Lopes sweep tournament, improve to 6-0

Sunday, February 14

Phoenix, Ariz.

9:00 a.m.

Grand Canyon

6-0

Idaho State

0-0-5

Idaho State

Grand Canyon

2/14/2016 4:40:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Imani Suber

PHOENIX - The Lopes explosive offense was the story of the weekend for The Second Annual GCU Kickoff Tournament. Grand Canyon run-ruled their opponents in six different outings to combine for 68 runs including seven home runs, with three shut-out victories over UMBC and Loyola Marymount.

In the final day of tournament play, the Lopes defeated Idaho State, 12-4 and shut out Loyola Marymount, 8-0 in five innings and improved to 6-0.

How it happened: On Sunday morning, the GCU softball team downed Idaho State, 9-7 in their third meeting of the weekend. In a hard fought contest on the field, the Lopes had another outstanding first inning where they posted six runs with four off of Jamilia Cosay's grand slam homer in the first inning to add to the three runs already accumulated from the earlier at bats in the inning. GCU opened the second inning up 6-0 over the Bengals.

Bailey Bergman got her second start of the tourney and produced a solid outing in the circle in the early innings. In the third, Cosay and Nikki Gonzalez started the inning off with one base hit a piece. They advanced to second and third after Kendsey Hill's sacrifice bunt to place them in prime scoring position. Shea Smith knocked a ball to center field to score Cosay. Gonzalez would score on the next play.

In a close call, the Lopes were able to solidify the victory in the seventh inning. With only a one point lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, Camree Wartman got off to a good start and singled to first base. Briielle Breland struck next with a double and brought Wartman in for the run, improving the score to 9-7.

In the final inning, GCU's defensive effort halted the Bengal's comeback. Although, the Lopes allowed one walk, Sierra Smith snagged a fly ball for the first out. On a fielder's choice, the Lopes put out ISU's Mariah Mulcahy at second to snag out two. In Idaho States final stand, Kailey Register struck out the final batter to claim the sweep.
With the three game sweep, the Lopes now lead ISU 3-1 in the all-time series.

Game 2: Taylor Nowlin pitched a no-hitter, Cosay and Wartman knocked it out of the park and the Lopes posted their third shutout. GCU claimed their sixth win off of the 8-0 rout of undefeated Loyola Marymount in the final game of the GCU Kickoff Tournament.

GCU tallied three runs early when Sierra smith hit a triple followed by Wartman's homer in the first. With the early 3-0 lead, the Lopes offensive prowess forced a pitching change with Cosay up to face fresh pitcher Rachel Farrington from Loyola. With the pop up from Cosay the Lions held GCU to three runs, their lowest run total in the first inning of the weekend.

GCU would go on to pick up runs in the bottom of the second from Briielle Breland's single which scored Nicole Newbury who occupied third base. With Cosay leading off the bottom of the third, she homered for the second time Sunday grabbing her fifth RBI of the day. With a 5-0 lead heading into the fourth, the Lopes kept at their hitting ways, loading the bases. Shea Smith doubled to left to bring in two teammates for a double RBI, pushing the score to 7-0. The lady Lopes shut down the game in the fifth inning with four hits and three runs to cap off the undefeated weekend.

Defensively, the Lopes garnered their second shutout of the weekend allowing zero hits with 14 put outs.
With the win, the Lopes sit at 3-1 in the all-time series against Loyola Marymount.

In the circle: Junior pitcher Taylor Nowlin had a stellar day, pitching her first no-hitter of the season, striking out every leadoff batter in the process. She thwarted the Lions offensive attack and garnered three strikeouts from 15 at bats and walked only one player.
Bailey Bergman and Kailey Regester had strong outings in game three against Idaho State. They allowed only four runs, walked three and struck out six.
On Friday, Nowlin and Bergman combined for a no-hitter in the team's 18-0 rout of UMBC.

Quotes of the day:
Ann Pierson
"Really happy with the weekend. Anytime you can go 6-0, no complaints. We had to face some adversity a little bit again today and it's good for us to work through it because we're going to see how tough we are and where we need to make those adjustments. I really saw people set up. It was fun to watch the ball go out of the park after the first day and a lot of great base running, defense was solid. I look forward to Las Vegas and throwing some more kids out.

(on P Taylor Nowlin's no-hitter performance against Loyola Marymount) "Taylor threw well the whole weekend and to finish out the weekend with a no hitter is very special. Those are hard to come by. That's her working ahead, it's her hitting her spots, and it's the defense backing her up and her having the confidence in the defense to do that. So, we're really proud of her for her first no-hitter of the year and we're hoping we are going to have more to come."

Stat Sheet:
-The Lopes combined for 29 runs in the first inning alone during opening weekend.
-Garnered 65 runs from 86 hits and seven homers.
-GCU outscored their opponents by a stunning count of 68-19.
-With six wins, GCU set a new tournament record.
-GCU posted a team high 18 runs for the first time in Division I play.
-Notched seven home runs, two apiece for Fr. Jamilia Cosay and Jr. Camree Wartman.
-Fr Nikki Gonzalez posted her first career two-run walk-off home run.
-Fr Shea Smith had a team leading 11 runs with 22 at bats and eight RBIs. She posted a .545 batting average in her first weekend of collegiate play.
- Taylor Nowlin pitched her first no-hitter of the season. Nowlin is now 41 strikeouts shy of the Lopes all-time record.

Up Next: The Lopes head to Las Vegas in their first road trip of the season to play in Demarini Desert Classic in Las Vegas next Friday, Feb. 19 –Sunday, Feb. 21. BYU, Utah State, Hawaii, Weber State, Colorado State and UT El Paso round out the slate of opponents for the weekend. The Lopes will play BYU first, first pitch is set for 9:00 a.m. MT.