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
Saturday, May 14
Huntsville, Texas
11 a.m.
Grand Canyon
38-14
2
vs
4
Stephen F. Austin
31-23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Grand Canyon
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
5
0
Stephen F. Austin
2
2
0
0
0
0
X
4
9
2
Championship game staged by SFA win
5/14/2022 2:01:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro
Lady Jacks down Lopes 4-2 to even tournament series at 1-1
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Grand Canyon battled all season to be the WAC Tournament No. 1 seed and open the tourney with two wins that set up an opportunity to have two games to win one for the title in Saturday's championship round.
And now the Lopes need that advantage, which moves them to being the home team in a 2 p.m. championship game after Stephen F. Austin evened the tournament head-to-head with a 4-2 win in the first Saturday game.
WAC Pitcher of the Year Kassidy Wilbur pushed SFA to a winner-take-all game at Sam Houston by throwing her fourth complete game of the tournament. Saturday's 147-pitch, spin-heavy effort runs her pitch total to 470 since Thursday and puts her record at 21-13 for the season.
"She's got good motion and thrown so much in her career that this isn't a big deal to her," Hays said. "She can handle it. We just approach it like it's her first inning out there. For us to go to a regional, we need to beat her. We had some really good at bats and didn't have much to show for it. Yesterday, we hit it pretty hard. We hit a ton of at-'em balls. Hopefully, we'll start off better."
The Lopes (38-13) scored in the second inning, when junior catcher Kinsey Koeltzow smacked her 15th double off the right-field wall to set up a run off a Lady Jacks error. They picked up their other run in the seventh inning with consecutive two-out hits by senior left fielder Gianna Nicoletti and junior designated player Hannah Burnett.
With the tying run at the plate, sophomore shortstop Katelyn Dunckel ripped a shot to deep center field, where SFA's Mikaelah Burkland made a running, outstretched catch like the one GCU's Stephanie Reed had made Friday to save a win against the Lady Jacks.
After being three-hit by GCU junior pitcher Ariel Thompson on Friday, SFA had early success with a two-run, first-inning home run by designated player Sidney Hebert and a two-run second inning against Thompson and sophomore reliever Jacie Hambrick.
After Hambrick opened with two walks, the right-hander was effective with 4 1/3 shutout innings.
"Ariel was flat," Hays said. "That was her third day throwing in a row. Some girls have rubber arms and we gambled a little bit. I was going to save her to throw the second game, but the positive of that was Jacie (Hambrick) came in and threw really well to keep us in the game. She got a lot of ground balls and we made a lot of plays."
In each of the first two innings, a near great catch would have saved at least a run. On the flip, SFA made clutch defensive plays, including a diving catch in the gap by left fielder Emily Berryhill at the end of an 11-pitch at bat by Burnett with runners on first and second.
"That's how the game goes sometimes," Hays said. "We battled and had a ton of baserunners, so hopefully we'll keep battling for the second game and catch a few
breaks."
And now the Lopes need that advantage, which moves them to being the home team in a 2 p.m. championship game after Stephen F. Austin evened the tournament head-to-head with a 4-2 win in the first Saturday game.
WAC Pitcher of the Year Kassidy Wilbur pushed SFA to a winner-take-all game at Sam Houston by throwing her fourth complete game of the tournament. Saturday's 147-pitch, spin-heavy effort runs her pitch total to 470 since Thursday and puts her record at 21-13 for the season.
"She's got good motion and thrown so much in her career that this isn't a big deal to her," Hays said. "She can handle it. We just approach it like it's her first inning out there. For us to go to a regional, we need to beat her. We had some really good at bats and didn't have much to show for it. Yesterday, we hit it pretty hard. We hit a ton of at-'em balls. Hopefully, we'll start off better."
The Lopes (38-13) scored in the second inning, when junior catcher Kinsey Koeltzow smacked her 15th double off the right-field wall to set up a run off a Lady Jacks error. They picked up their other run in the seventh inning with consecutive two-out hits by senior left fielder Gianna Nicoletti and junior designated player Hannah Burnett.
With the tying run at the plate, sophomore shortstop Katelyn Dunckel ripped a shot to deep center field, where SFA's Mikaelah Burkland made a running, outstretched catch like the one GCU's Stephanie Reed had made Friday to save a win against the Lady Jacks.
After being three-hit by GCU junior pitcher Ariel Thompson on Friday, SFA had early success with a two-run, first-inning home run by designated player Sidney Hebert and a two-run second inning against Thompson and sophomore reliever Jacie Hambrick.
After Hambrick opened with two walks, the right-hander was effective with 4 1/3 shutout innings.
"Ariel was flat," Hays said. "That was her third day throwing in a row. Some girls have rubber arms and we gambled a little bit. I was going to save her to throw the second game, but the positive of that was Jacie (Hambrick) came in and threw really well to keep us in the game. She got a lot of ground balls and we made a lot of plays."
In each of the first two innings, a near great catch would have saved at least a run. On the flip, SFA made clutch defensive plays, including a diving catch in the gap by left fielder Emily Berryhill at the end of an 11-pitch at bat by Burnett with runners on first and second.
"That's how the game goes sometimes," Hays said. "We battled and had a ton of baserunners, so hopefully we'll keep battling for the second game and catch a few
breaks."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kassidy Wilbur (21-13)
L: Thompson, Ariel (21-5)
Batting:
2B: Koeltzow, Kinsey 1
RBI: Burnett, Hannah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nicoletti, Gianna 1 ; Fifield, Kristin 1
SB: Tourville, Savannah 1
Batting:
2B: Mikaelah Burkland 1
HR: Sydnee Hebert 1
RBI: Gaby Garcia 1 ; Sydnee Hebert 2 ; Mackenzie Bennett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gaby Garcia 1 ; Camryn Middlebrook 1 ; Sydnee Hebert 1 ; Mikaelah Burkland 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
P/UTL
/ SoftballC/INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P/UTL
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