Lopes have tough day against No.6 Washington

Wednesday, March 22

Phoenix, Ariz.

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

25-8

No.6 Washington

25-3

Washington

Grand Canyon

3/22/2017 8:12:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery

By: Imani Suber

PHOENIX - The Grand Canyon softball program suffered a pair of tough losses at the hands of No.6 Washington on Wednesday. The Lopes fell in Game 1 to the Huskies in a 14-4 outcome and suffered just their third home loss in Game 2 at a 7-0 mark.

GCU falls to 25-9 on the year and 16-3 in GCU Softball Stadium.

How it Happened

Game 1

Despite the outcome, GCU saw positives on offense. The Lopes produced a eight hit day, led by a perfect 2-for-2 day frpm Kendsey Hill. But the Lopes were plagued by defensive woes that proved costly.

Although GCU gave up a few errors in the first inning that gave UW the early lead, GCU bounced back in the second.

In the home half of the second frame, the Lopes put up two runs from three hits to take the lead. Camree Wartman blasted the ball to right field and Laynee Gomez drew a walk to get the Lopes going. Sierra Smith rose to the occasion, hitting a bomb to left center for the RBI single to even the tally at 1-1. The Lopes weren't done as Hill followed shortly after with a rocket through the infield, plating Gomez for the go-ahead run giving GCU the lead at 2-0.

But the Huskies had enough as they answered in a big way, putting up a seven run, six hit inning to take back the lead and extend it to 8-2. While UW went on to tack on another run in the top of the fourth, the Lopes found a spark on offense in the home half of the inning.

Taylor Kaye reached first on a Huskie miscue. Gonzalez did her part sending the ball to the outfield for the sacrifice fly to score Kaye and improve the score to 8-3. GCU continued the momentum after a Loriann Olson single and a Shea Smith RBI single to move the score to 8-4.

But that would be the last run GCU pushed across as Washington added five more runs in the fifth to secure the victory at 14-4.

Kendsey HIll went a perfect 2-for-2 with one run and one RBI.

Game 2

Taylor Nowlin and the defense held UW to two scoreless innings, before the Huskies broke through in the third. Washington put up four runs off four hits to take the lead at 4-0.

The Lopes had their opportunities leaving a total of six on base. Gonzalez secured the Lopes first hit of the contest driving the ball to left field, but GCU just couldn't get her across the plate. The Lopes went on to tally four more hits, but struggled to plate runs.

Washington continued the offensive pressure securing three more runs in the fourth to extend its lead to 7-0. The GCU defense shut down the Huskie offense for the rest of the game as they held UW scoreless from the fifth inning on.

The Huskie seven run total proved too insurmountable as GCU suffered its third home loss of the year at a 7-0 outcome.

Lopes Quotes
Head coach Ann Pierson
"The positives in Game 1 was our offense. We got to see their No.1 pitcher and she's one of the best pitchers in the country for a reason. I thought we really attacked her. I felt like we were confidant, we were swinging at good pitches and I felt really good about our approach there. What wasn't good was our defense. We just had way too many mistakes. We just really have to work to clean that up. I feel like our excitement to play Washington was there, but the problem is when you play a team like that there's a very small margin of error. So we have to learn and build from this and get ready for next week."

Up Next
The Lopes travel to Tucson, Ariz. for a midweek clash with No. 5 Arizona. The Lopes will play in a doubleheader contest starting at 2 p.m. MST.