Upcoming Event: Softball versus Southern Utah on February 6, 2026 at 4 p.m.
Softball
4 p.m.
vs Southern Utah
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, February 12
Phoenix, Ariz.
2:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
1-0
18
vs
0
UMBC
0-2
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Maryland -BC
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Grand Canyon
9
4
3
2
X
18
23
1
Lopes start hot with opening day sweep
2/12/2016 10:19:00 PM | Softball
PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon softball team took both games in a doubleheader with UMBC and Idaho State on Friday. The Lopes routed UMBC,18-0 the first game in five innings and downed Idaho State, 6-3 in seven.
Game 1: The Lopes struck first and never looked back as they notched a team-high nine runs with 10 hits in the first inning of the 2016 season. Shea Smith set off a chain reaction with a double bag hit and stole third. Nichole Newbury followed suit with a single, but a UMBC error at second allowed Smith to round home plate for the Lopes first run of the game. From then on, GCUs bats were hot, recording an impressive 23 hits for a total of 18 runs. Taylor Nowlin and Bailey Bergman commanded the circle for a combined five strikeouts and allowed no hits, runs or walks for the entire contest. Nowlin drew the start and shut down UMBC for three innings. Bergman didn't miss a beat continuing to stump a Retriever offense that would never get started.
Game 2: GCU's pitching and defense continued to have a strong showing in the second game of the doubleheader. Senior Kailey Register pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and allowed just two walks. Yet again, the first inning would prove the most productive for the Lopes as leadoff batter, Shea Smith continued her hitting ways and doubled for the third time Friday. Nichole Newbury followed with a single and an RBI and scored Smith for the first run of the game. The Lopes proceed to post three more runs with the next following Madelyn Dowdle's sacrifice fly to left field to give Newbury the advantage. With Camree Wartman still on base after a single bag hit, Briielle Breland smashed a double to score Wartman and garner the third run and fourth hit of the inning.
But Idaho State wouldn't go quietly and posted a late seventh inning rally for a combined three runs off of a triple to right field to push within three with two outs left. Regester and the defense proved resilient in the final at bats as the Bengals grounded to the short stop for the second out of the inning. Regester would carry on with patience and poise and strike out the final Idaho State batter and post her first pitching victory on the year.
Up Next: The Lopes return to action Saturday for Day 2 of the GCU Kickoff Tournament. Game two against UMBC and Idaho State are set for 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. MT.
Quote of the game:
Ann Pierson
"It's always great to get your first two wins. I was really pleased to see a bunch of freshman get their first hits out of the way and under their belts. We ran the bases really well, aggressive, we hit the ball, and we were moving runners all day. So I was happy with that. I was really pleased with our defense. Two really good teams that we saw today and I feel that we stayed with our game plan to just attack these teams and get on the ahead and just keep throwing more runs on them and not settling. The pitching was outstanding, Taylor (Nowlin) just locked in for game one, Bailey (Bergman) came in and was phenomenal and this is Kailey's (Register) first complete game since way back last spring, so it was good to see. Kendsey Hill was phenomenal behind the plate. Throwing out really fast runners and shutting down that game and just really managing the pace of the game. I was really happy and pleased overall and super excited about tomorrow."
Game 1: The Lopes struck first and never looked back as they notched a team-high nine runs with 10 hits in the first inning of the 2016 season. Shea Smith set off a chain reaction with a double bag hit and stole third. Nichole Newbury followed suit with a single, but a UMBC error at second allowed Smith to round home plate for the Lopes first run of the game. From then on, GCUs bats were hot, recording an impressive 23 hits for a total of 18 runs. Taylor Nowlin and Bailey Bergman commanded the circle for a combined five strikeouts and allowed no hits, runs or walks for the entire contest. Nowlin drew the start and shut down UMBC for three innings. Bergman didn't miss a beat continuing to stump a Retriever offense that would never get started.
Game 2: GCU's pitching and defense continued to have a strong showing in the second game of the doubleheader. Senior Kailey Register pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts and allowed just two walks. Yet again, the first inning would prove the most productive for the Lopes as leadoff batter, Shea Smith continued her hitting ways and doubled for the third time Friday. Nichole Newbury followed with a single and an RBI and scored Smith for the first run of the game. The Lopes proceed to post three more runs with the next following Madelyn Dowdle's sacrifice fly to left field to give Newbury the advantage. With Camree Wartman still on base after a single bag hit, Briielle Breland smashed a double to score Wartman and garner the third run and fourth hit of the inning.
But Idaho State wouldn't go quietly and posted a late seventh inning rally for a combined three runs off of a triple to right field to push within three with two outs left. Regester and the defense proved resilient in the final at bats as the Bengals grounded to the short stop for the second out of the inning. Regester would carry on with patience and poise and strike out the final Idaho State batter and post her first pitching victory on the year.
Up Next: The Lopes return to action Saturday for Day 2 of the GCU Kickoff Tournament. Game two against UMBC and Idaho State are set for 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. MT.
Quote of the game:
Ann Pierson
"It's always great to get your first two wins. I was really pleased to see a bunch of freshman get their first hits out of the way and under their belts. We ran the bases really well, aggressive, we hit the ball, and we were moving runners all day. So I was happy with that. I was really pleased with our defense. Two really good teams that we saw today and I feel that we stayed with our game plan to just attack these teams and get on the ahead and just keep throwing more runs on them and not settling. The pitching was outstanding, Taylor (Nowlin) just locked in for game one, Bailey (Bergman) came in and was phenomenal and this is Kailey's (Register) first complete game since way back last spring, so it was good to see. Kendsey Hill was phenomenal behind the plate. Throwing out really fast runners and shutting down that game and just really managing the pace of the game. I was really happy and pleased overall and super excited about tomorrow."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bergman, Bailey (1-0)
L: Puccio (0-1)
Base Running:
HBP: O'Malley 1 ; Jackson 1 ; Sganga 1
Batting:
2B: Smith, Shea 2 ; Newbury, Nicole 2 ; Smith, Sierra 1 ; Breland, Briielle 1 ; Boling, Bianca 2 ; Hill, Kendsey 1 ; Medina, Brittany 1
RBI: Smith, Shea 3 ; Newbury, Nicole 4 ; Wartman, Camree 1 ; Smith, Sierra 1 ; Dowdle, Maddie 2 ; Breland, Briielle 1 ; Gomez, Laynee 1 ; Boling, Bianca 2 ; Hill, Kendsey 1 ; Medina, Brittany 1
SF: Gomez, Laynee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Smith, Shea 3 ; Newbury, Nicole 2 ; Wartman, Camree 1 ; Smith, Sierra 2 ; Dowdle, Maddie 2 ; Kaye, Taylor 1 ; Breland, Briielle 2 ; Gomez, Laynee 3 ; Boling, Bianca 2
SB: Smith, Shea 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
3
RBI
4
AB
3
R
3
H
3
RBI
1
AB
3
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
3
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
3B
/ Softball
2B
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballSS
/ Softball
2B
/ SoftballNew Hardware Install | Softball
Friday, August 08
Alexis Soto | on her Christian Faith
Monday, July 07
Briah Williams | Christian Faith
Monday, July 07
Alexis Soto | Ephesians 3:20
Monday, July 07