GCU Invitational set for 14 games


Grand Canyon Lopes (5-20)	vs	South Dakota Coyotes (11-15)	Lehigh Mountain Hawks (7-8)	Ohio State Buckeyes (9-9)
		Wednesday, Mar. 11 5 p.m.	Wednesday, Mar. 11 7 p.m.	Friday, Mar. 13 5:30 p.m
Game Notes		Live Video Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats

The Grand Canyon softball team hosts the GCU Invitational from Wednesday to Sunday at GCU Softball Stadium. The Lopes will kick off the tournament on Wednesday against South Dakota at 5 p.m. and then face Lehigh at 7 p.m. The Lopes also will play Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. GCU will face Pacific at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and then have a rematch with South Dakota at 6:30 p.m. GCU will conclude the tournament with Pacific on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Video will be provided on gculopes.com

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

LONG BALL: Prior to the Lopes Up Classic, GCU only had hit five home runs on the season. That number almost doubled that with four homers last weekend. Three Lopes cleared the fence during the Classic with two from freshman shortstop Kristin Fifield. Junior catcher Kaileigh Holland hit her first of the season while junior first baseman Lilly Bishop picked up her third home run of the year.
PITCHING RETURNS: The Lopes return all four of their pitchers from last season, as well as adding a freshman into the mix. Junior Ryan Denhart was named WAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
ANOTHER TOUGH SCHEDULE: GCU play 10 teams from last year's NCAA tournament this season, including one Women's College World Series participant and teams ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll.

SCOUTING

South Dakota is on a seven-game losing streak as it dropped two games to WAC opponent New Mexico State before going 0-5 at the Wildcat Invitational over the weekend. As a team, the Coyotes are hitting .279 with 103 runs, 195 hits, 93 RBIs and four home runs so far. In the circle, the Coyotes have a 4.46 ERA, giving up 209 hits, 141 runs, 108 earned runs and 24 home runs. Freshman Jordyn Pender leads South Dakota at the plate in multiple categories. She hits .391 with a slugging percentage of .536 and a .456 on-base percentage. Lauren Eamiguel is also an offensive threat, hitting .371 and with a team-high 31 hits, six doubles and 21 RBIs. On the rubber, Sarah Lisko and Alexis Devers are the Coyotes' go-to players. Lisko has a team high of 66 innings pitched with five complete games. She also has a record of 7-3 with an ERA of 3.61. Devers has a team-best 3.39 ERA in 53 2/3 innings pitched and a record of 2-5.

Lehigh started out the season at the Citrus Blossom where they went 3-2. One of their wins was over SJU who GCU also beat. In their second tournament of the season, the NC State Invitational, Lehigh took down No.24/25 James Madison 6-2. Most recently the Hawks took down WAC opponent New Mexico State 7-4 at the ASU Invitational where they went 1-4. Freshman Emily Cimino is the biggest offense threat for the Mountain Hawks as she leads them in every offensive category. She is hitting .333 with a slugging percentage of .689 and an on base of .375. Cimino has a team high of 11 RBIs and four home runs. Carley Barjaktarovich is also an offensive threat for the 'Yotes as she is hitting .340 with a team high of 16 hits. In the circle senior Parker Boyd has a team low of 3.35 ERA in 54.1 innings pitched. She has thrown five complete games and one shutout. Boyd has a record of 5-5 and a team best of 46 strikeouts.

Ohio State comes into the GCU Invitational hitting .290 with a slugging percentage of .462 and an on base of .344. They have totaled 86 runs on 145 hits and 79 RBIs. Ohio State has hit 26 doubles and 18 home runs so far in 2020. They opened the season 3-1 at the Carolina Classic only dropping to No.23 South Carolina on opening day. Recently they were at the ASU Invitational where they went 3-2 where they took down Lehigh in five innings on Monday. Freshman Avery Clark leads the Buckeyes in just about every offensive category. She is hitting .444 with a slugging percentage of .778 and an on base of .492. The freshman has started in all 18 games and has a team high of five home runs and 24 hits. In nine starts Ashley Prange has hit four home runs and has eight RBI. She is hitting .484 with an on base percentage of .515 and a slugging of .935. On the rubber Payton Buresh has thrown the most innings with 81. The junior has a record of 7-4 with an ERA of 1.99. She has thrown eight complete games and two shutouts while striking out 49 batters and allowing 73 hits.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU went 1-4 in the Lopes Up Classic, defeating Saint Joseph's 4-3. Junior pitcher Lexy Coons went the distance in the win for the Lopes. Despite falling 1-0 to Montana junior pitcher Ryan Denhart also threw a complete game and only gave up four-hits in the loss. GCU also went into extra innings with UNLV on Sunday afternoon.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Lopes will begin WAC play as they host Kansas City on March 20th in a double header beginning at 5 p.m. and then Sunday at 6 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lilly Bishop

Lexy Coons

Ryan Denhart

Kristin Fifield

Kaileigh Holland

Grand Canyon University Athletics