Cooper walk-off sends GCU to regional final

Saturday, May 16

Lincoln, Neb.

3:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

54-8

South Dakota

21-36-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
South Dakota	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	4	7	1
GCU	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	1	5	14	1

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

5/16/2026 5:25:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

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Lopes oust Coyotes in 8, must beat Huskers twice Sunday to advance

By: Paul Coro

LINCOLN, Neb. – After playing No. 1 Nebraska as closely as any opponent during its 23-game winning streak, Grand Canyon will get another crack at toppling the Huskers on its home field in Sunday's NCAA Lincoln Regional final.

With Saturday night's elimination game on the cusp of a lightning delay in extra innings, GCU struck lightning with three bolts of two-out singles that culminated in sophomore first baseman Jada Cooper's walk-off RBI hit beating South Dakota 5-4 in eight innings. The Lopes are headed to their second regional final in three years with the task of beating No. 1 Nebraska twice on its home field Sunday.

"It means a lot," Lopes head coach Shanon Hays said. "It's a special group. When you win over 50 games, you know you've got a good team. It's not a fluke. When you got special kids, they're the ones who make it happen. It's fun to be a part of. Tomorrow's going to be a tall order, a tough order. We know that, but we're glad to have the prvilege to play tomorrow.

"We don't look at it as a mountain too high to climb. We look at it as an opportunity to go have fun and compete."

GCU (54-8) knocked out Summit League champion South Dakota with its fifth walk-off win of the season. The Lopes had taken a 4-2, sixth-inning lead with solo home runs from junior catcher Tinley Lucas and sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond on back-to-back pitches, but South Dakota tied the game in the top of the seventh to set up GCU winning on an eighth-inning walk-off hit just like the previous Saturday's Mountain West Championship title game.
McCray winning run

The Lopes' three consecutive two-out singles in the eighth started with senior center fielder Sydney McCray singling to center before freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf followed with her fourth hit, tying McCray's team season high for a game. Cooper, the Lopes' RBI leader with 66, lined a 3-1 pitch up in the zone back up the middle to send McCray sliding home for the win.

"I was just looking for strikes," said Cooper, who had been hitless in the previous four games but still has a.359 batting average and a .530 on-base percentage. "I've been struggling this weekend, just finding a good swing path. I should just go up there and stop overthinking, but Coach Hays told me the pitch before that the wind was blowing. My foul ball just blew out of the stands. Coach Hays said, 'You got to hit it on a line,' so I was like, 'Let me just chop at this ball.' The next pitch, I just lined it.

"Most time, I try not to do too much. You can't win a game all the time with home runs. Passing the bat is the more the team mindset."

Even with two outs, McCray's single applied pressure that set up Holtorf knocking the next pitch to left field.

"When Syd's on base, she can make some crazy things happen," Hays said. "You've just got to put it in play, and we had some good at bats behind her. Jada had a really good at bat, a mature at bat. She didn't try to do too much. It was a smart at bat to drive it up the middle."

The Lopes' Sunday task will be to do what all Bowlin Stadium visitors have not done cumulatively all season – win twice. Nebraska (48-6) takes the nation's longest active streak into the first game at noon (Phoenix time) at Bowlin Stadium, where UCLA has been the only visitor to beat the Huskers this season.
Tinley Lucas

"I think we did a good job practicing for that," said Lucas, referring to last Saturday's two wins against Nevada to win the Mountain West Championship title. "I think we can do it. I think we have a really good pitching staff and a good team to go battle behind our pitching."

Cooper echoed, "We've done it before. It's not impossible with this team. We've seen her (Nebraska ace Jordy Frahm) once. We just make adjustments. We know they're going to go at us. We've got to get our pitch and attack early."

Just as it did in February with a 1-0 loss in Phoenix, South Dakota gave GCU a full-game challenge after eliminating No. 24 Louisville with a 4-2 afternoon victory.

The Lopes led 1-0 in the first inning on back-to-back doubles from freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf and Cooper, whose blast was hard enough to deflect off Coyotes third baseman Brooke Carey's glove.

Another double, a two-out rip by sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond, led to the Lopes loading the bases before South Dakota sophomore right-hander Campbell German recorded her first strikeout to leave GCU's lead at 1-0.

South Dakota junior Kiya Johnson tied the game at 1-1 with a two-out single in the third inning, when GCU senior center fielder Sydney McCray's off-target throw to third allowed a second run to score on the play.

GCU bounced back to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third, when an opposite-field double by graduate left fielder Trinity Martin set up the scoring opportunity. After drawing her 110th career walk, senior designated player Emily Gonzalez stunted a steal toward second to draw a throw that went well wide and allowed Martin to score.
Jada Cooper

Lopes freshman right-hander Abi Jones, who relieved sophomore starter Natalie Fritz, left a South Dakota runner on third base in the fifth inning by getting center fielder Autumn Iverson's first out of her two-game day. With two on base in the sixth, Jones drew an inning-ending double play with Pond fielding a hot grounder, stepping on third and throwing to first.

That set up GCU's chance for a breakthrough inning, when its record-breaking power season flexed for a critical pair of round-trippers. The previous single-season program record of 75 was buried by Lucas and Pond each belting their ninth home runs of the season to put the team's season total at 91.

"I feel like all of today, I was just missing, barely missing," said Lucas, who had not homered since April 25. "Jayme (assistant coach Jayme Bailey) just kept me very positive in that moment, and I didn't miss ... It was a good momentum shift."

South Dakota got to Jones in the top of the seventh, when pinch-hitter Katie Hoffman delivered a one-out, two-run single to tie the game at 4-4. GCU senior Taryn Batterton entered to record the final two outs of the seventh and a shutout eighth, ultimately earning her 11th win that extended GCU's single-season wins record to 54. In her past three postseason outings, Batterton has a 1.31 ERA (two earned runs in 10 1/3 innings).

"Abi came in and she's coming off a nagging injury and threw pretty well, and Taryn shut it down," Hays said. "Natalie got us off to a good start. Finally, we just did enough. South Dakota, they're a scrappy team, and they've showed that all tournament."