Hambrick shutout ends 1st weekend at 4-1

Sunday, February 13

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

4-1

Bradley

1-4

Bradley

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Garrett Ohrenberg

2/13/2022 6:35:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes show style to come with .364 hitting, 20 stolen bases

By: Paul Coro

A Grand Canyon softball team with new coaches and 15 new players was as fast with familiarization as it is on the bases, but there was one characteristic that was left unknown until its first weekend of competition together.

The Lopes learned they can be winners, going 4-1 on their opening weekend and being one pitch away from 5-0.

GCU capped head coach Shanon Hays' debut weekend with a 5-0 Sunday win against Bradley at GCU Softball Stadium, where the Lopes established how an aggressive style translates to wins by hitting .364 and stealing 20 bases on 21 tries for the weekend.

With 6.8 runs per game and steals coming at quadruple last season's pace, GCU sophomore pitcher Jacie Hambrick made the Lopes unbeatable by blanking the Braves with her plate command and trust in a one-error defense.

After going three innings in her season-opening start and being part of the Lopes losing a 7-3 lead to Kansas on Saturday night, Hambrick threw her first complete-game shutout in nearly a full year to Feb. 20 at San Diego last season. The Prescott Valley, Arizona, native scattered seven hits and matched her career high of seven strikeouts while not allowing an extra-base hit until the second-to-last batter.

Shanon Hays

"Just what the doctor ordered for her," Hays said. "She came back strong. She and (pitching coach) Maribeth (Gorsuch) worked on some things. I really wanted to just throw her four innings and finish with Ryan (Denhart), but she was going so well, why take her out?

"When she can work both sides of the plate and change speeds that makes her tough."

Hambrick picked up three weekend wins, but Sunday was a breakthrough with how she worked batters inside to outside and improved her change-up.

She worked ahead in counts more often and came up clutch, stranding four runners in scoring position for GCU's second shutout of the weekend.

"I'm more focused and I'm really venturing out on attacking batters in different ways than I did last year, which is just going to help improve my game," Hambrick said. "That (Kansas) game got away from us and now we can learn from it. Coming back from that to this game really showed that we have some fight. I'm excited to see what comes."

Six Lopes come out of the five-game weekend hitting over .350. Sophomore shortstop Katelyn Dunckel, who came from Oklahoma Christian with Hays, went 10 for 15 (.667) while first baseman Denae Chatman crushed a pair of home runs on a 9-for-16, nine-RBI weekend.

"This whole tournament, Denae has had some mature at bats," Hays said of the graduate transfer from Arizona State. "People are trying to let her get herself out and she hasn't done that. What she did this weekend is exactly what we needed. Someone with her power and potential, they want her to swing at marginal pitches. She was patient."

Chatman showed that Sunday, lining an opposite-field single with two outs to score center fielder Stephanie Reed, a graduate transfer from Utah State, for a 3-0 lead in the third inning. GCU scored one run in each of the first five innings with Reed doubling twice.

Chatman pulled another RBI single in the fifth inning for the 5-0 lead. That was set up by junior right fielder Kristin Fifield, who went 7 for 15 with a home run this weekend, laying down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Dunckel to second.

"We came out with a lot of energy," Chatman said. "It was cool to see that we can hang with teams and that we're good. It was nice to see everyone do our parts. I like that we all get along. It's so cool being here with all my sisters. I'm so blessed that I'm with this group of girls. Having a brand-new team and everyone fitting together is really cool."

Hays promised a team that would be menacing on the base paths with its speed. GCU stole at least three bases in every game and swiped seven against Northern Colorado.

Lopes senior left fielder Gianna Nicoletti already is 9 for 9 on steal attempts in five games after topping the WAC with 28 steals in 49 games last season. The lead-off hitter went 6 for 17 with three walks and eight runs scored (24% of GCU's offense).

Defensively, the middle infield play of Dunckel and junior second baseman Macee Barnes, an Oklahoma State transfer, stood out with Barnes' gems saving runs.

"The thing that our team takes away from the weekend is, if we go play well, we've got the potential to beat some good teams," Hays said. "You never know what you're going to get that first weekend with the jitters. We got through a little of that, mainly with our pitching. We have a mature enough team that, if we can stay healthy, we can be a little steadier than a team with younger kids."