Completed Event: Softball versus Princeton on March 7, 2026 , Win , 7, to, 4
Softball
vs Princeton
W 7-4
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Sunday, March 15
Albuquerque, N.M.
9 a.m.
Grand Canyon
30-0, 0
8
at
0
New Mexico
12-16, 0
1st innning1
2nd innning2
3rd innning3
4th innning4
5th innning5
RunsR
HitsH
ErrorsE
Grand Canyon
0
2
0
4
2
8
11
0
New Mexico
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
2
Photo by: Braden Dohrmann
GCU sweeps New Mexico via run-rule
3/15/2026 2:08:00 PM | Softball
Jada Cooper drives in three runs for 29 on the season
ALBUQUERQUE – Grand Canyon's bats exploded for eight runs on eleven hits to win 8-0 in five innings on Sunday morning.Â
The win clinched a sweep of New Mexico in GCU's first-ever Mountain West series and brought the team's record-breaking start to 30-0.
Sophomore right-hander Natalie Fritz was called upon to start the series finale and the game was extra motivating for her. Fritz played her freshman year at New Mexico, tossing just over 100 innings with 78 strikeouts in her first collegiate season. This offseason she decided to enter the transfer portal and return closer to home and join the pitching staff at Grand Canyon.
The Basha HS product has been off to a nice start this year, with a 5-0 record and 1.46 ERA coming into Sunday's contest.
Fritz was solid again, going 3 1/3 innings pitched, striking out three and just allowing a trio of hits. The game went just five innings, putting her in line for her sixth win of the season, already surpassing her season total in wins last year at UNM.
The Lopes had runners on base in all five innings of play but did not strike for runs until the second inning, when junior catcher Tinley Lucas turned on an inside pitch and sent it a country mile over the left field wall to take a 2-0 lead.
Lucas's third homer of the year came on a full count and the Lopes never looked back.
In the fourth inning, GCU ripped off four straight two-out, RBI hits for a four-run inning. Mackenzie Nolan singled and moved to second on a ground out, setting up freshman Raegan Holtorf at the plate with two outs.
Holtorf smacked a single through the six-hole scoring Nolan. She advanced to second on the throw, before advancing to third on a throwing error. Two pitches later Jada Cooper hammered a line drive to center, scoring Holtorf. Two pitches after that and Addison Shifflett joined the party.Â
Shifflett sent what seemed like a no-doubter off the bat too high into the sky, as the 20 MPH winds brought the ball back in to play, hitting off the wall in center for a stand-up double.
The string of RBI hits was the last straw for starting pitcher McKenna Guest, as the Lobos brought in Saturday's starter Caitlin Benningfield, who started in center field on Sunday.
Emily Gonzalez blooped a ball into shallow right-center field, that with the help of the sun, found the turf and gave Gonzalez her tenth double of the season.
Oakley Vickers entered the game in the circle for Fritz with an out recorded in the fourth frame. She went five up, five down to end the game, striking out two batters.
In the top half of the fifth inning Grand Canyon added on the two necessary runs for a run-rule win. With the bases loaded and two outs, Jada Cooper came through again, with an RBI single to left field, plating runs 7 and 8.
Cooper finished the weekend with a .444 batting average and a .500 on-base percentage, driving in five runs behind her one home run on Saturday. Jada is hitting .372 on the year and leads the team in home runs (7), OBP (.510), and RBI's (29).
Now at 3-0 in the conference, the Lopes already hold a one game lead on the rest of the Mountain West, with every other team in the conference dropping a game in the opening weekend.
At 30-0, GCU should move up in all national polls, carrying the momentum as the only unbeaten team in the country into a massive upcoming week at GCU Softball Stadium.
Grand Canyon hosts No. 15 Oklahoma State on Tuesday (3/17) at 7 p.m. (Phoenix time). This will be the highest ranked opponent the Lopes have faced this season. The Cowgirls are coming off a series loss at Arizona State this weekend.Â
GCU will host San José State over the weekend. The Spartans took two of three at home against UNLV in the opening weekend of conference play.
Â
The win clinched a sweep of New Mexico in GCU's first-ever Mountain West series and brought the team's record-breaking start to 30-0.
Sophomore right-hander Natalie Fritz was called upon to start the series finale and the game was extra motivating for her. Fritz played her freshman year at New Mexico, tossing just over 100 innings with 78 strikeouts in her first collegiate season. This offseason she decided to enter the transfer portal and return closer to home and join the pitching staff at Grand Canyon.
The Basha HS product has been off to a nice start this year, with a 5-0 record and 1.46 ERA coming into Sunday's contest.
Fritz was solid again, going 3 1/3 innings pitched, striking out three and just allowing a trio of hits. The game went just five innings, putting her in line for her sixth win of the season, already surpassing her season total in wins last year at UNM.
The Lopes had runners on base in all five innings of play but did not strike for runs until the second inning, when junior catcher Tinley Lucas turned on an inside pitch and sent it a country mile over the left field wall to take a 2-0 lead.
Lucas's third homer of the year came on a full count and the Lopes never looked back.
In the fourth inning, GCU ripped off four straight two-out, RBI hits for a four-run inning. Mackenzie Nolan singled and moved to second on a ground out, setting up freshman Raegan Holtorf at the plate with two outs.
Holtorf smacked a single through the six-hole scoring Nolan. She advanced to second on the throw, before advancing to third on a throwing error. Two pitches later Jada Cooper hammered a line drive to center, scoring Holtorf. Two pitches after that and Addison Shifflett joined the party.Â
Shifflett sent what seemed like a no-doubter off the bat too high into the sky, as the 20 MPH winds brought the ball back in to play, hitting off the wall in center for a stand-up double.
The string of RBI hits was the last straw for starting pitcher McKenna Guest, as the Lobos brought in Saturday's starter Caitlin Benningfield, who started in center field on Sunday.
Emily Gonzalez blooped a ball into shallow right-center field, that with the help of the sun, found the turf and gave Gonzalez her tenth double of the season.
Oakley Vickers entered the game in the circle for Fritz with an out recorded in the fourth frame. She went five up, five down to end the game, striking out two batters.
In the top half of the fifth inning Grand Canyon added on the two necessary runs for a run-rule win. With the bases loaded and two outs, Jada Cooper came through again, with an RBI single to left field, plating runs 7 and 8.
Cooper finished the weekend with a .444 batting average and a .500 on-base percentage, driving in five runs behind her one home run on Saturday. Jada is hitting .372 on the year and leads the team in home runs (7), OBP (.510), and RBI's (29).
Now at 3-0 in the conference, the Lopes already hold a one game lead on the rest of the Mountain West, with every other team in the conference dropping a game in the opening weekend.
At 30-0, GCU should move up in all national polls, carrying the momentum as the only unbeaten team in the country into a massive upcoming week at GCU Softball Stadium.
Grand Canyon hosts No. 15 Oklahoma State on Tuesday (3/17) at 7 p.m. (Phoenix time). This will be the highest ranked opponent the Lopes have faced this season. The Cowgirls are coming off a series loss at Arizona State this weekend.Â
GCU will host San José State over the weekend. The Spartans took two of three at home against UNLV in the opening weekend of conference play.
Â
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fritz, Natalie (6-0)
L: GUEST, McKenna (5-5)
Batting:
2B: Shifflett, Addison 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1
HR: Lucas, Tinley 1
RBI: Holtorf, Raegan 1 ; Cooper, Jada 3 ; Shifflett, Addison 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1 ; Lucas, Tinley 2
SH: Nolan, Mackenzie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Holtorf, Raegan 1 ; Cooper, Jada 1 ; Shifflett, Addison 1 ; Martin, Trinity 1 ; Lucas, Tinley 1 ; Rueda, Izzy 1 ; Wilkinson, Haley 1 ; Nolan, Mackenzie 1
SB: Holtorf, Raegan 1 ; Campbell, Morgan 1 ; Nolan, Mackenzie 1
CS: Gonzalez, Emily 1
HBP: McCray, Sydney 1 ; Holtorf, Raegan 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
RHP
/ Softball
UTIL
/ SoftballINF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
LHP
/ SoftballNew Hardware Install | Softball
Friday, August 08
Alexis Soto | on her Christian Faith
Monday, July 07
Briah Williams | Christian Faith
Monday, July 07
Alexis Soto | Ephesians 3:20
Monday, July 07