Offense, McLean Unstoppable: Nevada Downs GCU 14-10

The Nevada softball team celebrates after a Rylie Haith home run during a 14-10 win over Grand Canyon that sent the Wolf Pack to the MW Championship. | Mountain West Conference on Twitter/X Day three of the 2026 Mountain West Softball Tournament kicked off with the winner’s bracket final matchup between tournament host Nevada and regular-season champion Grand Canyon. Nevada was the lone team to defeat GCU in a regular-season series, which was surely on the minds of both teams entering this game.

This game quickly revealed itself to be a wacky offensive slugfest. Nevada got on the board in the top of the first, with Hannah Di Genova crushing her 26th homer of the year to put the Wolf Pack up 1-0. The Lopes got one back on the first batter of the frame, as a horribly unlucky misplay by Bailie Clark in center field allowed Sydney McCray to rocket around the bases for a leadoff inside-the-park home run to tie the game at one.

Pack pitcher Talia Tretton walked two batters after the McCray homer, but also struck out two to end the inning tied up at one. With two outs and two on in the top of the second, Rylie Haith blasted a three-run shot to left that put the Pack up 4-1. GCU once again responded back, bringing in pinch hitter and site friend Alina Satcher, who hit a grand slam to put the Lopes up 5-4.

The Lopes tacked on another run on an Emily Gonzalez single off of Pack reliever Hailey McLean, going from a 4-1 deficit to a 6-4 lead in the span of one inning. Nevada closed the gap on a Haylee Engelbrecht RBI single; a play where Lope shortstop Mackenzie Nolan planted her ankle and twisted it in gruesome fashion, allowing Katie Wetteland to score from third. Tretton then redeemed her pitching woes in the batter’s box, smashing a three-run homer of her own to put Nevada up 8-6.