Completed Event: Softball versus Montana on February 20, 2026 , Win , 8, to, 0
Softball
vs Montana
W 8-0
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Saturday, February 21
Phoenix, Ariz.
6:30 p.m.
Grand Canyon
14-0
10
vs
6
UC Santa Barbara
4-12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
UC Santa Barbara
0
0
6
0
0
0
0
6
11
2
Grand Canyon
2
5
0
0
2
1
X
10
8
1
Photo by: Josh Cale
Cooper grand slam sends GCU to 15-0
2/22/2026 1:41:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro
Fritz strikes out 7, allows no earned runs in 5 innings
Grand Canyon sophomore Jada Cooper belted her second career grand slam and the Lopes' third slam of the season to help keep GCU undefeated with a 6-1 victory against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.
The Lopes are one of five undefeated teams remaining in the nation with another game coming Sunday against Montana at GCU Softball Stadium. Only Florida (18-0) has more wins without a loss this season.
Cooper matched her career high with five RBIs in GCU's first game Sunday, giving her half of her season's 16 RBIs in two weekend games against the Gauchos.
Sunday's game with UCSB was 1-1 through four innings after Cooper's first-inning RBI sacrifice fly and a third-inning unearned run for the Gauchos.
The Lopes took a 2-1 lead on senior center fielder Sydney McCray's fifth-inning single up the middle to score redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson, who had hit a leadoff single to center field and moved to second on freshman catcher Sarah Campbell's bunt.
GCU loaded the bases on freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf's high-hopping single and senior first baseman Emily Gonzalez's walk. With one out, Cooper worked the count full before ripping a screaming liner over the center-field wall for her third home run in four days.
All four of the Lopes' hits in the game came in the five-run fifth inning.
That gave GCU sophomore Natalie Fritz a victory to move her record to 3-0 in her first Lopes season. The right-hander from Chandler, Arizona, struck out a season-high seven batters with no walks over five innings of five-hit ball. With the help of Holtorf's high snag and turn on a sixth-inning double play, freshman Abi Jones tossed a shutout sixth inning and was followed by sophomore Oakley Vickers' shutout seventh that dropped the GCU staff's season ERA to 1.15.
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The Lopes are one of five undefeated teams remaining in the nation with another game coming Sunday against Montana at GCU Softball Stadium. Only Florida (18-0) has more wins without a loss this season.
Cooper matched her career high with five RBIs in GCU's first game Sunday, giving her half of her season's 16 RBIs in two weekend games against the Gauchos.
Sunday's game with UCSB was 1-1 through four innings after Cooper's first-inning RBI sacrifice fly and a third-inning unearned run for the Gauchos.
The Lopes took a 2-1 lead on senior center fielder Sydney McCray's fifth-inning single up the middle to score redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson, who had hit a leadoff single to center field and moved to second on freshman catcher Sarah Campbell's bunt.
GCU loaded the bases on freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf's high-hopping single and senior first baseman Emily Gonzalez's walk. With one out, Cooper worked the count full before ripping a screaming liner over the center-field wall for her third home run in four days.
All four of the Lopes' hits in the game came in the five-run fifth inning.
That gave GCU sophomore Natalie Fritz a victory to move her record to 3-0 in her first Lopes season. The right-hander from Chandler, Arizona, struck out a season-high seven batters with no walks over five innings of five-hit ball. With the help of Holtorf's high snag and turn on a sixth-inning double play, freshman Abi Jones tossed a shutout sixth inning and was followed by sophomore Oakley Vickers' shutout seventh that dropped the GCU staff's season ERA to 1.15.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Place, Maggie (2-0)
L: Waddell, Ainsley (1-2)
S: Vickers, Oakley (1)
Batting:
2B: Carr, Emily 1
HR: Waddell, Ainsley 1
RBI: Santos, Jazzy 2 ; Toledo, Jaelyn 1 ; Waddell, Ainsley 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Banks, Tehya 1 ; Santos, Jazzy 1 ; Toledo, Jaelyn 1 ; Waddell, Ainsley 1 ; Rauscher, Dani 1 ; Mejia, Giselle 1
Batting:
2B: Cooper, Jada 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1
HR: Pond, Ellie 1
RBI: Martin, Trinity 1 ; Cooper, Jada 3 ; Satcher, Alina 1 ; Wilkinson, Haley 2 ; Pond, Ellie 2
SH: Pond, Ellie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lucas, Tinley 1 ; Holtorf, Raegan 3 ; Cooper, Jada 1 ; Shifflett, Addison 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1 ; Pond, Ellie 1 ; McCray, Sydney 2
SB: McCray, Sydney 2
HBP: Cooper, Jada 1
Game Leaders
dp/1b
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
2
R
3
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
C
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
UTIL
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
LHP
/ Softball
IF
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