Upcoming Event: Softball versus Pima CC on September 30, 2025 at 6 p.m.
Softball
6 p.m.
vs Pima CC
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Wednesday, May 8
Phoenix, Ariz.
5:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
31-22
9
vs
5
CSU Bakersfield
14-31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
CSU Bakersfield
0
2
0
0
0
2
1
5
11
0
Grand Canyon
3
0
0
2
4
0
X
9
9
0
Photo by: Gillian Rea
GCU powers way to opening win
5/8/2019 8:03:00 PM | Softball
Lopes match season best with 3 home runs
The Grand Canyon softball team powered its way to a 9-5 win over CSU Bakersfield in the opening round of the WAC Tournament on Wednesday night.
The third-seeded Lopes (31-22) matched their season high with three home runs and advanced to face second-seeded New Mexico State (31-20) in a 1:30 p.m. Thursday game at GCU Softball Stadium.
Lopes freshman second baseman Savannah Tourville recorded her first career multi-home run game, including a three-run shot that put GCU on the board in the first inning and a fifth-inning grand slam to seal the win.
"It was great," Tourville said. "It was pretty amazing coming out here and just helping the team. To get on the board is huge, give some support to the pitchers."
Sophomore Lilly Bishop added to her résumé against the Roadrunners (14-31). After a two-homer game against CSU Bakersfield on April 5, Bishop hit a fourth-inning homer in the first-round victory.
GCU hoped to be spectating on Wednesday with a first-round bye, but the Lopes got the next-best thing in the form of a running start and a win under their belts before they face their championship round opponent from last season.
"I mean, it's huge to get on the board first," Lopes head coach Ann Pierson said. "It's huge to get on the board in the first inning."
Back-to-back singles set up Tourville's first home run to put GCU in front 3-0. Tourville quickly shook off a 1-for-10 weekend in Kansas City to go 2 for 3 with 7 RBIs in the Lopes' win.
"Savannah's been battling and battling," Pierson said. "She broke out in a big way tonight and obviously we needed that run support. Same thing with Lilly. They've been working on their approach, working on their eye at the plate and putting good swings on it. They stayed committed to that and obviously it showed up tonight."
Tourville's second blast turned a 5-2 lead into a 9-2 lead, insurance that would prove useful when CSUB scored three late runs to narrow the deficit.
"I knew the first one was gone," Tourville said. "The second one, I was hoping, it was crazy. It was very cool to be out there in the middle of everything for the whole team."
Coming off a no-hitter that capped the regular season, junior pitcher Brianna Aguilar earned the win. Bakersfield scored twice in the second inning, but Aguilar posted scoreless frames otherwise.
Lopes sophomore pitcher Lexy Coons finished off the evening by working herself out of trouble. With the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Coons drew three consecutive outs to end the frame.
"Lexy's been a rock all season," Pierson said. "We had already had the plan that we were going to go to Lexy and get her a little bit of an opportunity. Just maybe shake the nerves off, get on the stage for the tournament. Regardless of what Bo (Aguilar) was doing, we were going to go to Lexy just for that opportunity."
GCU improved its perfect record against CSU Bakersfield to 4-0 on the season.
Alongside Tourville, junior right fielder Loriann Olson and senior left fielder Maddie Dowdle checked in with multi-hit efforts.
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The third-seeded Lopes (31-22) matched their season high with three home runs and advanced to face second-seeded New Mexico State (31-20) in a 1:30 p.m. Thursday game at GCU Softball Stadium.
Lopes freshman second baseman Savannah Tourville recorded her first career multi-home run game, including a three-run shot that put GCU on the board in the first inning and a fifth-inning grand slam to seal the win.
"It was great," Tourville said. "It was pretty amazing coming out here and just helping the team. To get on the board is huge, give some support to the pitchers."
Sophomore Lilly Bishop added to her résumé against the Roadrunners (14-31). After a two-homer game against CSU Bakersfield on April 5, Bishop hit a fourth-inning homer in the first-round victory.
GCU hoped to be spectating on Wednesday with a first-round bye, but the Lopes got the next-best thing in the form of a running start and a win under their belts before they face their championship round opponent from last season.
"I mean, it's huge to get on the board first," Lopes head coach Ann Pierson said. "It's huge to get on the board in the first inning."
Back-to-back singles set up Tourville's first home run to put GCU in front 3-0. Tourville quickly shook off a 1-for-10 weekend in Kansas City to go 2 for 3 with 7 RBIs in the Lopes' win.
"Savannah's been battling and battling," Pierson said. "She broke out in a big way tonight and obviously we needed that run support. Same thing with Lilly. They've been working on their approach, working on their eye at the plate and putting good swings on it. They stayed committed to that and obviously it showed up tonight."
Tourville's second blast turned a 5-2 lead into a 9-2 lead, insurance that would prove useful when CSUB scored three late runs to narrow the deficit.
"I knew the first one was gone," Tourville said. "The second one, I was hoping, it was crazy. It was very cool to be out there in the middle of everything for the whole team."
Coming off a no-hitter that capped the regular season, junior pitcher Brianna Aguilar earned the win. Bakersfield scored twice in the second inning, but Aguilar posted scoreless frames otherwise.
Lopes sophomore pitcher Lexy Coons finished off the evening by working herself out of trouble. With the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Coons drew three consecutive outs to end the frame.
"Lexy's been a rock all season," Pierson said. "We had already had the plan that we were going to go to Lexy and get her a little bit of an opportunity. Just maybe shake the nerves off, get on the stage for the tournament. Regardless of what Bo (Aguilar) was doing, we were going to go to Lexy just for that opportunity."
GCU improved its perfect record against CSU Bakersfield to 4-0 on the season.
Alongside Tourville, junior right fielder Loriann Olson and senior left fielder Maddie Dowdle checked in with multi-hit efforts.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Aguilar, Brianna (8-5)
L: Azevedo, Kiara (6-7)
Batting:
3B: Curran, Cydney 1
HR: Curry, Nicole 1
RBI: Johnson, Paige 2 ; Curry, Nicole 1 ; Curran, Cydney 2
SF: Johnson, Paige 1 ; Curran, Cydney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Curry, Nicole 1 ; Wiseman, Karah 1 ; Pech, Samantha 1 ; Miller, Ally 1 ; Curran, Cydney 1
Batting:
HR: Tourville, Savannah 2 ; Bishop, Lilly 1
RBI: Tourville, Savannah 7 ; Bishop, Lilly 2
SH: Dietrich, Kaylee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Smith, Shea 1 ; Olson, Loriann 2 ; Smith, Sierra 2 ; Tourville, Savannah 2 ; Dowdle, Maddie 1 ; Bishop, Lilly 1
HBP: Smith, Sierra 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
7
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P/UTL
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballINF
/ SoftballINF
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