consecutive hits to start the second inning. Junior Maggie Place inherited the busy basepaths, allowing another two runs to cross home plate, with the runs being attributed to Batterton.
Sophomore Oakley Vickers pitched three innings of scoreless relief, followed up by Alina Satcher and Lilly Camp who combined for five outs and kept the Wolf pack at four runs through the seventh frame.
The Wolf Pack outhit GCU 10-4 on the night, while also leaving 11 runners on base. GCU received its first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore Jada Cooper hit a big fly to center field. Her 11th bomb of the season seemed to spark something in the offense, as Emily Gonzalez doubled a couple batters later to bring freshman Addison Shifflett to third base after she was hit by pitch.
With runners on second and third and just one out, juniors Tinley Lucas and Mackenzie Nolan both went down swinging to end the inning.
The very same tandem stepped up in the seventh, when GCU made one final ditch effort to come all the way back down three. Lucas sent a charge to the opposite field, lining a two-run homer over the fence to bring the game within one run and still no outs. She scored freshman Morgan Campbell who pinch ran for the senior Gonzalez who had walked to start the inning.
Nolan followed the home run up with a line-drive double down the left field line, putting the tying run in scoring position with still zero outs. Ellie Pond pinch ran for Nolan as redshirt-freshman Haley Wilkinson stepped to the plate.
Wilkinson did her job, dropping a perfect sacrifice bunt down to move Pond to third base, also flipping the lineup over to Sydney McCray at the leadoff spot. The senior McCray, most known for her slapping abilities, swung away in her at-bat, something she has added to her repertoire this season. With a 2-1 count, McCray popped the ball up to shallow center where Nevada’s Bailie Clark awaited the ball.
Clark received it and fired a ball on line towards home plate as Pond tagged and was attempting to score from third. The ball beat Pond by a step and a half and the tag was applied successfully. A review was held to check for obstruction, as Nevada catcher Karolyn Glover certainly blocked the plate for part of the play. However, Glover had enough time to move part of her body out of the basepath and make the play, as the call on the field stood.
Nevada was in dire need of the win, as a loss would have put them five games behind the Lopes in the conference race for the No. 1 seed. GCU dropped to 10-1 in conference, now holding a three game lead on the Wolf Pack and UNLV, who both sit at 7-4 in MW play.
Grand Canyon entered the game at No. 27 in the national RPI rankings, the best ranking in program history. They will now come back Saturday at 1 p.m. in hopes to salvage the series against Nevada. Tune in on AZ Family Sports and MW Network if you cannot join in person.
