GCU travels to Utah for final games of the season

GCU UTAH ROAD TRIP \| MAY 2-3 \|Salt Lake City/Provo, Utah
UTAH UTES 30-9 (12-4 PAC-12) Stats .pdf Link GAME NOTES	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES 36-15 (11-4 WAC) Stats .pdf Link GAME NOTES
HOW TO FOLLOW Pac-12 \| Game 2 Pac-12 \| Live Stats Live Stats \| @GCUSoftball
Schedule vs. Utah \| Tuesday, May 2 - 3:00 p.m. \| Tuesday, May 2 TBD


BYU COUGARS 36-10 (9-0 WCC) Stats .pdf Link GAME NOTES	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES 36-15 (11-4 WAC) Stats .pdf Link GAME NOTES
HOW TO FOLLOW The W.TV \| Live Stats Live Stats \| @GCUSoftball
Schedule vs. BYU \| Wednesday, May 3 10 - 5:00 p.m.

Fresh off their last WAC games of the season and a Co-WAC champion crowning, the GCU softball team will travel to Utah for the last games of the season. The Lopes will first travel to Salt Lake City to take on No. 10 Utah Utes in a doubleheader showdown. Next, they will go to Provo and take on the No. 21 BYU Cougars for the season finale.

The first games of the road trip will be played on May 1 at 3:00 p.m. MST with the second game of the doubleheader following short after. The game against BYU will begin at 5:00 p.m. MST before the Lopes come home for good.

THE RUN DOWN

The Lopes 36 wins are the most in a season since transitioning to Division I.

GCU as a team top the WAC leader board in every aspect of the game. The Lopes lead in Batting average (3.24), ERA (2.80) and Fielding Percentage (.970). Other stats and players that top the WAC include: Runs Scored (290) and Doubles (88). Niki Gonzalez leads in doubles (16).

The Lopes pitching trio hold three of the top four spots in the WAC in ERA Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage leads with a 2.86 ERA, Home runs allowed (2) and Triples allowed (0). Mariah Valencia is third in ERA (3.33) and also leads in Runs Allowed (48) while Taylor Nowlin is fourth in ERA (3.35) and also leads the conference in Wins (19), Strikeouts (153) and Opponent Batting Average (.238).

GCU continues to rank nationally on the NCAA leader boards. Nikki Gonzalez is tied for No. 15 in doubles (16). As a team the Lopes are first in Doubles with 88 and second in Doubles Per Game (1.73) as well as being tied for No. 8 in Batting Average at .332.

Sophomore Sierra Smith was honored as WAC Hitter of the week after having a hit in all three games, including hits in each of her first five at-bats. Smith hit .600 with a 1.300 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage. She broke a GCU Division I single-game record eight RBIs and had the biggest homer of her career, a three-run bomb that gave GCU the lead for good and secured the share of the WAC regular-season title..

For the first time in the softball program's Division I history, GCU received Top 25 votes in the ESPN.COM/USA Softball national poll. In Week 5, the Lopes received two votes after improving to 23-4 in the Stanford Easton Classic.

Last time out
The Lopes claimed a share of the WAC Championship after and winning the series against defending champs, New Mexico State. Game one was all Lopes in a 14-8 win while game two was claimed by the Aggies by way of a 13-5 win. The Lopes bounced back in a big way and clinched the series with a 13-10 win in an instant WAC classic.

Sierra Smith led the offense while hitting .600 and had a GCU Division I record eight RBI. Megan Stevens, Nikki Gonzalez, Smith and Bianca Boling all had home runs during the doubleheader and combined for 10 of the Lopes 18 runs during the two games.

Sizing up the Opponents

Utah Notables

The Lopes and Utes met for the first time in 2014 when Utah swept GCU in three games.
Their No. 10 ranking in the NFCA/USA Today polls is their highest ranking of the season.
Utah are one of seven Pac-12 teams in the top-25 nationally in RPI.
Hannah Flippen leads the Utes offense with a .445 average and a .525 on-base percentage. She also has 42 RBI, scored 34 runs and has nine doubles.
Katie Donovan the pitching staff with 13 wins and 98 strikeouts while Hailey Hilburn leads in ERA at 1.32.

BYU Notables

The Cougars are in the midst of a 15 game win streak and is the only team that is undefeated in WCC play (9-0).
BYU pitcher McKenna Bull has gone a program record 36.2 innings without allowing a run.
GCU and BYU faced each other for the first time last season when the Cougars came away with a 4-0 victory as part of the Demarini Desert Classic in Las Vegas.
The Cougars currently sit at No. 21 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll and have been ranked for a program record nine straight weeks.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Brianna Aguilar

Bianca Boling

Niki Gonzalez

Taylor Nowlin

Shea Smith

Sierra Smith

Megan Stevens

Mariah Valencia

Camree Wartman

Grand Canyon University Athletics