(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert softball team split a pair of home games with the Ottawa University Arizona Spirit, Friday afternoon at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
The Buccaneers closed out the 2026 regular season with a 26-24 overall record and a 9-15 record in Great Southwest Athletic Conference play. They split a four-game GSAC series with an OUAZ squad that holds the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
Park-Gilbert celebrated its senior day Friday afternoon, as friends and family honored four seniors and their contributions to Buccaneers softball: Mady Lackey, Rebekka Nance, Amaya Ruiz, and Anna Chavez.
Game 1: OUAZ 7 PARK 5
The Buccaneers nearly took the first game of this doubleheader, as the team made wholesale defensive rotations each inning.
Every player in the lineup, besides Gumm at catcher and Nance at designated player, played a different position each frame.
Ruiz kicked off senior day Friday afternoon with her second home run of the season, a three-run shot in the bottom of the first for a 3-0 lead.
After OUAZ tacked on six runs in the fourth and fifth innings, Lackey hit a solo home run followed by another homer from Ruiz. She finished 2-4 at the plate with a season-high 4 RBIs.
Yaz Bernal and Samara Romero (5-5) occupied the circle for Game 1, allowing four earned runs and throwing a combined 100 pitches.
Game 2: PARK 4 OUAZ 2
The Buccaneers closed out the 2026 season on a winning note, as they brought home a 4-2 win that saw them add three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
OUAZ jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first three innings. The Bucs cut into the deficit, scoring a run off a fielder’s choice.
In the bottom of the sixth, Titus tied things up at two with a solo homer to left field. Fjeldsted and right fielder Tori Famoso picked up the RBI singles needed to ensure the win. Fjeldsted went a perfect 3-3 at the plate in her first game this season as the designated player.
In the circle to start the final game for Park was Grace Jump, who pitched four innings before Daysy Juarez (7-2) closed out the final three. Juarez allowed just one hit and zero runs.
Season Recap
Despite missing out on the postseason, the Buccaneers finished two games above .500. They secured the second winning season in the program’s seven-year history.
This season saw the Buccaneers break multiple team and individual records.
As a team, the Bucs set new single-season highs in runs scored (305), runs batted in (268), home runs (40), and were three runs shy of breaking the hits record of 425.
Freshman and leadoff hitter Ari Fjeldsted set new records this season with 75 hits and posted a program-high .457 batting average. Freshman Bri Titus broke the record for most home runs in a year with 10. Titus is also the first player in Buccaneer history to log more than one grand slam in one season. Junior Noelle Gumm broke the school’s RBI record with 53, and junior Dionna Leanio stole a record-breaking 31 bases this season.
The young and talented Buccaneers return to the field next Spring as they seek a trip to the GSAC Conference Championships in 2027.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Garrett Campbell
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