Pitching sets up 8th-inning bat breakout for sweep

Saturday, April 12

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

33-6, 12-2

Seattle U

23-17, 8-7

Seattle U

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Bryce Fairchild

4/12/2025 3:54:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Cooper's walk-off single follows Place, Vickers, Batteron holding Seattle U to 1 earned run

By: Paul Coro

As Grand Canyon softball's Saturday series finale went deeper, the Lopes offense looked less like the one that entered it with a .351 team batting average and the program's first three-game string of double-digit scoring games in nine years.

GCU pitchers Maggie Place, Oakley Vickers and Taryn Batterton were giving their team chances to win, but the Lopes recorded 11 consecutive outs by air until they got grounded.

Two of the Lopes' three hits came in the eight-inning game's final two at bats, when GCU junior first baseman Emily Gonzalez doubled to the right-center field gap with two outs before freshman designated player Jada Cooper chopped a game-winning RBI single up the middle for a 3-2, eight-inning victory that marked the Lopes' 10th consecutive win.

Gonzalez's and Cooper's hits came on two-strike, two-out pitches in front of 617 fans at GCU Softball Stadium.

"I jumped on them in the middle of that inning, saying, 'Ladies, we've popped up like 10 straight times,' " Hays said. "Finally, Emily got on top of one, as I was hoping she would. Jada had a slapper hit up the middle. It felt like a cheap way to win, but I'll take it."

PHOENIX, AZ - April 12: Grand Canyon University softball beats Seattle U with a walk-off in extra innings making the final score 3-2 (Photo by: Bryce Fairchild/GCU)

PHOENIX, AZ - April 12: Grand Canyon University softball beats Seattle U with a walk-off in extra innings making the final score 3-2 (Photo by: Bryce Fairchild/GCU)

The double finished Gonzalez's hot weekend, going 4 for 9 in the series with five RBIs, two home runs, a double and four walks. Cooper's RBI single gave her 35 RBIs, which only trails graduate right fielder Makaiya Gomez's 38 RBIs after Gomez's third-inning RBI double was the Lopes' only hit in regulation.

"I realized I had two strikes and thought, 'I'm not going be the last out (of the inning),' said Cooper, who is from Houston. "I thought, 'I'm going to get a base hit and end this right now.' I missed the pitch I wanted when I was overthinking and then I was like, 'I'm just going to hit it hard on the ground at beat it out.' It happened to go up the middle, and I'm happy for my team.

"This program has matured me a lot. I'm still maturing as time goes. It's taught me to forget about the times you don't success and keep working hard. I didn't have the best at bats today, but the game is going to find me again."

GCU (33-6, 12-2 WAC) kept its two-game lead (four in the loss column) on second-place Tarleton State (27-15, 12-6 WAC) with its second 10-game winning streak of the season. The Lopes boast the nation's eighth-best winning percentage.

Despite being limited to one hit over seven innings for the first time this season, the GCU pitching trio dropped the staff ERA to 1.86 (No. 3 in the nation) with one earned run over eight innings.

Oakley Vickers

Vickers, a freshman left-hander, relieved in all three series wins and allowed one earned run on four hits in 7 1/3 innings.

A pair of GCU errors to start the third inning set up an unearned run on Place, who had a two-on, two-out situation with a 3-0 count when Hays turned to Vickers against Seattle U leading hitter Avari Morris, a left-handed batter.

Vickers struck out Morris to end that threat and struck her out against in the fifth inning, when the potential go-ahead run was on second base.

"It was just a super matchup for Oakley," Hays said. "They loaded up their lineup with lefties against our righties I felt bad taking Maggie out because Maggie didn't throw poorly. They just dinked it around on her. I just felt like that's the matchup to go with. Oakley really came on this weekend. If you look at Seattle's stats, they're a fantastic offensive team."

Seattle U (23-17, 8-7 WAC) was the WAC's second-place team and second-best hitting to GCU entering the weekend with a .306 batting average. The Redhawks batted .232 this weekend at GCU Softball Stadium.

Taryn Batterton

Batterton picked up two of the weekend wins, dropping her ERA to 1.76 after 1 2/3 relief innings Saturday. She has used her drop ball and change-up well this season to be 14-1 with a .933 winning percentage, the fourth-best clip in the nation for pitchers with 14 or more wins.

"I like the pressure," Batterton said of her late-relief appearance Saturday. "Pressure's a privilege, so it's a lot of fun knowing Coach has the trust in me to close out the game and let our offense get rolling.

"It's been a lot of fun this year. I'm glad to be helping my team in whatever way I can. The experience of this year has made me feel more confident in those type of situations."

After its third consecutive series sweep, GCU plays at Arizona State at 6 p.m. Tuesday after the Lopes won 3-0 in the teams' first meeting on Feb. 18 in Phoenix. Before the weekend, ASU was No. 31 and GCU was No. 43 in NCAA Rating Percentage Index (RPI).