MW Championship keeps target on front-runner GCU

Thursday, May 7

Reno, Nev.

3 p.m.

Grand Canyon

(4) New Mexico

Photo by: David Kadlubowski

5/6/2026 3:01:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro

MW Championship bracket

Lopes tie for 2nd in nation with 48 wins, face UNM for 1st MW game Thursday

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon came into the Mountain West feeling like it had a target on its back with four consecutive NCAA regional trips and the coaches' preseason first-place prediction for its debut season.

The Lopes have kept the conference competition looking at that target from behind, leading the standings wire to wire to enter their first Mountain West Championship as the No. 1 seed.

Staying at the front of the MW with the conference's lowest team ERA, most home runs, best fielding percentage and top on-base percentage, GCU (48-7) is positioned to pursue punching another NCAA Tournament ticket with a three-day sprint that starts with Thursday's 3 p.m. game against fourth-seeded New Mexico (27-25). The six-team tourney has a double-elimination format on third-seeded Nevada's home field.
McCray and Batterton

"It's definitely a lot of pressure, especially coming into a new conference, but we like the pressure," Lopes senior Emily Gonzalez said. "We think it's fun. Pressure creates memories."

Nationally, only Texas Tech has won more games than GCU this season. With a 21-4 conference record, the Lopes won the Mountain West by three games over runner-up UNLV to live up to the preseason hype and continue the program's rare air.

Since head coach Shanon Hays' first GCU season in 2022, the Lopes boast the nation's fourth-best winning percentage (.800) behind only Oklahoma, UCLA and Florida State. The path to continuing those winning ways against tougher Mountain West competition faced its largest roadblock when MW Preseason Player of the Year Savannah Kirk suffered a season-ending knee injury before the opener.

Despite losing last season's No. 2 hitter in the nation, GCU still batted.322 this season (.337 in conference play) and its pitching staff's ERA ranks in the national top 10 for the second consecutive season at 2.26. GCU sophomores Natalie Fritz (1.61) and Oakley Vickers (2.28), senior Taryn Batterton (2.50) and freshman Abi Jones (2.71) posted the four best qualifying ERAs in the Mountain West this season.

"We've had a target on our back all season, coming into a new conference and being named preseason No. 1," said Fritz, a Chandler, Arizona, native who transferred last year from New Mexico, the Lopes' Thursday opponent. "We've been able to carry that throughout the season despite a lot of people having a little bit of a chip on their shoulder coming to play us. I'm really excited to see that continue going into this tournament. I feel like it's only going to be amplified."

At No. 29 in RPI national team rankings, GCU would have a strong case for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth regardless of this weekend's MW Championship outcome. But the Lopes arrived in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday to prepare for a three-win week with four lineup starters and two pitching staff starters looking to experience their first Division I conference tournament championship on Saturday.

"We have each other's backs at all times," said senior center fielder Sydney McCray, who was one of four Lopes named to this season's All-Mountain West first team. "It's really a game that we all love to play. We like to embrace our inner child and our friendships that we have between each other. This is a great group of girls. We're well-bonded and very well put together. It's very easy to have fun and compete with people when you're always in a positive mindset and environment. We are simply motivated by each other."

McCray replaced Kirk as the consummate contact leadoff hitter with speed, but this Lopes team has packed more pop than the previous Hays teams.

GCU already has set a single-season program record with 77 home runs, led by graduate Trinity Martin and sophomore Jada Cooper each blasting 14 while Gonzalez hit 12 homers and added a team-best 12 doubles. A pair of freshman, right fielder Addison Shifflett and second baseman Raegan Holtorf, have stepped up to be the team's third- and fourth-leading hitters at .349 and .325, respectively.

"We haven't let some of our losses affect us for the next game," Hays said. "Pitching is always where it starts, and we've had some timely hitting. We've been much better offensively overall than I thought we'd be. Hopefully, we'll keep that going."

The Lopes open tournament play against a New Mexico team that they swept on the road in March, outscoring the Lobos 19-3 in the series. New Mexico advanced from Wednesday's opening round with a 7-2 win against No. 5 seed Fresno State.

Hays has questioned the team about why it does not celebrate its 48-7 record more, even when he boarded the bus Thursday carrying the conference regular-season championship trophy after a series-opening win at Colorado State.

"We're not done yet," McCray said. "We are still looking for that championship at the Mountain West tournament."