WAC champions reload for bigger goals

Friday, February 10

San Antonio, Texas

9 a.m. (MST)

Grand Canyon

Green Bay

2/8/2023 4:27:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

Lopes return 5 starters with ace but add talent to follow historic season

By: Paul Coro

In head coach Shanon Hays' first year as Grand Canyon softball head coach, the Lopes assembled the program's greatest season, won the WAC regular-season and postseason championships and danced with the nation's best at the NCAA tournament for the first time.

Top that? GCU plans to do so, with an encore season that returns five lineup starters and ace pitcher Ariel Thompson while adding impact transfers and freshmen who were not among the Lopes' five Preseason All-WAC selections.

Katelyn Dunckel

The Lopes' winningest season included a scorching 14-1 late-season stretch, but the returning Lopes are motivated by being denied a 40th win at the UCLA Regional. They begin the work to earn another regional shot this week when Hays' encore season begins Friday in San Antonio at the three-day, five-game Cardinal Invitational.

"We want to go way farther than just a regional, and we expect to," said GCU junior shortstop Katelyn Dunckel, the WAC Preseason Player of the Year. "We have goals every week, but our eyes are always looking outward. We have that goal in our vision, but it's in the future. Every week, we talk about what we want that week to look like and then we think about how that will help our big goals."

Dunckel, with a team-best .414 batting average, is among five returnees who ranked among the Lopes' seven top hitters last season. She and returning right fielder Kristin Fifield, a senior, shared the team lead in RBIs (55).

Shanon Hays

"We'll be a different team," Hays said. "We won't be as much of a speed team as we were last year with losing Steph Reed and Gianna (Nicoletti), but we definitely have some punch in our lineup."

The Lopes can still apply pressure on the bases despite losing Nicoletti, who broke a 25-year-old WAC record with 51 steals. Speedy senior Hannah Burnett swiped 21 bases last season and moves from infield to center field.

There is more outfield speed in left field with freshman Brynn-Jordan Smythe, a Chandler High School graduate who will share the spot with Yavapai College transfer Kayla Rodgers, a left-handed hitter.

"They are big keys for us," Hays said. "Early, we'll probably rotate our outfield around and play four outfielders because Brynn can play center as well. We need her offensive punch."

The middle of the GCU infield is solidified with the returns of Dunckel and second baseman Macee Barnes, who Hays said is the team's most-improved hitter after batting .288 last season.

"We brought in Lovey Kepa'a, who is a very talented infielder and hit 35 home runs in junior college last year (at Yavapai), and they've been battling," Hays said of Kepa'a and Barnes at second base. "But Macee has really improved to keep her spot, so we've got a nice luxury because Lovey's a super-talented kid and has a lot of power."

Hays and his staff may have mined another Division II gem with the transfer of senior Madison Schaefer, who will be GCU's starting third baseman after starring at Texas A&M Commerce.

"You go out to practice, see the talent we have and think, 'Wow, I'm playing for this team,' " said Schaefer, who hit .371 with 12 home runs last season. "It's very nice to have. You can look right or left and you have a great, A-star player right by you.

"The team is very close and connected, on and off the field. The coaching staff gets one on one and coaches you through everything. I find that helpful and encouraging."

Ramsay Lopez, a senior transfer who started three seasons at New Mexico State, puts more power in the lineup as the first baseman with 37 career home runs. CC Wong, who shared national junior college player of the year honors with Kepa'a, also can play first or hit as the designated player.

"It's a lot of juice in your lineup with CC and Ramsay being proven hitters and Schaefer as well," said Hays, whose top 2022 power hitter, Denae Chatman, joined his staff as the graduate assistant. "We've got some experience to take the place of the girls we lost, and hopefully we'll pick up where we left off a little bit."

Senior catcher Kinsey Koeltzow is another Preseason All-WAC honoree who restores some of the Lopes offense that ranked 10th nationally for batting average (.328) and 17th for runs per game (6.2). She hit .335 with 16 doubles but also handled the pitching staff and formed a top battery with Thompson in the circle.

Now a senior, the right-hander is coming off a 21-6 season with 135 strikeouts in 171 innings. The health and improvement of senior Kaila Eastburn and GCU pitching staff additions Taryn Batterton, Emily Darwin, Meghan Golden and Hailey Hudson will help reduce Thompson's workload.

Hudson, who pitched at Houston as a freshman, will be the Lopes' second starter after earning junior college All-America honors last season at McLennan with Wong.

"Hailey's really matured," Hays said. "She's a different type of pitcher from Ariel but an innings eater like Ariel.

Golden adds experience after throwing 152 2/3 innings as Northern Colorado's ace last season and Darwin, a native of Benson, Arizona, could prove to be the hardest-throwing pitcher in GCU history after a year at Yavapai.

ariel thompson

"We'll still rely on Ariel, but we threw her too much last year," Hays said. "When we went into regionals, she wasn't 100% healthy. Now we feel like we have more options. We've got six girls out there who can help us win a game."

Those wins are part of the weekly goals set by the Lopes with a bigger goal in mind – to repeat as WAC champions and win a regional.

"Our team this year is amazing," Dunckel said. "We have so many girls coming in who were the best on their old team. It's cool to have them on this team. We have some freshmen with a lot of raw talent who are going to be able to build up within this program, and we'll be able to teach them the ways. It's exciting to have gamers who are just beasts."

The season begins Friday with games against Green Bay and Eastern Illinois to start the Cardinal Invitational. The Lopes debut at home as part of the Feb. 17-19 Littlewood Classic with Feb. 17 games against DePaul (4 p.m.) and Illinois State (6:30 p.m.) at GCU Softball Stadium.