Undefeated Lopes top Wisconsin in 10th

Thursday, March 5

San Diego, Calif.

4 p.m.

Grand Canyon

23-0

Wisconsin

13-7

Grand Canyon

Wisconsin

Photo by: Braden Dohrmann

3/5/2026 8:00:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

GCU matches program record with 23-game winning streak

By: Braden Dohrmann

SAN DIEGO — Grand Canyon needed 10 innings to move to 23-0, beating Wisconsin 2-1 in the San Diego Classic opener on Thursday.

The victory required the GCU pitching staff's fourth consecutive game without allowing an earned run and a series of hitting and fielding heroics to remain one of three undefeated teams in the nation.

With the Lopes trailing 1-0 and down to their final strike in the seventh inning, GCU junior shortstop Mackenzie Nolan came through with a triple down the right-field line to even the score at 1-1.

Nolan returned to action Thursday after being out for 2 1/2 weeks with a lower-body injury. She pinch-hit in the fifth inning, when she grabbed the Lopes' first hit of the game on the first pitch.

GCU did not score after loading the bases, but Nolan stayed in the game at shortstop and it worked out in GCU's favor.

Nolan's clutch seventh-inning hit was set up by a sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper's leadoff, four-pitch walk and freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett's sacrifice bunt. Nolan, now 7 for 14 on the season, was in an 0-2 hole before working the count to 2-2 and fouling off a pitch to get to her game-tying RBI triple.

In the extra innings, the international tiebreaker rule was in effect with a runner starting on second base to start each half-inning.

In the top half of the eighth, GCU pinch-hit freshman Izzy Rueda bunted foul on a 2-2 count to strike out before senior center fielder Sydney McCray laced a hard grounder to shortstop, getting thrown out at first while keeping redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson at second base. Lopes freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf then beat out an infield single with Wilkinson quickly rounding third and getting sent home, where she was thrown out to the end the inning.

After relieving to finish the seventh, GCU sophomore Oakley Vickers intentionally put the first batter on in the eighth. When Wisconsin bunted on the next pitch, junior catcher Tinley Lucas scooped and fired the ball to second base, where McCray sneaked up behind the Badger runner at second to easily tag out the runner. Wisconsin challenged the call, asking for obstruction on McCray who caught the ball in the baseline. The challenge went in the Badgers' favor.

Vickers' next pitch hit the batter in the helmet on a bunt attempt, which the umpires ruled was not a full swing to load the bases with no outs for Wisconsin.

Lopes junior right-hander Maggie Place entered the game with her team in need of a miracle. Place provided it, getting the first batter out via pop-out at first base. Shiftlett, brought in from right field, for a fifth infielder made the first out.

The next Wisconsin batter popped another ball up to shallow right field. Holtorf ran back from the right side of the infield to make the play and had to unexpectedly fire the ball home with the Wisconsin third-base runner tagging up to go for the win. Holtorf's throw was money, as Lucas placed the tag to force a ninth inning.

Another GCU freshman, McKinsey Beyer, could not get a bunt down to start the top of the ninth inning. Satcher pinch-hit, hitting a hard line drive to right field for the second out. Shifflett then popped out in foul territory.

Place, the eventual winning pitcher, went right back to work in the ninth frame. Other than two intentional walks, Place enticed a bunt out, a flyout to shallow center and a groundout to short to send the game to the 10th inning, making it the Lopes' longest game since winning last season's WAC Tournament championship in 11 innings.

The Lopes' 10th-inning breakthrough started with graduate left fielder Trinity Martin drawing a walk to put runners at first and second. After a popout, Wilkinson moved the runners to second and third with a groundout to second.

With two outs, GCU sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond worked the count to 2-2 when a wild pitch allowed Shifflett to sprint home easily for the go-ahead run.

With the Lopes leading 2-1 in the bottom of the 10th, the defensive theatrics continued.

After a successful sacrifice bunt put Badgers runners on second to third with one out, Lucas caught Wisconsin's Danielle Lucy moving too far down the third-base line and made her the second out with a backdoor throw at third base. Place completed three shutout extra innings by drawing a ground ball to shortstop, where Nolan fielded it and ended the game with her throw to first.

Grand Canyon only scratched out four hits in the 10-inning classic, as Wisconsin's Shelby Jacobsen dominated in the circle. The Lopes had not been shut out through three innings all season.

The Lopes matched the program's winning streak record from last season with their 23rd consecutive victory Thursday, when they moved to 3-0 vs. Big Ten teams this season with two wins against Wisconsin.

GCU can set a new program record Friday, when it takes on Notre Dame at 12:30 p.m. (Phoenix time) at San Diego's Reggie Smith Softball Complex. The Lopes will play their first true road game against the host Toreros at 5:30 p.m. (Phoenix time).