Lopes go 6-0 in GCU Kickoff Tournament

Sunday, February 12

Phoenix, Ariz.

9 a.m.

Grand Canyon

5-0

Bradley

1-4

Grand Canyon

Bradley

2/12/2017 1:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery

By: Jake Hernandez

PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Grand Canyon softball team improved to 6-0 after the final day of the GCU Kickoff Tournament. The Lopes have now started the season 6-0 in consecutive seasons. Grand Canyon defeated Bradley, 5-4 in the extra inning Game 1. The Lopes followed up with a walk off, 2-1 victory over the Northern Colorado Bears in Game 2.

RHP Taylor Nowlin (4-0) tossed 4.0 innings of relief in Games 1 and 2, allowing a combined two ER with five strikeouts. RHP Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage recorded her first collegiate strikeout as the freshmen tossed 5.0 innings of one-run ball off eight hits and three strikeouts. RHP Mariah Valencia tossed 6.0 innings, allowing two earned runs off three hits and four strikeouts.

Bianca Boling recorded her first homer of the season in Game 1 against Bradley. Nikki Gonzalez combined to go 3-for-8 with a double and an RBI. Sierra Smith was 4-for-8 with a run and an RBI.

How it Happened

Game 1 | Bradley
To open the final day of the GCU Kickoff Tournament, the Lopes and Braves went extra innings in a nail bitter. The game went eight innings as Nowlin recorded her third victory of the season when the senior tossed 2.0 innings of relief.

Shea Smith got things started early for GCU with a first-pitch single up the middle. Sierra Smith followed with a single of her own before Gonzalez doubled to deep center to drive in the first run of the game. The early swinging caused Bradley to change pitchers just four batters into the start.

The Lopes would plate an additional run in the second inning to increase the lead to 2-0 after Sierra Smith singled to left center to drive in Lorainn Olson. The Braves would respond in the bottom half as a double to deep center by Megan Mahaffy drove in a runner and cut the Lopes' lead to 2-1.

The Lopes continued their offensive attack as a two-run homer by Bianca Boling,increased the GCU lead to 4-1 through a trio of innings. The Braves were able to cut the Lopes' lead to 4-2 in the sixth inning after a couple errors plated a run for Bradley. The Braves continued to battle back as a 7th inning two-run home run by Mahaffy knotted the game at 4-4.

Due to a non-conference tournament contest, the game proceeded to international tie-breaker rules in extra innings. The rule places a runner on second for each team to start the inning. The Lopes took advantage of the rule as a single up the middle by Olson scored the go-ahead run to give Grand Canyon a 5-4 victory over Bradley.

Game 2 | Northern Colorado
In Aguilar-Beaucage's second collegiate start, the freshmen tossed 5.0 innings, allowing one run off eight hits. She recorded the first strikeout of her collegiate career against Northern Colorado's Cheyenne Talmadge.

The Bears struck first in the second inning after UNC's Alex Sonoqui singled to left center to drive in the first run of the game.

Held scoreless in the first four innings, the Lopes finally got on the score board to knot it up, 1-1. A walk and a couple of singles loaded the bases for Camree Wartman who answered with a grounder to third to score Sierra Smith.

To begin the sixth inning, Nowlin entered the game in her fourth appearance of the tournament. The outing showed to be rocky for Nowlin as a hit by pitch an error put two Bears on base. She was able to escape the jam with a pop up to short and two strikeouts to keep the score even, 1-1.

In the bottom of the seventh, a couple of bunt singles stunned the Bears defense to load the bases. With no outs, GCU's Kendsey Hill hit a deep fly ball to secure the sacrifice and the walk off 2-1 win over UNC.

Lopes Quotes
Head Coach Ann Pierson
"Mariah (Valencia) threw another great game. She had a great outing to keep us in the game. I am really proud of her entire weekend. She threw very well...and actually, our entire pitching staff threw well. I am very pleased with their stamina, energy, and their ability to locate. Both catchers did a fantastic job. On both sides of the ball, I am very pleased. Solid defense throughout the entire weekend. We have a lot to work on, which is a good thing. It is good to get the first tournament under our belts with six good wins. And today there were a lot adversity in both games but it is learning curve because we are going to face adversity a lot so it is good to get tested early. Those situations are going to happen throughout the season and it is good to work on that live."

Lopes Notes

Bianca Boling recorded her first home run of the season, she went 1-for-4 with two RBI in Game 1 against Bradley.
The Lopes defeated the Braves, 5-4 in the first extra inning game of the season.
Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage recorded her first strikeout in Game 2 against Northern Colorado.
Nowlin recorded four wins in the GCU Kickoff Tournament.
The Lopes have started the season 6-0 for the second consecutive season.

Next Up
Grand Canyon will travel to Waco, Texas for a slate of five games in the Getterman Classic Tournament hosted by Baylor. The tournament kicks off on Friday, Feb. 17 as GCU meets No. 21 Baylor at 4:30 p.m. MST. The Lopes will meet three more opponents before the tourney concludes on Sunday, Feb. 19.