Lopes Survive Lobos Again, 11-7, Advance to MW Championship

Batterton allowed two hits and a walk in the top of the second, but no Lobo runs came across after an ill-advised steal attempt at third by Hayden Luderer. The Lobos pulled little-used junior Marina Tinari out of the bullpen for a crucial appearance, and despite allowing a hit and a runner to third, Tinari did what her predecessors couldn’t and kept the Lopes off the scoreboard in the bottom of the frame.

In the third, Batterton allowed a solo home run that was nearly robbed by McCray, then hurt her knee two pitches later, the second Lope to leave a game due to injury on the day. Lilly Camp was inserted into the game, hours after allowing just two runs in three full innings against the Wolf Pack. Camp nabbed back-to-back strikeouts to end the frame still up 7-3. The Lobo defense locked up the Lopes in the bottom of the third with a pair of amazing plays and a strikeout off of the deadly McCray, keeping the deficit at four entering the fourth.

After a scoreless fourth, the Lobos started a rally in the fifth. They got two in scoring position after an error and a double, scoring both runners on back-to-back wild pitches. Fresh off of hitting a pinch-hit grand slam against Nevada, Alina Satcher was brought in to try and stop the Lobo offense in an elimination game. Satcher struggled to find the strike zone, giving up back-to-back singles that shrunk the Lopes’ lead to just one. With the go-ahead run now on first, the Lopes were forced to bring in Oakley Vickers, who GCU was surely hoping to save for a potential championship game start. Vickers got the job done, getting the next two batters out to escape the inning with the lead still intact.

In the bottom of the fifth, Shifflett blasted her second home run of the night, extending that lead from 9-6. Barela was then pulled for Caitlin Benningfield, sitting on 243 pitches of usage in the last three days, including 87 in a complete-game shutout just over three hours prior. Benningfield allowed another run on a fielder’s choice to McCray, then got the final out of the inning on the next batter.

Trailing by four in the top of the sixth, the Lobos got two on via a hard-hit single and a hit-by-pitch, keeping both runners on with a close call on a baserunning gaffe. That call allowed Deleon to score one on a sac fly, but the Lobos ended up leaving the bases juiced to still trail by three. The Lopes got that run back in the bottom of the sixth, entering the seventh with an 11-7 lead. That score would remain the final, as Vickers got all three outs to send the Lopes to the championship.

Shifflett was easily the hero, knocking six runs home on two home runs, single-handedly serving as the difference. Camp got the win with 2.0 innings of two-run ball, while Vickers recorded the save with 2.2 innings, just one run and three strikeouts. Neither game against the Lobos was pretty, but the most important thing is that they won both games. GCU now has a chance at sweeping the conference titles in their debut MW season, but maybe more importantly, they have a chance to get revenge on the Wolf Pack.

As for the Lobos, their magical season will end with a 28-27 record, their first winning season since 2015. New Mexico, particularly Caitlin Benningfield, have a very bright future ahead of them. Most of their core is returning next season, and I highly doubt that this will be a one-off appearance at this stage for the Lobos. Be proud of yourselves, Lobos. You proved a lot of people wrong.

GCU will advance to the MW Tournament Championship, where they will face the tournament host Wolf Pack. They will need to defeat the Wolf Pack twice to take home the title, while the Wolf Pack can win it all with a single good game. This has been a fantastic tournament so far, and it’s shaping up to have a very exciting ending as well. Tune in for Game 1 tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. PST on the Mountain West Network.