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

The GCU Lopes celebrate after Jada Cooper (21) blasted a two-run home run to start the scoring in an eventual 11-7 win over New Mexico that sent the Lopes to the MW Championship. | Mountain West Conference on Twitter/X The final game of the third day of the 2026 Mountain West Softball Tournament was a rematch of the first game yesterday: 4-seeded New Mexico against 1-seeded GCU. The Lobos went into this game looking for redemption in the worst way, having lost their first game to the Lopes with a blown four-run lead in the bottom of the seventh.

GCU, meanwhile, had just lost the first game of the day in a shootout with Nevada, falling into the loser’s bracket rather unexpectedly. This game wasn’t pretty, but the Lopes got the job done, defeating the Lobos 11-7 to move on to the MW Championship. Taryn Batterton got the start for GCU, pairing up with Lobo backup Arianna Capek for a rather surprising go-or-go-home pitching matchup.

Batterton issued three walks to her first four batters, also serving up two wild pitches that advanced lead runner DeNae Vasquez-Dickson to third. Batterton found her groove by striking out leading long-ball Lobo Miracle McKenzie, but had it taken away by a two-run double that could have been three had Melanie Macias not tried to extend the play to third. Regardless, the Lobos found themselves up 2-0 after the top of the first.

Capek’s first at-bat was a 12-pitch battle with Sydney McCray, who ended up taking a free trip to first. After another walk, Capek gave up a towering three-run slam to Jada Cooper, which was a no-doubter as soon as it left her bat. What has felt like a tournament full of questionable decisions continued here, as McKenna Guest, who many rightfully expected to get the start, was brought in after that with no outs recorded, but down by one.