Koeltzow hits walk off; Lopes take 2 from CBU

Friday, April 1

Phoenix, Ariz.

2 p.m.

Grand Canyon

23-9, 0

California Baptist

21-17, 0

CBU

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Skyler Coblentz

4/1/2022 8:33:00 PM | Softball

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Lopes took down the Lancers in two in first home WAC series

By: Kellie Reynolds

The Grand Canyon softball team hosted their first home WAC series with California Baptist on Friday afternoon. GCU took the first game from the Lancers 5-2 and battled out 10 innings of play to take game two 3-2.

"Two good wins against a well-coached team. We were not very good offensively today, but we held on, and Kinsey (Koeltzow) put a good swing on one," said Lopes head coach Shanon Hays. "Their second pitcher did a really good job keeping us off balance and we did not do a good job of making adjustments."

"Ariel (Thompson) and Jacie (Hambrick) made pretty good starts and Ryan (Denhart) came in and did a great job. Tomorrow will be a tough game so we need to play well."

The Lopes struck first in the bottom of the first inning as junior left fielder Kristin Fifield hit a two out solo home run to dead center.

Junior right-hander Ariel Thompson kept the Lancers off board and did not allow a runner aboard in the second or third inning. In the bottom of the third inning senior Savannah Tourville started off the rally by getting hit by a pitch. Back-to-back bunt singles by Macee Barnes and Gianna Nicoletti loaded the bases for the Katelyn Dunckel with no outs. Dunckel was hit by a pitch giving the Lopes a 2-0 lead. Barnes scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Fifield.

Thompson tossed another scoreless inning in the four. GCU added their final two runs of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning as Kinsey Koeltzow singled to right field to start off the inning. With Koeltzow on second Hannah Burnett singled up the middle to put runners on first and third. A double by Tourville cleared the bases and gave the Lopes a 5-0 lead over the Lancers.

CBU managed to plate two runs in the top of the sixth inning cutting the Lopes lead to 5-2. Thompson tossed her 10th complete game and earned her 12th win of the season.

Koeltzow walks it off in the 10th

Game two was a pitcher's duel with Jacie Hambrick tossing three scoreless innings against the Lancers. CBU got on the board first scoring two runs on two hits in the fourth inning.

The Lopes cut the Lancers lead in half in the bottom of the fifth inning as senior left fielder Gianna Nicoletti hit a one out triple and scored on a single to center field by Dunckel.

GCU tied things up in the bottom of the sixth inning as Koeltzow lead off with a single to center field. Junior Hannah Burnett singled up the middle with one out to bring home Koeltzow and tie the game up at 2-2.

Neither team was able to score in the seventh inning forcing extra innings. Right hander Kaila Eastburn kept the Lancer off the board in the eighth and part of the nineth until senior Ryan Denhart came in for relief and tossed the ninth and tenth striking out four nine batters faced and earned her first win of the season.

In the bottom of the 10th inning Denae Chatman thought she walked it off with a deep ball to right center field, but the Lancers center fielder came up with and outstanding catch at the wall. However, Koeltzow decided to end things with a full count as she blasted her sixth home run of the season giving the Lopes the series.

GCU is back in action at 1 p.m. looking to secure the sweep over the Lancers.