Sweet 16: Pitchers' Ks, Cooper HRs put Lopes at 16-0

Sunday, February 22

Phoenix, Ariz.

12 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-0

UC Santa Barbara

4-13

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UC Santa Barbara	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	6	1
Grand Canyon	1	0	0	0	5	0	X	6	4	1

Photo by: Josh Cale

2/22/2026 4:41:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Fritz, Batterton each strike out 7 with no earned runs allowed

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon threw a Sweet 16 party Sunday at GCU Softball Stadium, where the Lopes' undefeated start turned 16 games old with sophomore Jada Cooper smashing softballs like piñatas and Lopes pitchers not allowing an earned run like a piece of party cake.

Cooper ripped go-ahead blasts in each GCU win Sunday, when Lopes pitchers struck out 16 batters over 12 innings for a 6-1 victory against UC Santa Barbara and an 8-0, run-rule rout of Montana.

Addison Shifflett

GCU (16-0) is one of five undefeated teams in the nation and the only one west of the Mississippi River, with the other unbeaten teams being Florida (19-0), North Carolina (14-0), Tennessee (14-0) and Alabama (13-0).

In going 6-0 at its Purple Classic, the Lopes outscored opponents 48-7 with six of the opponent runs coming in one inning Saturday.

"I like how Natalie (Fritz) gave us a solid start, and how Taryn (Batterton) gave us a solid start after she had that bad inning yesterday," GCU head coach Shanon Hays said. "When you play two teams that swing the bat well, to give up just one (unearned) run is neat."

The vaunted heart of GCU's order clicked in the home event, with Lopes senior Emily Gonzalez going 10 for 16 with three home runs and six RBIs, and Cooper being 6 for 16 with four home runs and 11 RBIs. Cooper, who hit 12 home runs last season, had not hit one in her first 24 at bats this season before hitting four home runs over her next 14 at bats.

"Jada's just seeing it and getting a rhythm," Hays said. "Jada and Emily were both frustrated the first two weeks. It was impressive for us to win games with them not swinging it how they usually do. We knew that if they started barreling up some balls, it would break things open and it has."

With the best-ever start by a Mountain West program, GCU is again being led by a pitching staff that dropped its season ERA to 1.10 with Sunday's lone run scoring because of an error and a mishandled double steal.

GCU 8, Montana 0 (6 innings)

Batterton moved to 5-0 by striking out seven Montana batters and only allowing two hits over 4 2/3 innings of the 8-0 Sunday finale win against Montana.

Jada Cooper

Cooper drilled a 2-2, second-inning offering over the 20-foot-tall video board beyond the left-field wall. That Lopes 1-0 lead was all they managed through three innings.

"I felt good and confident in my swing, just listening to Coach Hays and trusting his word," Cooper said after a two-homer day. "My goal was to not only do good for myself but drive in runs for our team because we haven't been scoring as many as we usually do. I just wanted to come up clutch for them."

GCU batted around for a six-run fourth inning, its third six-run inning of the weekend. Following her second home run of the day, Cooper was given nothing close to swing at for her next plate appearance. Her walk was followed by freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett giving the right-field rocket version of a scoreboard-clearing home run.

The Lopes loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman before senior center fielder Sydney McCray delivered a two-run single on a 2-2 pitch for a 5-0 lead. With two outs, Gonzalez knocked a two-run single to center field to increase GCU's edge to 7-0 through four innings.

Fifth-inning singles by Shifflett, graduate left fielder Trinity Martin and sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond ended the Lopes' third run-rule win of a 6-0 Purple Classic.

"I'm proud of this team because the loss of Savannah Kirk hurt us," Cooper said of the Preseason Mountain West Player of the Year's season-ending knee injury. "We believe in our team. We know we have enough offense to keep this going. We have a stacked team, so we'll be good."

GCU 6, UCSB 1

Cooper belted her second career grand slam and the Lopes' third of the season to help keep GCU undefeated with a 6-1 victory against UC Santa Barbara. The Houston native matched her career high with five RBIs in GCU's first game Sunday, giving her eight of her season's 17 RBIs in two weekend games against the Gauchos.

The game was 1-1 through four innings after Cooper's first-inning RBI sacrifice fly and a third-inning unearned run for UCSB.

The Lopes took a 2-1 lead on senior center fielder Sydney McCray's single up the middle to score redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson, who had hit a leadoff single 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 liner over the center-field wall for a 6-1 lead.

"They kept jamming me in," Cooper said. "I knew they were going to try to get me to go out. It was a change out. I just waited on it, got inside the ball and drove it out of the park."

All four of the Lopes' hits in the game came in the five-run fifth inning.

That gave Lopes sophomore Natalie Fritz a victory to move her GCU debut season record to 3-0. The right-hander from Chandler, Arizona, struck out a season-high seven batters with no walks over five innings of five-hit ball. Two double plays and shutout innings by freshman Abi Jones and sophomore Oakley Vickers thwarted the Gauchos' deep lineup.

"Natalie shows a different spin than the rest of the girls," Hays said. "When her spin is on and her ball is really jumping, she is tough to hit. I loved how she got ahead in the count. Honestly, she just threw OK for her. She wasn't really dialed in, and part of it is my fault of her having so much time between starts."

Fritz had not started for eight days since a three-hit, complete-game shutout against South Dakota. Over her latest three outings, Fritz has struck out 14 batters in 13 1/3 innings with one walk allowed.

"It's a great problem to have, having such a strong staff that there are so many people you could go to at any given time," Fritz said. "It's like a game of chess, and you have so many pawns. You've got to play your pawns right. How we're doing it is definitely working out, so I'm happy to be a part of it.

"Today, I definitely felt my riseball was working really well. Santa Barbara was a very aggressive team, so getting them to chase that ball out of the zone really helped us."