Completed Event: Softball at San Diego State on April 19, 2026 , Loss , 1, to, 9 , (5 inn.)
Softball
at San Diego State
L 1-9
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, May 8
Reno, Nev.
6 p.m
Grand Canyon
50-8
11
vs
7
(4) New Mexico
28-27
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| Grand Canyon | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | X | 11 | 8 | 2 |
Photo by: David Kadlubowski
GCU survives, adavances to MW title round
5/8/2026 8:27:00 PM | Softball, Paul Coro
Lopes must defeat Nevada twice Saturday after eliminating New Mexico
RENO, Nev. – Grand Canyon just kept going. With no formula but survival, the Lopes staved off New Mexico again Friday night to live to see the Mountain West Championship title round Saturday.
Playing an elimination game, the Lopes emerged offensively more like their top tournament seeding and held on to bounce fourth-seeded New Mexico 11-7.
Now the second team in the nation to reach 50 wins, the Lopes will need two more victories against host Nevada at noon and 2:30 p.m. to take the MW Championship trophy and the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
GCU (50-8) walloped New Mexico (28-27) with the type of big inning that it has used to stagger several conference opponents. The Lopes scored seven first-inning runs to make the Lobos the fourth MW victim of a GCU inning with seven runs or more.
"It's good how we came back, and it's great that we got to 50 wins," GCU head coach Shanon Hays said.
"It's exciting to get to the last day. It helps us with our postseason aspirations. It gets us 50 wins, which is incredible for this program. It's great that they hung in there. We didn't pitch it well at all today, besides Oakley (Vickers) coming in there and steadying the ship. In fact, I can't remember us having that bad of a day pitching. We're picking a bad time to do it, but hopefully we'll get back on our horse and be solid tomorrow."
It was a 21- run day for GCU, although its 10-run morning was not enough to beat Nevada (39-18) in the afternoon. The night's double-digit output stood up, with Lopes freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett homering twice to make it a three-home run day – the first she can remember ever having.
"I'm just so glad that my team has been able to make it this far and that we just have the confidence and strength to do it," Shiflett said. "We're so hype to play Nevada tomorrow."
A Lobos 2-0 start in the top of the first inning was wiped out by a Lopes power surge, capitalizing on four free bases with homers from sophomore designated player Jada Cooper and Shifflett. Cooper rocked her 15th home run of the season for a three-run shot after senior center fielder Sydney McCray and freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf worked full counts for walks.
"They've done a good job all year of not throwing one on the plate to Jada, and Jada took advantage of that one," Hays said. "Shifty (Shiflett) came up and was locked in on it.
"This sounds crazy, but Shifty has as much power as anyone on our team. Jada would tell you that. She's got great bat speed. The more she matures and swings at better pitches, those things happen. It's neat to see someone like her who's got three or four years left doing what she's doing."
Graduate left fielder Trinity Martin drew another walk, and senior first baseman Emily Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, setting up another three-run homer – a Shifflett moonshot to right field for a 6-2 lead.
"I'm not stressing over the little things, just taking it pitch by pitch and doing what I know to do at bat, having fun and competing," said Shiflett, who also homered last week at Colorado State. "
McCray, who stole her 35th and 36th bases of the season in the inning, added a RBI single to score redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson, who had doubled, for a 7-2, first-inning lead.
New Mexico pushed back, cutting the lead to 7-6 in the fifth to prompt GCU to go back to its most reliable pitcher of the tournament – sophomore Oakley Vickers. The left-hander closed down a fifth-inning threat, stranding two Lobos on base with consecutive strikeouts. She wound up recording her fifth save, a program record, to go with her 13 wins this season.
The Lopes provided Vickers with some cushion immediately with their seventh home run of the day, when Shiflett homered again on a curve ball after Gonzalez's leadoff walk for a 9-6 lead. That lead was pushed to 10-6 with McCray's second RBI of a grounder scoring sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond, who had walked and moved to third on Wilkinson's infield single.
GCU's three-home run game and seven-homer day adds to the team program record with 85 home runs on the season.
Shifflett recorded her season-high sixth RBI with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly, giving the Liberty Hill, Texas, native 10 home runs and 42 RBIs on the season.
"We just never gained any traction on anything besides some offense," Hays said of losing the first game to Nevada, the team it must beat twice Saturday. "If you hit a fly ball in this ballpark, it's 50-50 it's going out. This place is a launching pad. We've got to find a way to get some balls hit on the ground and get some weak contact."
Playing an elimination game, the Lopes emerged offensively more like their top tournament seeding and held on to bounce fourth-seeded New Mexico 11-7.
Now the second team in the nation to reach 50 wins, the Lopes will need two more victories against host Nevada at noon and 2:30 p.m. to take the MW Championship trophy and the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament berth.
GCU (50-8) walloped New Mexico (28-27) with the type of big inning that it has used to stagger several conference opponents. The Lopes scored seven first-inning runs to make the Lobos the fourth MW victim of a GCU inning with seven runs or more.
"It's good how we came back, and it's great that we got to 50 wins," GCU head coach Shanon Hays said.
"It's exciting to get to the last day. It helps us with our postseason aspirations. It gets us 50 wins, which is incredible for this program. It's great that they hung in there. We didn't pitch it well at all today, besides Oakley (Vickers) coming in there and steadying the ship. In fact, I can't remember us having that bad of a day pitching. We're picking a bad time to do it, but hopefully we'll get back on our horse and be solid tomorrow."
It was a 21- run day for GCU, although its 10-run morning was not enough to beat Nevada (39-18) in the afternoon. The night's double-digit output stood up, with Lopes freshman right fielder Addison Shifflett homering twice to make it a three-home run day – the first she can remember ever having.
"I'm just so glad that my team has been able to make it this far and that we just have the confidence and strength to do it," Shiflett said. "We're so hype to play Nevada tomorrow."
A Lobos 2-0 start in the top of the first inning was wiped out by a Lopes power surge, capitalizing on four free bases with homers from sophomore designated player Jada Cooper and Shifflett. Cooper rocked her 15th home run of the season for a three-run shot after senior center fielder Sydney McCray and freshman second baseman Raegan Holtorf worked full counts for walks.
"They've done a good job all year of not throwing one on the plate to Jada, and Jada took advantage of that one," Hays said. "Shifty (Shiflett) came up and was locked in on it.
"This sounds crazy, but Shifty has as much power as anyone on our team. Jada would tell you that. She's got great bat speed. The more she matures and swings at better pitches, those things happen. It's neat to see someone like her who's got three or four years left doing what she's doing."
Graduate left fielder Trinity Martin drew another walk, and senior first baseman Emily Gonzalez was hit by a pitch, setting up another three-run homer – a Shifflett moonshot to right field for a 6-2 lead.
"I'm not stressing over the little things, just taking it pitch by pitch and doing what I know to do at bat, having fun and competing," said Shiflett, who also homered last week at Colorado State. "
McCray, who stole her 35th and 36th bases of the season in the inning, added a RBI single to score redshirt freshman Haley Wilkinson, who had doubled, for a 7-2, first-inning lead.
New Mexico pushed back, cutting the lead to 7-6 in the fifth to prompt GCU to go back to its most reliable pitcher of the tournament – sophomore Oakley Vickers. The left-hander closed down a fifth-inning threat, stranding two Lobos on base with consecutive strikeouts. She wound up recording her fifth save, a program record, to go with her 13 wins this season.
The Lopes provided Vickers with some cushion immediately with their seventh home run of the day, when Shiflett homered again on a curve ball after Gonzalez's leadoff walk for a 9-6 lead. That lead was pushed to 10-6 with McCray's second RBI of a grounder scoring sophomore third baseman Ellie Pond, who had walked and moved to third on Wilkinson's infield single.
GCU's three-home run game and seven-homer day adds to the team program record with 85 home runs on the season.
Shifflett recorded her season-high sixth RBI with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly, giving the Liberty Hill, Texas, native 10 home runs and 42 RBIs on the season.
"We just never gained any traction on anything besides some offense," Hays said of losing the first game to Nevada, the team it must beat twice Saturday. "If you hit a fly ball in this ballpark, it's 50-50 it's going out. This place is a launching pad. We've got to find a way to get some balls hit on the ground and get some weak contact."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Camp, Lilly (1-0)
L: CAPEK, Arianna (2-3)
S: Vickers, Oakley (5)
Batting:
2B: WILLIAMS, Allie 1 ; MACIAS, Melanie 1
HR: DELEON, Jessica 1
RBI: MACIAS, Melanie 3 ; DELEON, Jessica 2
SF: DELEON, Jessica 1
Base Running:
RUNS: VASQUEZ-DICKSON, DeNae 2 ; BRIONES, Gabrielle 1 ; WILLIAMS, Allie 2 ; RANA, Grace 1 ; DELEON, Jessica 1
CS: LUDERER, Hayden 1
HBP: BRIONES, Gabrielle 1
Batting:
2B: Wilkinson, Haley 1 ; Gonzalez, Emily 1
HR: Cooper, Jada 1 ; Shifflett, Addison 2
RBI: Cooper, Jada 3 ; Shifflett, Addison 6 ; McCray, Sydney 2
SF: Shifflett, Addison 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Martin, Trinity 2 ; Holtorf, Raegan 1 ; Wilkinson, Haley 1 ; Pond, Ellie 1 ; Cooper, Jada 1 ; Shifflett, Addison 2 ; Gonzalez, Emily 2 ; McCray, Sydney 1
SB: McCray, Sydney 3
HBP: Gonzalez, Emily 1
Players Mentioned
IF
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
LHP
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballGCU stages FIVE-RUN COMEBACK in 7th 😱
Friday, May 08
Sydney McCray Media Availability | 5.4.26
Monday, May 04
Emily Gonzalez Media Availability | 5.4.26
Monday, May 04
Jada Cooper Media Availability | 5.4.26
Monday, May 04