Completed Event: Softball at Colorado State on April 30, 2026 , Win , 10, to, 5
Softball
at Colorado State
W 10-5
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, May 15
Lincoln, Neb.
1 p.m.
Grand Canyon
53-8
5
vs
1
(2) Louisville
44-13
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GCU | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Louisville | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
Power of Vickers, bats wins regional opener
5/15/2026 12:11:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro
No. 25 GCU downs No. 24 Louisville, plays top-ranked Nebraska on Saturday in Lincoln
LINCOLN, Neb. – The NCAA Softball Championship Subcommittee did not deem Grand Canyon's program-record 52 wins worthy of being a regional's second seed.
It might have thought differently of No. 25 GCU after the Lopes opened the NCAA Lincoln Regional with a 5-1 victory against No. 24 Louisville, the regional's second seed, on Friday at Bowlin Stadium.
Lopes sophomore left-hander Oakley Vickers, the Mountain West Championship Most Valuable Player, continued her dominant postseason by shutting out the nation's 11th-best hitting team for the first five innings and throwing a 4-hit complete game. Vickers' victory marked her second career complete game after throwing her first six days ago in a must-win Mountain West Championship game. Over her last three outings, Vickers was vibing with a string of 14 consecutive shutout innings to move to 16-4 on the season.
Playing the nation's only top-25 regional opener for the second consecutive year, the Lopes (53-8) started their fifth consecutive regional appearance with a win for the second time (defeated UCLA 3-2 as a regional fourth seed in 2023). It extended the program single-season wins record and sent GCU to a Saturday winner's bracket matchup at 10 a.m. (Phoenix time) against top-ranked host Nebraska (47-6), which won 4-1 Friday night against South Dakota.
"We're really peaking and really getting a feel for the game," said Lopes senior center fielder Sydney McCray, who went 3 for 4. "We all just lean into one another. It takes everybody, and everybody knows that. Everybody's a part of the game, and everybody's a part of the team.
"We like the chip on our shoulder. We like to just prove to people that we can compete with anybody, and we will compete with anybody. Like we always say, it takes all 21. We have 21 outs to work with and play with. We'll go down to the last out and the last strike and compete the entire time. That chip on our shoulder is there, and I think it motivates us even more."
GCU long ago passed its program single-season home run record of 75 but added round-trippers No. 88 and No. 89 in recording a regional win for the fourth consecutive season. The Lopes pounced on Louisville senior ace Alyssa Zabala with two first-inning runs before later adding solo home runs by McCray and senior designated player Emily Gonzalez.
From the leadoff spot, McCray was a menace for the Cardinals (44-13) all game. She reached base in all four plate appearances, starting with her speed hurrying Louisville shortstop Taylor Monroe into an error on the game's first pitch. Freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf followed with an infield single before graduate left fielder Trinity Martin rocketed a one-out single off the left-field wall, scoring McCray for a 1-0 lead.
"I just try and put pressure on the defense and use my speed and let the speed do the talking and be a spark plug for everybody else behind me," McCray said.
GCU freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett continued her postseason tear, spotting Vickers a 2-0 lead before she entered the circle. Connecting on her eighth extra-base hit in her last 11 hits, Shiflett ripped an inside pitch down the right-field line for a RBI double.
"When you can score some runs, that first inning makes some confidence," GCU head coach Shanon Hays said.
The Lopes provided more run support, but that was all Vickers' spin needed Friday. She struck out nine batters, one shy of her season high, and was particularly hard on right-handers with her curveball.
"Her spin is so good, and her competitive spirit," Hays said. "She's grown up so much in a year."
When Louisville threatened with a one-out hit batsman and bunt single in the bottom of the fifth, Vickers struck out consecutive batters, including All-ACC first-teamer Bri Dispenes.
"After the bunt, I just looked at the dugout and I was like, 'I'm good; I got these next two batters,' " Vickers said. "I had confidence in myself."
While GCU leadoff batters reached base four times, Vickers retired every Louisville leadoff batter with five of those seven Cardinals getting out by air.
"I don't think it was necessarily her (Vickers)," Despines said. "I think it was ourselves. That's something we need to find internally to be better because we are better than that.'
McCray stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second inning with a slapped opposite-field home runs to give her four round-trippers this season – two inside-the-park and two over-the-fence homers.
"That was unexpected power, to say the least," Hays said on an in-game ESPNU interview.
Gonzalez's 15th double of the season prompted Louisville to pull Zabala in the third inning, and Gonzalez padded the Lopes' lead to 4-0 with a solo home run to right-center field on the sixth inning's first pitch. Gonzalez's 13th home run of the season made her 9 for 17 (.529) in the postseason, continuing her clutch Lopes legacy after hitting a game-winning home run in last season's WAC Tournament championship.
Lucas added a one-out, sixth-inning double for the Lopes' fifth extra-base hit, but GCU could not bring her home to leave the lead at 4-0.
Louisville avoided the shutout with sophomore left fielder Madison Pickens' 11th home run of the season in the sixth inning. The Lopes answered the Cardinals' only extra-base hit with a top-of-the-seventh run on sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper's RBI sacrifice fly. It scored McCray, who had singled, stole second for her 39th swipe of the season (most in the nation without being caught) and took third on an errant throw.
Throwing a career-high 122 pitches, Vickers closed out Louisville in the bottom of the seventh, which included getting the second out on a fly ball by Louisville second baseman Chelsea Mack. With Mack's.445 leadoff hitting, it was a key for Vickers to contain her to a 1-for-4 day with with three fly-ball outs and a bunt single.
GCU graduate left fielder Trinity Martin charged to scoop a short fly for the game's final out. The Lopes kept Louisville to its lowest run total since March 14. Only Clemson (4-0) and South Carolina (9-1) had limited the Cardinals to one run or none this season.
"Oakley battled out there today," Hays said. "Honestly, she didn't have her best stuff, not even close to her best stuff. And I was thinking, 'Well, maybe we can ge through four or five innings, but she kept going. And like she always does, she threw very well."
In 26 1/3 postseason innings, Vickers has struck out 32 batters with a 1.06 ERA.
"I just had to make sure I stayed on my legs and made sure my spin was on point," Vickers said. "I was just making sure I was using my core and my body. If my stuff's not hte best, I just hav eto make sure my body's good."
In her program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2023, Louisville head coach Holly Aprile said she thought "nothing" of the Cardinals being in the only top-25 matchup among the 32 regional openers.
"We just never really got our offense going, and that's a tribute to Vickers," Aprile said. "I mean she did a great job. We just have to be able to make our adjustments. I just think we were not able to put offensive pressure on them at all. And when we did, she got us. Credit to her."
It might have thought differently of No. 25 GCU after the Lopes opened the NCAA Lincoln Regional with a 5-1 victory against No. 24 Louisville, the regional's second seed, on Friday at Bowlin Stadium.
Lopes sophomore left-hander Oakley Vickers, the Mountain West Championship Most Valuable Player, continued her dominant postseason by shutting out the nation's 11th-best hitting team for the first five innings and throwing a 4-hit complete game. Vickers' victory marked her second career complete game after throwing her first six days ago in a must-win Mountain West Championship game. Over her last three outings, Vickers was vibing with a string of 14 consecutive shutout innings to move to 16-4 on the season.
Playing the nation's only top-25 regional opener for the second consecutive year, the Lopes (53-8) started their fifth consecutive regional appearance with a win for the second time (defeated UCLA 3-2 as a regional fourth seed in 2023). It extended the program single-season wins record and sent GCU to a Saturday winner's bracket matchup at 10 a.m. (Phoenix time) against top-ranked host Nebraska (47-6), which won 4-1 Friday night against South Dakota.
"We're really peaking and really getting a feel for the game," said Lopes senior center fielder Sydney McCray, who went 3 for 4. "We all just lean into one another. It takes everybody, and everybody knows that. Everybody's a part of the game, and everybody's a part of the team.
"We like the chip on our shoulder. We like to just prove to people that we can compete with anybody, and we will compete with anybody. Like we always say, it takes all 21. We have 21 outs to work with and play with. We'll go down to the last out and the last strike and compete the entire time. That chip on our shoulder is there, and I think it motivates us even more."
GCU long ago passed its program single-season home run record of 75 but added round-trippers No. 88 and No. 89 in recording a regional win for the fourth consecutive season. The Lopes pounced on Louisville senior ace Alyssa Zabala with two first-inning runs before later adding solo home runs by McCray and senior designated player Emily Gonzalez.
From the leadoff spot, McCray was a menace for the Cardinals (44-13) all game. She reached base in all four plate appearances, starting with her speed hurrying Louisville shortstop Taylor Monroe into an error on the game's first pitch. Freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf followed with an infield single before graduate left fielder Trinity Martin rocketed a one-out single off the left-field wall, scoring McCray for a 1-0 lead.
"I just try and put pressure on the defense and use my speed and let the speed do the talking and be a spark plug for everybody else behind me," McCray said.
GCU freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett continued her postseason tear, spotting Vickers a 2-0 lead before she entered the circle. Connecting on her eighth extra-base hit in her last 11 hits, Shiflett ripped an inside pitch down the right-field line for a RBI double.
"When you can score some runs, that first inning makes some confidence," GCU head coach Shanon Hays said.
The Lopes provided more run support, but that was all Vickers' spin needed Friday. She struck out nine batters, one shy of her season high, and was particularly hard on right-handers with her curveball.
"Her spin is so good, and her competitive spirit," Hays said. "She's grown up so much in a year."
When Louisville threatened with a one-out hit batsman and bunt single in the bottom of the fifth, Vickers struck out consecutive batters, including All-ACC first-teamer Bri Dispenes.
"After the bunt, I just looked at the dugout and I was like, 'I'm good; I got these next two batters,' " Vickers said. "I had confidence in myself."
While GCU leadoff batters reached base four times, Vickers retired every Louisville leadoff batter with five of those seven Cardinals getting out by air.
"I don't think it was necessarily her (Vickers)," Despines said. "I think it was ourselves. That's something we need to find internally to be better because we are better than that.'
McCray stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second inning with a slapped opposite-field home runs to give her four round-trippers this season – two inside-the-park and two over-the-fence homers.
"That was unexpected power, to say the least," Hays said on an in-game ESPNU interview.
Gonzalez's 15th double of the season prompted Louisville to pull Zabala in the third inning, and Gonzalez padded the Lopes' lead to 4-0 with a solo home run to right-center field on the sixth inning's first pitch. Gonzalez's 13th home run of the season made her 9 for 17 (.529) in the postseason, continuing her clutch Lopes legacy after hitting a game-winning home run in last season's WAC Tournament championship.
Lucas added a one-out, sixth-inning double for the Lopes' fifth extra-base hit, but GCU could not bring her home to leave the lead at 4-0.
Louisville avoided the shutout with sophomore left fielder Madison Pickens' 11th home run of the season in the sixth inning. The Lopes answered the Cardinals' only extra-base hit with a top-of-the-seventh run on sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper's RBI sacrifice fly. It scored McCray, who had singled, stole second for her 39th swipe of the season (most in the nation without being caught) and took third on an errant throw.
Throwing a career-high 122 pitches, Vickers closed out Louisville in the bottom of the seventh, which included getting the second out on a fly ball by Louisville second baseman Chelsea Mack. With Mack's.445 leadoff hitting, it was a key for Vickers to contain her to a 1-for-4 day with with three fly-ball outs and a bunt single.
GCU graduate left fielder Trinity Martin charged to scoop a short fly for the game's final out. The Lopes kept Louisville to its lowest run total since March 14. Only Clemson (4-0) and South Carolina (9-1) had limited the Cardinals to one run or none this season.
"Oakley battled out there today," Hays said. "Honestly, she didn't have her best stuff, not even close to her best stuff. And I was thinking, 'Well, maybe we can ge through four or five innings, but she kept going. And like she always does, she threw very well."
In 26 1/3 postseason innings, Vickers has struck out 32 batters with a 1.06 ERA.
"I just had to make sure I stayed on my legs and made sure my spin was on point," Vickers said. "I was just making sure I was using my core and my body. If my stuff's not hte best, I just hav eto make sure my body's good."
In her program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2023, Louisville head coach Holly Aprile said she thought "nothing" of the Cardinals being in the only top-25 matchup among the 32 regional openers.
"We just never really got our offense going, and that's a tribute to Vickers," Aprile said. "I mean she did a great job. We just have to be able to make our adjustments. I just think we were not able to put offensive pressure on them at all. And when we did, she got us. Credit to her."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Vickers, Oakley (16-4)
L: Alyssa Zabala (14-5)
Batting:
2B: Gonzalez, Emily 1 ; Shifflett, Addison 1 ; Lucas, Tinley 1
HR: McCray, Sydney 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1
RBI: McCray, Sydney 1 ; Cooper, Jada 1 ; Martin, Trinity 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1 ; Shifflett, Addison 1
SF: Cooper, Jada 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McCray, Sydney 3 ; Holtorf, Raegan 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1
SB: McCray, Sydney 1
Batting:
HR: Madison Pickens 1
RBI: Madison Pickens 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Madison Pickens 1
HBP: Katie Thatcher 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
3
H
3
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
UTIL
/ SoftballINF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
LHP
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