Lopes sweep WAC weekly awards

The Grand Canyon softball pair of sophomore Ryan Denhart and senior Shea Smith swept the WAC weekly awards, the conference office announced Monday.

Denhart is the WAC Pitcher of the Week and Smith is the WAC Hitter of the Week following GCU's 6-0 performance.

The Lopes shut out Lehigh in a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday before earning two pairs of wins over Ohio State and Weber State at the GCU Invitational. The Buckeyes entered the tournament receiving votes in last week's national poll.

A native of Los Alamitos, Calif., Denhart earned her first WAC weekly award after going 3-0 in 12 1/3 innings of work with an ERA of 0.57. The right-handed pitcher allowed just one earned run and six hits, while holding the opposition to an average of .140.

Denhart's first outing was a complete-game two-hitter against Lehigh on Wednesday. She came back in relief for Brianna Aguilar against Ohio State on Saturday to earn the win and shut down Weber State by dishing four scoreless innings on Sunday.

Hailing from Waddell, Ariz., Smith earned her second WAC weekly award of the season and fifth of her career after leading the Lopes offense to the undefeated week. The shortstop hit .450 on the week with eight runs, two doubles, a home run, four RBIs and a stolen base.

Smith held a slugging percentage of .700 and an on-base percentage of .500 over six games while tallying three multi-hit performances.

The Lopes open WAC play on Friday against Utah Valley at GCU Softball Stadium. The first pitch of the doubleheader is set for 5 p.m. (Phoenix time).

Grand Canyon University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Brianna Aguilar

Ryan Denhart

Shea Smith

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