Lopes head west for Easton Invitational

PHOENIX -- The Grand Canyon softball team closes its 2018 tournament schedule with a road trip to Fullerton, California. The Lopes square off with Big Ten foe Nebraska and Ohio State on Friday, March 16, and DePaul and host-school CSU-Fulleton on Saturday, March 17. All games will be broadcast live by FloSoftball.

GCU vs Nebraska
Game Details	Friday, March 16 \| 12:30 p.m. (MST) \| Fullerton, Calif.
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| FloSoftball
GCU Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Notes
Nebraska Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule

GCU vs Ohio State
Game Details	Friday, March 16 \| 3:00 p.m. (MST) \| Fullerton, Calif.
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| FloSoftball
GCU Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Notes
Ohio State Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule

GCU vs DePaul
Game Details	Saturday, March 17 \| 10:30 a.m. (MST) \| Fullerton, Calif.
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| FloSoftball
GCU Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Notes
DePaul Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule

GCU vs CSU-Fullerton
Game Details	Saturday, March 17 \| 1:00 p.m. (MST) \| Fullerton, Calif.
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| FloSoftball
GCU Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule \| Notes
Fullerton Links	News \| Roster \| Schedule

NOTABLES

Grand Canyon begins its first season as a fully eligible Division I program in 2018, as the Lopes look to secure the first berth to an NCAA competition in GCU softball history. GCU claimed the regular-season WAC title last year and look to do the same this season.
The Lopes return 15 players from last year's conference champion squad, including seven position starters and one starting pitcher in sophomore Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage. Aguilar-Beaucage spent time over the summer competing with Team Canada at both the Canada Cup and the 2017 WBSC Junior Women's Softball World Championship. She looks to bea threat for the Lopes on the mound.
GCU also returns the pair of Shea and Sierra Smith, who led the Lopes in hitting with averages of .364 and .349, respectively. The duo will be a strong asset to GCU on both offense and defense this season, as Shea held a fielding percentage of .942 and Sierra was at .967 in 2017.
GCU opened the season with a 3-3 record in the brand new GCU Softball Stadium, as the Lopes welcomed 1,249 fans on opening day and a record-high 1,403 fans the next day vs. #1 Oklahoma. Sierra Smith hit a grand slam and the first home run inside the GCU Softball Stadium on Thursday night versus Montana, while Niki Gonzalez added her own yard ball on Sunday afternoon against Weber State.
GCU was picked to win the WAC title by the league's head coaches, announced by the conference last week. The quad of Aguilar-Beaucage, both Smith sisters and Hill received Preseason All-WAC nods as well. Grand Canyon had the most preseason all-WAC honorees of any of the six teams in the conference.
Sophomore pitcher Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage earned her second WAC Pitcher of the Week accolade after dishing out 19 strikeouts and just one walk last week, while holding an ERA of 1.85 thanks to a pair of one-hitters against Georgetown and Iowa.
Junior Sierra Smith holds a 14-game hit streak dating back to her two-hit game against Houston Baptist on February 25. She had a season-high four-hit performance against Syracuse at the Mary Nutter tournament earlier this season.

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Players Mentioned

Brianna Aguilar

Niki Gonzalez

Sierra Smith

Grand Canyon University Athletics