Lopes earn third straight shutout, beat Panthers 4-0

Sunday, March 1

Phoenix, Ariz.

11:30 a.m.

Grand Canyon

22-0

Eastern Illinois

5-16

Eastern Illinois

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Bryce Fairchild

3/1/2026 3:10:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

GCU is one of three undefeated teams in the nation

By: Braden Dohrmann

Grand Canyon capped their fourth weekend of play with a 4-0 win over Eastern Illinois Sunday, to bring the Lopes to a nation's best 22-0 record.

GCU earned their third straight shutout win of the season behind a pitcher-by-committee approach going seven innings and just allowing four hits.

Freshman Abi Jones made her first career start in the circle, facing the order one time, going 2.2 IP and just giving up a single hit. She was replaced by the eventual winner of the game, Oakley Vickers, who moved to 7-0 behind her three innings of work, striking out three.

Taryn Batterton finished the Panthers off with an inning and a third of work to earn her first save of the season.

"We wanted to get each girl a couple innings of work and wanted to set up matchups throughout the lineup to really replicate how we may be able to use them later in the year," said head coach Shanon Hays.

Coming into the weekend, the Lopes' pitching staff was ranked third in the nation in ERA, so four shutouts in six games will likely only help the overall staff's stats moving forward.

Offensively, the Lopes strung across seven hits, garnering two-hit performances from shortstop Haley Wilkinson and senior Emily Gonzalez.

Wilkinson turned 20 on Sunday and showed up in a big way for Grand Canyon. In the second inning, she hammered a ball to the right-center field gap, nailing the very top of the wall for an RBI double to bring in the first run of the game.

Freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf picked up her middle infield partner with a two-out double of her own down the left field line, plating Wilkinson.

GCU did not score again until the sixth, when Gonzalez smoked her second hit of the day into left field to score runners on second and third with two outs. Gonzalez won the 12-pitch at-bat and drove in 15th and 16th runs of the season.

Grand Canyon now stands as one of three teams in the country with an undefeated record through four weeks of play. North Carolina dropped the third game of their series with Boston College, bringing the list to three. Top-ranked Tennessee and 7th-ranked Alabama remain with GCU as the remaining perfects.

The Lopes finally hit the road next weekend, with five games in San Diego, both on the campuses of San Diego and San Diego State.

GCU will face Notre Dame twice, play Princeton and have rematches with San Diego and Wisconsin on deck.

"We have proved we can win at home," finished Hays. "Now we want to go prove we can win on the road. This is a young team in some ways, so this is a great opportunity to cut our teeth and learn new things about this roster before conference play."

The No. 25 ranked Lopes will await the national rankings that release Tuesday to see if their fourth-consecutive undefeated weekend earned them enough votes to move up in the polls.