(Phoenix, AZ) Nearly 3 1/2 hours after the start of Saturday’s game, the Grand Canyon softball team figured to be elsewhere on campus celebrating its ninth consecutive win and third straight series sweep.
Instead, the Lopes remained on the field reviewing how a 12-8 loss to Utah Valley got away from them at GCU Softball Stadium. They left disappointed but also with the perspective of where GCU is in the big picture – leading the WAC West Division at the conference midpoint.
The Lopes nearly entered the second half with a larger cushion after rallying from a 5-1 hole to lead 6-5 on junior second baseman Macee Barnes’ grand slam, the team’s second in as many days, and from a 7-6 deficit on graduate center fielder Stephanie Reed’s two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning.
But GCU opened the seventh inning by missing chances to record the first out twice – on an illegal pitch call and a lost pop-up. That began a Wolverines rally that culminated with a two-out grand slam by first baseman Mikaela Thomson, who hit two home runs Saturday after her father, head coach Cody Thomson, was ejected in the third inning.
Following a pair of run-rule victories Friday, GCU (27-10, 10-2 WAC) added eight runs for a 31-run weekend but it was not enough to offset a Utah Valley offense that put leadoff batters on base in five of seven innings.
“We took away outs by not being disciplined and them letting us get ourselves out and then using the sun as an excuse or miscommunication or missing routine ground balls,” GCU head coach Shanon Hays said. “We didn’t deserve to win. We put too much pressure on our pitching. Lately, we’ve always been thinking, ‘Oh, we’ll come through at the end and get it done,’ which we almost did.”
Barnes atoned for a leadoff error in the Wolverines’ three-run fifth inning by hitting a two-out grand slam on a 2-2 pitch after graduate first baseman Denae Chatman, junior catcher Kinsey Koeltzow and Reed each singled.
After a Utah Valley home run retook the lead at 7-6 in the sixth inning, the Lopes delivered another clutch two-out hit to retake the lead. Reed singled hard to center to score sophomore shortstop Katelyn Dunckel, who had been hit by a pitch, and Chatman, who doubled to deep center.
Reed tied her season high with three RBIs and set a career high with three stolen bases for the nation’s No. 2 base-stealing team.
“We haven’t lost since Weekend 1 of conference, so we’ve been rolling on the wins, but I think we’ll definitely let this light a fire under us,” Reed said. “We’re ready to work hard this week and get after what we need to in practice. We’re not a team that’s going to give up much. We’ll be well-prepared and let this one fuel us.”
With GCU leading 8-7, senior reliever Ryan Denhart induced a leadoff fly out to center field, but it was waved off for the first illegal pitch call of the season.
Denhart still enticed an infield pop-up by Utah Valley (13-17, 4-8 WAC), but the ball was lost in the windy air and fell for a hit. Denhart exited after an out and a hit. Junior starter Ariel Thompson returned and got the second out before walking two consecutive batters and surrendering the grand slam.
Those kind of games are hard to swallow and we’ve had some whoppers like that,” Hays said. “We’ve had four or five of them where there were games we had in hand and we snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory. Good teams don’t do that. I apologized to Ryan for taking her out. She deserved to close that game.”
Multiple Lopes hitters had stellar weekends, led by the 9-for-12 series by senior left fielder Gianna Nicoletti. She lifted her batting average to .415 and added three stolen bases to her season total of 35, which ranks second in the nation.
Barnes went 6 for 8 in the series with seven RBIs and two stolen bases while Chatman went 4 for 10 and is now hitting .385 with 38 RBIs this season.
“We had a ton of opportunities in the first four or five innings to break the game open and not pitch under stress, but we took some bad swings and had some bad at bats that kept the game close,” Hays said of Sunday’s loss. “We got what we deserved and we’re going to get some edge out of this and be better and be ready to go into a tough place at Seattle (next weekend). If we could go win the series at Seattle, that would be huge.”
Press Release courtesy of Grand Canyon University – Paul Coro
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