Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics
LINCOLN, Neb. – The NCAA Softball Championship Subcommittee did not deem Grand Canyon’s program-record 52 wins worthy of being a regional’s second seed.
It might have thought differently of No. 25 GCU after the Lopes opened the NCAA Lincoln Regional with a 5-1 victory against No. 24 Louisville, the regional’s second seed, on Friday at Bowlin Stadium.
Lopes sophomore left-hander Oakley Vickers, the Mountain West Championship Most Valuable Player, continued her dominant postseason by shutting out the nation’s 11th-best hitting team for the first five innings and throwing a 4-hit complete game. It was Vickers’ second career complete game after throwing her first in Saturday’s must-win Mountain West Championship game. Over her last three outtings, Vickers had a string of 14 consecutive shutout innings to move to 16-4 on the season.
Playing the nation’s only top-25 regional opener for the second consecutive year, the Lopes (53-8) started their fifth consecutive regional appearnace with a win for the second time (defeated UCLA 3-2 as a regional fourth seed in 2023). It extended the program single-season wins record and sent GCU to a Saturday winner’s bracket matchup at 10 a.m. (Phoenix time) with the late Friday winner of No. 1 Nebraska and Summit League champion South Dakota.
GCU long ago passed its program single-season home run record of 75 but added round-trippers No. 88 and No. 89 in recording a regional win for the fourth consecutive season. The Lopes pouunced on Louisville senior ace Alyssa Zabala with two first-inning runs before later adding solo home runs by senior center fielder Sydney McCray and senior designated player Emily Gonzalez.
From the leadoff spot, McCray was a menace for the Cardinals all game. She reached base in all four plate appearances, starting with her speed hurrying Louisville shortstop Taylor Monroe into an error on the game’s first pitch. Freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf followed with an infield single before graduate left fielder Trinity Martin rocketed a one-out single off the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead.
GCU freshman right fielder Addison Shiflett continued her postseason tear, spotting Vickers a 2-0 lead before she entered the circle. Connecting on her eighth extra-base hit in her last 11 hits, Shiflett ripped an inside pitch down the right-field line for a RBI double.
The Lopes provided more run support, but that was all Vickers needed Friday, when she struck out nine batters, one shy of her season high. When Louisville threatened with a one-out hit batsman and bunt single, Vickers struck out consecutive batters, including All-ACC first-teamer Bri Dispenes.
McCray stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second inning with her fourth run, a slapped opposite-field shot to give her four home runs this season – two inside-the-park and two over-the-fence home runs.
Gonzalez’s 15th double of the season prompted Louisville to pull Zabala in the third innning, and Gonzalez padded the Lopes’ lead to 4-0 with a solo home run to right-center field on the sixth inning’s first pitch.
Lucas added a one-out, sixth-inning double for the Lopes’ fifth extra-base hit, but GCU could not bring her home to leave the lead at 4-0.
Louisville avoided the shutout with sophomore left fielder Madison Pickens’ 11th home run of the season in the sixth inning, but GCU answered with its last run on sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper’s RBI sacrifice fly that scored McCray in the top of the seventh. McCray had singled, stole second for her 39th steal of the season and took third on an errant throw.
