Fifield's 2 homers fuel rally to sweep Seattle U

Saturday, April 22

Phoenix, Ariz.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

37-10, 0

Seattle U

27-17, 0

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Taylor Hansen

4/22/2023 5:05:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

Box Score

Thompson enabled rally from 5-2 hole to 7-5 win with 3 1/3 shutout innings

By: Paul Coro

It is not that Grand Canyon softball expects too much of itself. After a WAC championship season and a NCAA tournament appearance, the Lopes' standards are just set so high that going without a three-game series until this weekend felt off.

But in reality, this GCU team already has done more. With seven regular-season games remaining, the Lopes surpassed last season's 36-win regular season with its 37th win of this season on Saturday at GCU Softball Stadium.

On the power of senior right fielder Kristin Fifield's sixth career two-home run game, GCU rallied from a 5-2, fourth-inning hole after head coach Shanon Hays' ejection and beat Seattle U 7-5 to get its first three-game sweep in 365 days.

"Our sticks are hot, and I just trust this team," said senior pitcher Ariel Thompson, who became GCU's third 10-win pitcher this season. "Coming from where we've been, this season looks different than last year, but we're focusing on the positive moves we've been making.

"The sweep is big for us. We're on a roll. We're going to stay hot."

The Lopes (37-10, 12-6 WAC) kept within one game of conference leader Utah Tech, which swept at California Baptist with a walk-off, three-run double Saturday.

GCU already had clinched its fifth WAC series win in six tries this season, but the 5-2 hole looked ominous until Thompson shut down Seattle U for the final 3 1/3 innings after Hays was warned on her first relief pitch and was tossed on her second pitch.

Shanon Hays

"I made a decision to leave early and hoped that would get the engine going, not that they need that," Hays said. "I felt like shaking the dominoes up at that time might be good to get the momentum back and some fire."

GCU cut the margin to 5-3 in the fourth on a two-out RBI double to the left-center field gap by junior shortstop Katelyn Dunckel. That scored senior center fielder Hannah Burnett, who had her second 3-for-3 game of the weekend series to put her team-best batting average at .405.

"Hannah gets overlooked because of the power girls behind her," Hays said. "But especially with Brynn (Brynn-Jordan Smythe) being out, she's an engine for us at the top of the lineup."

In the fifth, Lopes junior left fielder Kayla Rodgers' triple off the center-field wall set up her to score on a wild pitch and trim Seattle U's lead to 5-4.

The Lopes had taken a 2-0 lead after the first six pitches they saw Saturday with Burnett singling and Fifield following with a lofty home run to right field. The same duo paired to take the lead in the sixth inning, when Burnett led off with a bunt single and Fifield waited for her pitch down in the zone before sending a 1-2 offering over the left-center field wall for a 6-5 GCU lead.

"Once Coach got thrown out, we were like, 'Let's go do it for him and do it for the people standing next to you,' " Fifield said. "Doing it all together is what made this happen. It fires us up because he is fighting for us, so we need to fight for him. The same for all of our coaching staff."

Fifield's 16th and 17th home runs of the season extended her GCU all-time, single-season record and her GCU Division I-era career records for home runs (40) and RBIs (166). She also retook the national lead in RBIs this season with 61.

The El Paso, Texas, native broke out of a 6-for-39 slump in the past two weeks, when she regained form to go 10 for 28 (.357) with five home runs.

"I let the game get too big and my mindset was all over the place, instead of just dialing in and knowing I can do it and my team trusts me so just trust in my abilities again," Fifield said. "Slowly, I got the flow back. Thank goodness I had my teammates and coaches to back me up and get my though that little slump."

In Hays' two seasons at GCU, the Lopes set the team home run record last season with 44 and already have 50 this season. Two seasons ago, the Lopes hit 10 home runs.

Kinsey Koeltzow

The power surge is part of what has pushed the Lopes under Hays to a record of 76-26 (.745), the best two-year winning percentage or win total of GCU's Division I era.

"It's been a weird year," said Hays, who watched assistant coach Sandra Wente lead Saturday's comeback on his phone in the coaches' locker room. "We've got a really good ball club with a lot of ability and depth, but we've found ways to give away games during conference. It was nice to see us come back and show some heart and use our ability."

GCU plays next at San Diego on Wednesday in a nonconference game before traveling to California Baptist next weekend for its final road WAC series. The regular-season schedule finishes at home against Southern Utah on May 5-7 before the Lopes stay at GCU Softball Stadium for the WAC Tournament on May 10-13.