Completed Event: Softball at Arizona State on October 15, 2025 ,
Softball
at Arizona State
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, May 11
Las Cruces, N.M.
6:00 PM
Grand Canyon
31-27
14
vs
5
UMKC
15-40
1
2
3
4
5
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
2
1
0
8
3
14
16
0
Kansas City
5
0
0
0
0
5
7
2
Photo by: Jaime Guzman
Lopes headed to 1st WAC Championship
5/11/2018 8:48:00 PM | Softball
GCU downs #6 UMKC to advance
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – A dominating 14-5 victory over #6 Kansas City (15-41, 2-13 WAC) sent the No. 4 Grand Canyon softball team to its first-ever Western Athletic Conference tournament championship on Friday night at NM State Softball Complex.
The Lopes (31-27, 8-6 WAC) tallied 32 runs in a pair of come-from-behind victories in its two semifinal games to reach the tournament finale against #1 New Mexico State.
"Just a great day," head coach Ann Pierson said. "We're so excited to be going into championship Saturday against New Mexico State, which is going to be an awesome battle as it always is with them.
"Bobo (Aguilar-Beaucage) came out and she was our horse today, as she's been. I'm really proud of the grit and tenacity that she threw.
"Our bats just exploded today," Pierson said. "I feel like I could name everybody one through nine, including the kids that came off the bench. We're excited to be moving on. We'll go rest up and we're hoping for two big battles tomorrow."
The Lopes took an early two-run lead with an RBI double from Sierra Smith and an RBI base hit from Bianca Boling to go ahead, 2-0.
The Roos answered back with a trio of home runs to lead, 5-2, in the bottom of the first.
GCU used an RBI groundout to come within two, sending Kendsey Hill home to plate a run in the top of the second.
An RBI double from Madelyn Dowdle brought Shea Smith home and the Lopes within one, 5-4. Laynee Gomez continued the momentum with a 2 RBI triple to the right center fence to put the Lopes back on top, 6-5.
Loriann Olson, Niki Gonzalez and Sierra Smith padded the score with a trio of RBI doubles to the center field fence to put GCU ahead, 9-5. Boling continued with a 2 RBI home run, her eighth of the season, to put GCU ahead, 11-5, in the top of the fourth.
Another 2 RBI double from Gonzalez and a bouncing RBI single from Boling plated three to give GCU a 14-5 advantage heading to the bottom of the fifth. A pair of groundouts and a strikeout from Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage (13-15) ended the Roos season and sent the Lopes to their first WAC Championship ever.
GCU will face #1 New Mexico State at Noon (MST) tomorrow in the championship finale. The Lopes need to win the first game to force a second for a chance to win the tournament.
The Lopes (31-27, 8-6 WAC) tallied 32 runs in a pair of come-from-behind victories in its two semifinal games to reach the tournament finale against #1 New Mexico State.
"Just a great day," head coach Ann Pierson said. "We're so excited to be going into championship Saturday against New Mexico State, which is going to be an awesome battle as it always is with them.
"Bobo (Aguilar-Beaucage) came out and she was our horse today, as she's been. I'm really proud of the grit and tenacity that she threw.
"Our bats just exploded today," Pierson said. "I feel like I could name everybody one through nine, including the kids that came off the bench. We're excited to be moving on. We'll go rest up and we're hoping for two big battles tomorrow."
The Lopes took an early two-run lead with an RBI double from Sierra Smith and an RBI base hit from Bianca Boling to go ahead, 2-0.
The Roos answered back with a trio of home runs to lead, 5-2, in the bottom of the first.
GCU used an RBI groundout to come within two, sending Kendsey Hill home to plate a run in the top of the second.
An RBI double from Madelyn Dowdle brought Shea Smith home and the Lopes within one, 5-4. Laynee Gomez continued the momentum with a 2 RBI triple to the right center fence to put the Lopes back on top, 6-5.
Loriann Olson, Niki Gonzalez and Sierra Smith padded the score with a trio of RBI doubles to the center field fence to put GCU ahead, 9-5. Boling continued with a 2 RBI home run, her eighth of the season, to put GCU ahead, 11-5, in the top of the fourth.
Another 2 RBI double from Gonzalez and a bouncing RBI single from Boling plated three to give GCU a 14-5 advantage heading to the bottom of the fifth. A pair of groundouts and a strikeout from Brianna Aguilar-Beaucage (13-15) ended the Roos season and sent the Lopes to their first WAC Championship ever.
GCU will face #1 New Mexico State at Noon (MST) tomorrow in the championship finale. The Lopes need to win the first game to force a second for a chance to win the tournament.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Aguilar, Brianna (13-5)
L: Fluehr, Olivia (8-11)
Batting:
2B: Olson, Loriann 1 ; Gonzalez, Niki 2 ; Smith, Sierra 3 ; Dowdle, Maddie 1 ; Hill, Kendsey 1
3B: Gomez, Laynee 1
HR: Boling, Bianca 1
RBI: Gomez, Laynee 3 ; Olson, Loriann 1 ; Gonzalez, Niki 3 ; Smith, Sierra 2 ; Boling, Bianca 4 ; Dowdle, Maddie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gomez, Laynee 1 ; Olson, Loriann 3 ; Gonzalez, Niki 1 ; Acton, Kate 1 ; Smith, Sierra 2 ; Boling, Bianca 1 ; Smith, Shea 1 ; Dowdle, Maddie 1 ; Hill, Kendsey 1 ; Kaye, Taylor 2
Batting:
2B: O'Brien, Ashlin 1
HR: Goodwin, Kelsey 1 ; Rollow, Maegan 1 ; Bloom, Alyx 1
RBI: Goodwin, Kelsey 2 ; Rollow, Maegan 2 ; Bloom, Alyx 1
Base Running:
RUNS: O'Brien, Ashlin 1 ; Goodwin, Kelsey 1 ; Fluehr, Olivia 1 ; Rollow, Maegan 1 ; Bloom, Alyx 1
HBP: Willis, Faith 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
2
H
4
RBI
2
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
4
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
P/UTL
/ Softball1B
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballC
/ Softball
C
/ Softball2B/OF
/ Softball
SS
/ SoftballUTL
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