GCU opens season with Utah


Grand Canyon Lopes (0-0)	vs.	Utah Utes (0-0)	Weber State Wildcats (0-0)	Montana Grizzlies (0-0)
		Thursday, Feb. 11 6 p.m.	Friday, Feb. 12 3 p.m.	Friday, Feb. 12 5:30 p.m.
Game Notes		Live Video Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats	Live Video Live Stats

The Grand Canyon softball team hosts Utah in its season opener before welcoming Montana, Weber State and Oregon at the GCU Kickoff Classic. The Lopes take on Utah on Thursday at 6 p.m. at GCU Softball Stadium. GCU kicks off the tournament Friday against Weber State at 3 p.m. and Montana at 5:30 p.m. The Lopes also will play Oregon at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Video will be streamed on gculopes.com

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

PRESEASON ALL-WAC: The Lopes placed two senior players on the Preseason All-WAC team: Ryan Denhart and Kaylee Dietrich. Denhart also was voted the WAC's 2019 Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
VETERAN CORE RETURNS: Four Arizonans and three Californians enter their final seasons in GCU uniforms. Lexy Coons and Ryan Denhart are back in the circle for the Lopes. Coons enters her senior season with a career ERA of 2.76 in 202 2/3 innings pitched. She has 139 strikeouts and a record of 16-10. In her two seasons with the Lopes, Denhart has an overall ERA of 3.31 with 187 innings pitched. She has 108 strikeouts and a record of 14-11. Behind the plate, Kaileigh Holland and Kaylee Dietrich have been reliable to say the least. Holland has played in 89 games for GCU with a batting average of .260. She has a total of 33 RBI and six home runs. In 97 games, Dietrich posted a .246 batting average with 31 RBI and 49 hits. Christine Bellavia has been the Lopes main pinch-runner for the past three seasons. First baseman Lilly Bishop has played two seasons as a Lope, posting a .486 slugging percentage with 44 RBI, nine home runs in 76 games. Rounding out the upperclassmen is graduate transfer Tabitha Dyer, who comes to GCU after being a standout pitcher and utility player for Penn.
ANOTHER TOUGH SCHEDULE: When the Lopes get the season underway on Thursday, GCU will be playing another difficult schedule. The Lopes will host seven powerhouses, including Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. In 2020, the Lopes faced Texas Tech, Stanford, Baylor and Boise Sate before the season was cut short.

SCOUTING

Utah posted a 14-4 record in 2020 with losses to ranked opponents Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. In their season opener, the Utes took down Northwestern and won their next four games. Right-handed pitcher Sydney Sandez was the Utes ace in the circle with an 11-3 record and a 2.42 ERA in 16 appearances. Sandez threw a team-high 69 1/3 innings with three complete games and 35 strikeouts. Senior outfielder Alyssa Barrera started all 18 games with a .421 batting average. Barrera hit four home runs and had an on-base percentage of .491. Phoenix native Haley Denning had a team high in runs scored with 19and was a perfect 12-12 on stolen bases. Sophomore Madi Jacobus tied for the team best with 17 RBI.

Montana comes into the 2021 season after being 12-12 a season ago. The Grizzlies opened up the 2020 season 4-1 at the Louisiana Tech Big Easy Classic with their only loss to No. 18 Texas Tech. The Grizzlies posted a 2.55 ERA. In 164 2/3 innings, they struck out 150. At the plate, Montana hit .243 with 90 runs scored. Infielder Maygen McGrath posted a team-best .338 batting average with six home runs and 15 RBI. Senior Cami Sellers was the only Griz player to start all 24 games and hit .297 with a team-high 131 putouts. Michaela Hood had a team-best ERA of 2.13 in 75 2/3 innings pitched and collected 71 strikeouts. Tristin Achenbach totaled the most innings pitched with 81 2/3 and a team-best record of 9-6.

Weber State was 10-14 last year and on a two-game win streak when the season ended. Weber State opened its season at the GCU Kickoff Tournament against New Mexico, GCU and Stanford. The Wildcats went 3-2 on the weekend, only losing to Stanford. The Wildcats hit .270 with 15 home runs and 29 doubles in 24 games. In the circle, the Wildcats posted a team ERA of 5.84 with 83 strikeouts in 154 innings. Middle infielder Faith Hoe started all 24 games and had a team-high batting average of .347 with 15 RBI. Her twin, Lauren, made 19 starts, hit .347 and had a team-high slugging percentage of .755 with six home runs. Sophomore Mariah Ramirez led the Wildcats in the circle, posting a team-best 3.04 ERA with five complete games and 32 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings.

Oregon comes into the GCU Kickoff Tournament after a 22-2 season in 2020 and No. 10 national ranking. The Ducks' two losses came at the Tulsa/OSU Invitational, where they fell to Louisville and No. 15 Oklahoma State. Oregon run-ruled seven of 24 opponents. The Ducks bring back three top seniors: Maddie Hopper, Samaria Diaz and Haley Cruz. Outfielder Hayley Cruz made 24 starts and led Oregon in almost every offensive category. Cruz hit .457 was 15 for 15 in stolen bases. Rachel Cid also made 24 starts, hitting .387 with a .707 slugging percentage and a team-high seven home runs. Diaz had a team-low ERA of 1.00 with 53 strikeouts in 42 innings. Junior Brooke Yanez hauled the most innings on the rubber with 62 2/3 and carried a 1.56 ERA with a team-best record of 9-1 and 94 strikeouts.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU hosted the GCU Invitational in March of 2020, when they opened the tournament 2-0. The Lopes started the day with a 9-0 win against Lehigh on Denhart's no-hitter. They followed that performance with a 16-7 win over South Dakota. In the two games, the Lopes totaled 17 hits.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Lopes will play at San Diego and UC San Diego on Feb. 20 and Feb. 21, respectively.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

LAST TIME OUT

WHAT'S NEXT

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Christine Bellavia

Lilly Bishop

Lexy Coons

Ryan Denhart

Kaylee Dietrich

Tabitha Dyer

Kaileigh Holland

Grand Canyon University Athletics