GCU falls to Oregon, beats North Dakota

Saturday, February 15

Phoenix, Ariz.

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

8-2

#20 Oregon

9-1

Oregon

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Jayden Todd

2/15/2025 10:25:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Lopes claim 3rd shutout of season in home nightcap

By: Braden Dohrmann

Grand Canyon split a pair of games against two teams with winning records Saturday night to close out its 4-1 week in the Littlewood Classic.

GCU (9-2) faced No. 20 Oregon (9-1) in the early game at GCU Softball Stadium and then faced North Dakota (5-4), which had knocked off Arizona State in Tempe on Friday night.

Game 1: GCU loses 4-0 to No. 20 Oregon

Holding the Ducks to four runs would seem like a successful venture, knowing Oregon led the country in batting average, on-base percentage, scoring and stolen bases after the first weekend of the season. However, the offense that propelled the Lopes over Washington on Friday night did not quite show itself as desired.

GCU junior pitcher Taryn Batterton started in the circle, making her third start on the young season. Batterton flew through three innings of play without allowing a hit. Unfortunately, the Lopes were also hitless through three.

In the top of the fourth inning, Oregon's Stefini Ma'ake broke the hitting and scoring silence with a missile to straightaway center field that screamed just over the wall for a 1-0 Ducks lead.

The Lopes answered with their first hit in the bottom half of the inning, when junior first baseman Emily Gonzalez led off with a single and freshman Jada Cooper followed with a one-out single. They were stranded with two of Oregon reliever Elise Solosky's seven strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

The game got away from GCU in the sixth inning after an Oregon leadoff single from nine-hole hitter Ayanna Shaw, who second base on an unpopular safe call. The ball beat Shaw to the bag, but the umpire believed she slid under the tag, putting the Ducks in business. After a sacrifice bunt and a ground ball scored another Oregon run, Ma'ake smacked a no-doubt home run to center field for 4-0 Ducks lead.

A late seventh-inning rally came up short after freshmen pinch-hitters Willa Ford and Haley Wilkinson reached base, via walk and base hit, respectively.

Game 2: GCU beats North Dakota 5-0

GCU returned the favor to North Dakota in the late game of the Saturday slate, snagging the Lopes' third shutout of the season in a 5-0 win behind two dominant pitching performances.

Lopes senior Meghan Golden moved to 3-0 on the season after a breezy four innings in which she only allowed one hit and struck out six batters. Golden went three-and-out in innings 2 through 4, moving her ERA to 1.62 on the season.

"I felt good out there," Golden said. "I was throwing hard, spinning it well, and had complete trust in the defense behind me. Everything was going well out there tonight."

GCU sophomore Maggie Place earned the Lopes' first save of the season, going three innings with one hit allowed and five strikeouts to bring her ERA down to 1.59.

On the offensive end, the Lopes bats awoke for 10 hits that produced a three-run third inning and a two-run fifth.

In the third, Cooper continued her good day with a two-RBI single to left field that was followed by graduate left fielder Mia Weckel's line-drive RBI single into right-center field. Cooper grabbed three hits on the two-game night to move her batting average above .400.

In the fifth inning, GCU scraped two more runs across home plate thanks to sophomore catcher Tinley Lucas' pinch-hit double that scored Weckel and junior center fielder Sydney McCray, who finished the win with a hit, walk, two runs and two stolen bases.

"We saw North Dakota had just run-ruled ASU," Golden said. "We also knew they had just watched us in the game before. So we knew it would be a tough game, but we showed up ready to go and got the win."

GCU (8-2) will have two days off before they host Arizona State at GCU Softball Stadium on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. (Phoenix time).

"ASU games are rivalry games," Golden said. "They are always intense, but both teams look different than they did last year. I am expecting a dogfight."