Lopes take 3rd consecutive regional trip to Los Angeles

Friday, May 17

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

UCLA

Tickets

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

Lopes take 3rd consecutive regional trip to Los Angeles

5/13/2024 3:50:00 PM | Softball

NCAA tournament site includes No. 20 Virginia Tech, San Diego State, host No. 10 UCLA

By: Adrianna Candelaria

Los Angeles Regional \| May 17-19, 2024 \| Easton Stadium \| Los Angeles, Calif.

	GRAND CANYON LOPES (48-11)	vs.	No. 10 UCLA BRUINS (37-10)
			SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS (31-18)
			No. 20 VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES (37-15)

WATCH: ESPN+ | INFO: View

Grand Canyon earned its third consecutive automatic bid to the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, after becoming the first WAC softball team to garner three straight conference tournament championships. The Lopes return four position starters and all three GCU pitchers from last season's upset of UCLA, which they play at 5:30 p.m. Friday night on ESPN+ in the double-elimination, four-team regional.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

UNDEFEATED IN MAY: The Lopes enter this NCAA postseason on a six-game winning streak after sweeping three WAC Tournament games on May 9-11 and GCU's final conference series at Abilene Christian on May 3-4.
RECORD-SETTING SEASON: The WAC Tournament championship victory surpassed the program single-season win record with the Lopes' 48th win.
HIT LIST: GCU is hitting .338 on the season with graduate first baseman Ashley Trierweiler leading the nation in hits (90) and ranking fifth nationally for batting average (.464). The Lopes also have posted a 2.38 ERA, headlined by junior Meghan Golden (1.90 ERA, 92 1/3 innings) and senior Hailey Hudson (2.27 ERA, 129 1/3 innings).

SCOUTING No. 10 UCLA

The Pac-12 champion Bruins carry an eight-game winning streak, ranking 10th in the national RPI, sixth in NCAA tournament seeding and first in its regional site.
GCU emerged victorious in the programs' most recent meeting, defeating the Bruins 3-2 in last year's Los Angeles Regional to come away with one of the NCAA tournament's greatest upsets ever.
UCLA is hitting .316 with a 3.68 ERA on the season.

SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE

The Mountain West champion Aztecs carry a .285 batting average and 2.52 ERA this season.
The Lopes hold a 2-2 record against San Diego State, shutting out the Aztecs twice in 2019 (8-0 and 9-0 in 5 innings), and falling 6-0 in last year's Los Angeles Regional and 8-4 in March at Long Beach State.
SDSU ranks 18th nationally this season in double plays per game (0.51) and 19th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.93 to 1). Pitcher Cece Cellura ranks second in walks allowed per seven innings (0.55).

SCOUTING No. 20 VIRGINIA TECH

The Lopes run-ruled Virginia Tech 11-2 on Feb. 17 when the Hokies were ranked No. 17. GCU tallied 11 hits, including a walk-off, two-run home run by Fifield in the sixth inning.
The Hokies rank second in home runs per game (2.17), third in slugging percentage (.645), fifth in on-base percentage (.427) and runs per game (7.79), and seventh in batting average (.342) in the nation this season.
Virginia Tech carries a 2.97 ERA in the circle and hold an 8-3 record in a neutral setting this season.

LAST TIME OUT

GCU at WAC Tournament

Making history: the Lopes became the first team to earn three consecutive WAC Tournament titles.
Ashley Trierweiler claimed WAC Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the WAC All-Tournament Team by Kristin Fifield, Kayla Rodgers, Meghan Golden and Ramsay Lopez.

WHAT'S NEXT?

With a Friday win, the Lopes will play at 2 p.m. (Phoenix time) on Saturday against the winner of Friday's Virginia Tech v. San Diego State game. In the event of a loss to UCLA, GCU will play at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday against the loser of the Virginia Tech vs. San Diego State game. The winner of the Los Angeles Regional will play the winner of the Athens Regional in a May 24-26 Super Regional.