Lopes fall to Hawkeyes in extras

Monday, March 12

Phoenix, Ariz.

7:00 PM

Grand Canyon

16-14

Iowa

9-8

University of Iowa

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Slaven Gujic

3/12/2018 9:17:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Morrison dishes four strikeouts

By: Sarah Woodward

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Freshman Yesenia Morrison dished out four strikeouts through five innings of work on Monday night, but the Grand Canyon softball team surrendered an eight-inning game to Iowa, 6-5, at GCU Softball Stadium. The Lopes fell to 16-14 on the year, while Iowa advanced to 9-8.

"This one hurts because we gave it up in the seventh," head coach Ann Pierson said. "We have to figure out a way to close the door late in the game. What that comes down to is very poor game management and allowing runners to move up on bases with mistakes and allowing the tying run to get into position.

"We have to do a better job of understanding what the situation is and not allowing a team to gain momentum just because we're not clamping down on the game. We still have to do better with our runners in scoring position. We get overly cautious at the plate and we should be just the opposite.

"We have a lot of work to do," Pierson said. "We're hoping that this has been a kick in the head learning experience that's going to help us down the road, not only this weekend with four tough teams, but certainly when we head into conference play in the next couple of weeks."

Senior Niki Gonzalez was 2-4 on the night with two runs and an RBI, including a solo home run in the bottom of the third. Sophomore Jordon Keeton was 2-3 with two RBI and a double.

Iowa put a pair of runs on the board right away in the top of the first frame to take the lead, 2-0. It wasn't until the bottom of the third when Gonzalez hit a solo home run to cut the deficit, followed by an RBI double from Keeton that sent Sierra Smith home for the game-tying run. The yard ball is the sixth for Gonzalez this season.

A throwing error from the Hawkeyes allowed Sierra Smith to reach base, sending Gonzalez and pinch runner Katelyn Acton home for the 4-2 lead.

Keeton hit an RBI single up the middle to send pinch runner Taylor Tetone home from second to give GCU a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Iowa came through with three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game, 5-5, and shut the Lopes down in order to push the extra innings.

The Hawkeyes added a run to their resume in the top of the eighth, and the Lopes couldn't overcome and the game was ended after eight with GCU trailing, 6-5.

GCU takes to the road this weekend for its final tournament of the non-conference season. The Lopes will square off with Nebraska, Ohio State, DePaul and Cal State Fullerton on Friday, March 16 and Saturday, March 17.