Bats, arms of elite program return for more

Friday, February 6

Phoenix, Ariz.

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Southern Utah

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Photo by: Jack Gilday

2/5/2026 5:08:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

GCU holds nation's 5th-best win percentage in Hays' 4 seasons as head coach

By: Paul Coro

Another highly anticipated Grand Canyon season is upon the college softball world, and there will be one association with it – winning.

For the four previous seasons that head coach Shanon Hays has led the Lopes, GCU has reached an NCAA regional every year and posted the nation's fifth-best winning percentage over that span (.785, 183-50). It's a college stratosphere where only Oklahoma, UCLA, Florida State and Duke reside above the Lopes.

Nobody needs to explain that the winning ways won't change at GCU, but an even roster split of high-level returning production and talented newcomers enforce how the Lopes will carry their standards into their first Mountain West season. The campaign begins with five weekend games at GCU Softball Stadium, featuring Saturday and Sunday games against Santa Clara and getting started with a 4 p.m. doubleheader against Southern Utah and Weber State.

"We try to be successful every day, and it's always worked out," Hays said. "We call it stacking our chips. You get a chip and stack it. You have a good day and get another and another. That determines your success. It's not always winning. It's how you approach things."

After winning 50 of 55 regular-season and postseason conference games over the past two seasons, GCU shifts from the WAC to a more challenging Mountain West with the same conference favorite tag from opposing coaches.

The Lopes have established a rhythm of improving returnees and leveling up recruits, but they have been dealt a major setback with losing Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year Savannah Kirk for the season to knee surgery. The junior second baseman from Waddell, Arizona, ranked second in the nation last season for batting average (.505) and stolen bases (50).

"You feel terrible for Sav," Hays said. "She's in such great physical shape and works so hard at her craft, so it's weird that it happened to her. She has really grown into being a leader instead of just a player. She's embraced that and done a great job. I feel terrible for her in one way, but I'm also excited for her because we'll have her for two more years with another talented class coming in.

"When you lose one of the best overall players in the country, it's going to hurt your team, but hopefully we'll develop and someone else will step up."

The Lopes are built to do that with their next two top hitters, sophomore Jada Cooper and senior Emily Gonzalez, returning from a 47-8 team that earned an NCAA regional win for the program's third consecutive season.

GCU has ranked in the national top 11 for batting average in all four seasons under Hays, with last season's team landing at No. 5 with a .347 batting average that was boosted by how Cooper and Gonzalez could hit for average (.364 and .383, respectively) and power (12 home runs and 13 home runs, respectively).

With the adjustments to losing Kirk, Cooper is switching corners to playing third base, where freshman and Phoenix Sandra Day O'Connor High School graduate Raegan Holtorf was slated to play before replacing Kirk at second base.

Cooper, who is from Houston, started all 55 games as a freshman and slugged .686 last season.

"I think you're going to see a better version of her," Hays said. "I think she's matured. She just seems a lot better to me. What I've seen up to this point is big improvement from her and her approach to the game. We see her wanting to step up and be a high-level player and hitter."

Emily Gonzalez

The game log for Gonzalez's first season with GCU makes it appear like she was slow to warm up, but a bevy of early-season, line-drive outs foretold the offense to come with her. The native of Yucaipa, California, added 10 doubles to her 13 homers for a team-best .701 slugging percentage that was capped by her 11th-inning home run in the WAC Tournament championship. She will remain in a role split between first base and designated player.

Junior Alina Satcher, who was a power pinch-hitting threat, could be an every-day player this season in addition to pitching in relief. Her three home runs last season came over the course of three consecutive appearances, including a pinch-hit home run against Florida.

"Alina is one of the people who have really stepped up," Hays said. "She has phenomenal tools and skill set. She was going to play in the outfield, but we've moved her to first with Emily Gonzalez. If we have Emily, Jada and her in the lineup, that's three big power right-handers, so we'll play the game a little differently and try to slug more."

GCU junior Mackenzie Nolan is back at shortstop, where she starred defensively last season with 52 starts last season and complemented the offense with her bunting ability to rank 10th nationally for sacrifice hits with 15.

Unlike previous seasons, Hays will experiment with lineups more when the Lopes play five to six games each of the first five weekends.

Cooper could still play at first base with redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson able to play third base after returning from an injury that sidelined her eight games into last season.

GCU, whose fielding percentage rankings improved from No. 88 in 2024 to No. 19 in 2025, figured to be fortified up its spine with all returnees – Kirk and Nolan at middle infield, senior Sydney McCray in center field and junior Tinley Lucas returning at catcher, where talented freshman Sarah Campbell joins her behind the plate.

Just as now-graduate assistant Makaiya Gomez did in her second season after junior college play, McCray appears poised for a breakthrough that could even top her junior season's defense, .326 hitting and 17 stolen bases. Kirk and McCray would have been a lethal one-two at the top of the lineup, but McCray's speed as a left-handed hitter will be a handful for opposing pitchers and defenses at the top of the Lopes' lineup.

"Syd had a great fall and spring," Hays said. "She's really matured with her game, her swing and her approach. Defensively, she's just phenomenal and throws so well. She's going to be a huge leader for us. She's growing in every way. She was as good as Savannah in the fall. We need her to not take too much of the pressure with Savannah out and just go be what she's been."

GCU will have fresh faces at the outfield corners with Virginia Tech graduate transfer Trinity Martin could play left field and get the envious batting order spot behind Cooper and Gonzalez. She hit .259 last season with five home runs and has displayed more power potential with practice blasts to the stadium lights.

Versatile freshman Morgan Campbell, the Shawnee, Oklahoma, twin teammate of Sarah, could also be in left field.

Another freshman, left-handing hitting Addison Shifflett of Liberty Hill, Texas, and right-handed hitting sophomore Ellie Pond, who hit 21 home runs in 47 Salt Lake Community College games last season, are powerful talents who could platoon in right field.

"We've got good options," Hays said. "Just figuring out what the best one is and sticking with it is what we're going to be feeling around."

The GCU pitching staff seems to have little room for improvement after leading the nation in ERA at one point last season and finishing third at 1.94. The Lopes lose a circle legend in Meghan Golden, who posted a nation-leading ERA of 1.06, but return three of their primary arms and made a major addition in sophomore Natalie Fritz, who returns to her Valley roots after a season at New Mexico.

Taryn Batterton practice

Lopes senior right-hander Taryn Batterton was a co-ace with Golden last season, racking up a conference-leading 18 wins and dropping her ERA to 1.52 before late-season shoulder issues. Hays said a healthy Batterton could have put GCU in a Super Regional.

"Our pitching staff has just gotten better as a whole," Batterton said. "it's going to be really cool to see the different dynamic. I feel a really good vibe.

"It was always my dream growing up to be a part of a team like this. It's really cool that I get to be part of building something that is going to go on for years. We have become a well-known name, and we just get to build off that and show people what we're made of."

Batterton is joined by the experience of junior right-hander Maggie Place, who thrived in her transition from Division II last season for a 2.23 ERA, and sophomore left-hander Oakley Vickers, who the staff brought along slowly for an effective rotation and relief complement. Vickers posted a 1.77 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 47 1/3 innings and an opponent batting average of .200.

"You make a plan for it to work out how it did, and it hardly every does," Hays said. "But it worked out perfect with Oakley. She had a phenomenal fall. Against ASU, she struck out eight of nine. Her velo (velocity) is up. She got stronger. She's confident. She's just real tough on left-handers."

Batterton said she is excited to watch Fritz, who gives GCU another four-armed rotation. The 6-foot right-hander from Chandler Basha High School chose GCU over the other in-state programs after starting 15 games for New Mexico last season, when she struck out 78 batters in 100 2/3 innings as a freshman.

"The big addition and big inning-getter is Natalie Fritz," Hays said. "She's a 6-foot athlete, a phenomenal kid and leader. She's been phenomenal. That gives us another experienced starter. She competes. When you see her, you'll think, 'Oh, wow.' "

Freshman pitchers Lilly Camp, the Pacific Northwest's top prep pitcher last year, and Abi Jones, Northern California's top preps pitcher last year, will be in the pitching mix with Satcher.

The Lopes will play the first four weekends at home, where they are 92-20 over the past three seasons. GCU will play six nonconference opponents that finished last season in the top 100 of RPI, where Mountain West opponents San Diego State (No. 30), Nevada (No. 40), Fresno State (No. 64) and Boise State (No. 84) also finished.

That road puts a fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth a long way off.

"The only thing we talk about is representing the school the right way and having fun competing the right way," Hays said.

For the returnees, the conference brings a fresh challenge to a familiar goal. GCU received six of the 10 first-place votes in the Mountain West Preseason Coaches Poll. Nevada was picked by the other four.

"I'm excited that I get to end my career in a new conference, seeing what it's going to be like to be the new girls in the conference," Batterton said. "We obviously are very well-respected in the conference already, which is awesome, but I'm excited to see how we're going to compete and I think it's going to be a good challenge for the team."