Lopes' 20th straight win wraps regular season

Saturday, May 3

Abilene, Texas

10 a.m.

Grand Canyon

43-6, 21-2

Abilene Christian

15-37, 11-13

Grand Canyon

Abilene Christian

Photo by: Braden Dohrmann

5/3/2025 3:17:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

GCU pitching staff allows 1 run in series, leads nation in ERA

By: Braden Dohrmann

ABILENE, Texas — Grand Canyon swept its sixth consecutive WAC series with Saturday's 5-0 win over Abilene Christian, extending the nation's best active winning streak to 20 games.

GCU sophomore Maggie Place and freshman Oakley Vickers shut out the Wildcats on two hits, giving the Lopes pitching staff one run allowed over the three-game road sweep. The Lopes have the best team ERA in the country at 1.79, surpassing Tennessee for the top spot on Saturday.

GCU (43-6, 21-2 WAC) had a rough go at getting to Abilene Christian's starting pitcher, Lina Russo, with one run in Friday night's Game 2 win. The Lopes were ready for the moment when they faced her again on Saturday, when GCU stayed undefeated on the road at 13-0 this season.

The Lopes flooded the basepaths all game, scoring a run in the top of the first inning thanks to sophomore Jada Cooper's RBI single that scored sophomore second baseman Savannah Kirk, who had singled and stole second base to get into scoring position.

Kirk put together her second three-hit game of the series, moving her batting average up to .506 for the full regular season. She is now 43 for 43 in stolen bases this season, just eight away from the program record of 51 as she enters postseason play.

Grand Canyon eventually left the bases loaded in the first, doing the same in the second and seventh innings to contribute to its game total of 13 runners left on base.

The game was cracked open in the fifth inning when GCU scored three more runs. Lopes junior first baseman Emily Gonzalez singled to start the inning and was pinch ran for by freshman Macie Selfors, who scored from second base on a sharp base hit up the middle by freshman third baseman Willa Ford. Now hitting .375 overall and .435 in conference play, Ford reached base twice in the contest.

GCU junior Arriana Wright, quickly becoming the Lopes' best pinch-hitting option, came to the plate later in the inning and did not disappoint. She laced a ground ball toward the six-hole, and a helpful hop allowed the ball to hop over the glove of ACU's shortstop for a two-run RBI single and 4-0 lead.

In the sixth inning, GCU tacked on one final run thanks to a leadoff hustle-triple from graduate left fielder Mia Weckel and an RBI double down the left-field line from Gonzalez. Gonzalez and Cooper added two hits apiece in the series finale, both putting their on-base percentages over .500 with Ford and Kirk.

Place had one of her best starts in a while, going 5 1/3 innings and just allowing two hits while striking out four. Place produced eight ground-ball outs to move to 9-3 and complete the weekend trifecta of dominant starter outings.

The Lopes are the proven hottest team in the country with 20 straight victories and are expected to move up in all of the national polls at the beginning of the week. GCU had no errors on the weekend, not allowing the Wildcats any breaks and helpoing limite the Wildcats to one run on the weekend.

GCU now moves into the postseason with goals and aspirations to win a fourth onsecutive WAC Tournament championship and earn another NCAA Tournament appearance. The Lopes will start the journey in the WAC Tournament quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Thursday in Riverside, California. GCU earned a double bye, and the tournament is a double-elimination format. Three straight wins for GCU would make them WAC champs again.