GCU moves to 14-0 behind 10-run performance

Saturday, February 21

Phoenix, Ariz.

6:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-0

UC Santa Barbara

4-12

UC Santa Barbara

Grand Canyon

2/21/2026 10:19:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Gonzalez posts 4th consecutive multi-hit game to lead win vs. UCSB

By: Braden Dohrmann

Grand Canyon scored double digits en route to its 14th consecutive win to start the season Saturday night against UC Santa Barbara.

Seven runs in the first two innings never allowed the Gauchos to climb all the way back, with the Lopes holding onto a 10-6 win at GCU Softball Stadium.

At 14-0, the Lopes continue the longest winning streak to start the season in Mountain West history. They remain one of six undefeated teams in the country.

The Lopes immediately pressed the pedal to the metal, with their first four batters reaching base. Junior Alina Satcher pinch-hit for cleanup hitter Trinity Martin with the bases loaded after already hitting two grand slams this season.

Satcher did not see anything she liked and took a walk to bring home the first run, and sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper followed with an RBI fielder's choice and a 2-0 lead.

The second inning provided more runs and chaos. After junior catcher Tinley Lucas drew a leadoff walk, sophomore transfer third baseman Ellie Pond smoked her first Division I home run to put the Lopes ahead 4-0.

Pond, who has stepped in at third base since Mackenzie Nolan's injury moved Haley Wilkinson to shortstop, has played exceptional defense at third base with many highlight plays. Her bat has been cold to start the season, but Pond is turning the corner at the plate over recent days.

Senior leadoff hitter Sydney McCray caused the chaos, singling, stealing second and hustling home on an infield error by UCSB second baseman Jazzy Santos.

Cooper cleaned up the basepaths, bringing the sixth and seventh runs home with a sharply hit two-RBI double down the left-field line.

GCU senior right-hander Taryn Batterton made her sixth start in the circle riding her nation-best scoreless streak of 26 innings to start the season. The streak came to a close in the third inning, when the Gauchos strung together six straight hits for six runs, capped by an Ainsley Waddell three-run shot.

Batterton's streak ended after an incredible 28 innings of scoreless ball, giving her stats that still wow with a 4-0 record, 1.50 ERA and 31 strikeouts.

GCU, leading 7-6 after the third inning, added cushion with two runs scoring on a Gauchos error in the fifth and Martin RBI single in the sixth.

Senior right-hander Maggie Place pitched three scoreless innings in relief, with sophomore left-hander Oakley Vickers inheriting a two-on, no-out situation in the sixth and escaping it to close the door for good.

In Vickers' two innings of work, she struck out three batters and earned her first save of the season.

GCU senior Emily Gonzalez added two hits, giving her multiple hits in all four games of the Purple Classic.

The Lopes have two more games Sunday to wrap a busy weekend of softball in the Purple Classic at GCU Softball Stadium. The Lopes rematch with UC Santa Barbara at noon and follow with a weekend finale against Montana.