After winning all four games decided by three runs or less in the regular season, the magic in close games ran out for the Grand Canyon University Club Softball team Saturday at the National Club Softball Association Pacific Region Tournament in Sacramento, California. The Lopes' first trip to regionals since 2017 ended earlier than expected, with a 3-2 loss to 2^nd-seeded Boise State University Saturday morning, then a heartbreaking 10-8 loss in eight innings to 4^th-seeded University of Oregon to knock GCU (13-4 overall, 13-2 Pacific Region South) out of the double-elimination tournament.
 
Round 1: Boise State 3, GCU 2
 
Two-out rallies were the order of the day, and in the end, the Broncos had one rally too many for GCU's liking. The Lopes' offense – which was only retired in order once over the seven innings – got things started in the 2^nd inning when GCU shortstop Layna Edwards followed up an Emily Reilly single with an RBI double to left field for a 1-0 Lopes' edge. In the bottom of the frame, DeShon retired the first two BSU hitters, but an Alexandra Traffalis single kept the inning alive, and back-to-back Lopes' errors sent both Traffalis and Payton Bodie home to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead.
 
BSU starting pitcher Toni Norman worked out of jams over the next three innings to keep the one-run lead intact, but the Lopes came out firing to start the 6^th. Emma Pinkstaff jumped on the second pitch of the inning for a leadoff double, and Megan Reichley slapped the next Norman pitch through the right side to plate Pinkstaff and tie the game. Once again, Lopes' errors swung the momentum in the bottom of the inning as Traffalis again started a two-out rally with an infield single, and turned on the jets when a hard Bodie grounder went through Edwards at shortstop, coming around to score to break the 2-2 tie. The Lopes' last gasp was a two-out rally in the 7^th, with pinch-hitter Allison Wilson drawing a four-pitch walk, then heading to 2^nd base on a Denise Lopez single, but Norman recovered to strike out Pinkstaff and strand the tying run at 2^nd.
 
Lopez and Reichley led the offense with two hits each, and Lopes' starting pitcher Taylor DeShon allowed just six Bronco hits, but the three unearned BSU runs were too much to overcome.
 
Elimination Round: Oregon 10, GCU 8 (F/8)
 
The 'hangover' of the loss carried over into the 1^st inning of the elimination game as a pair of infield errors by GCU staked the 4^th-seeded Ducks to a 2-0 lead, but those were the last unearned runs the Lopes allowed. A Reichley single to lead off the bottom of the 2^nd was cashed in one pitch later by an Anna Lye double, and the 2-1 Oregon lead stayed that way until the offenses woke up in the 4^th. Four singles and a double gave the Ducks a three-run inning in the top of the frame, but the Lopes matched them in the bottom of the 4^th – thanks to a pair of leadoff walks and back-to-back RBI doubles by Wilson and Abigail Bucher. The Lopes' offense carried that momentum into the next inning, loading the bases with no outs so that Reichley could empty them with a three-run double and score later, giving the Lopes a seemingly commanding 8-5 edge.
 
The lead lasted all of five batters. Lopes' starting pitcher Bailey Pool retired two of the first three Ducks' batters she saw to start the 6^th, but her last two pitches of the game were jumped on, and the back-to-back homers by UO's Kethry Schreiber and Riley O'Mara tied the game at 8-8 and chased Pool. Each team put the potential winning run in scoring position in the 7^th inning, but fly ball outs ended each threat to send the game to extra innings. In the 8^th, with the extra runner on 2^nd, Oregon's Jayden Porter worked the count to full, then lifted a Quincy Weinbender pitch over the left field wall to break the tie, and the damage was done as Oregon reliever Abigail Langan-Forbes retired the Lopes in order in the bottom of the 8^th to end it.
 
Reichley's three-hit, three RBI game wasn't quite enough for the Lopes to stay alive, nor were two-hit games by both Wilson and Bucher.
 
While it was a disappointing end to the Lopes' season, the Lopes can take heart in the fact that their 76.2% overall winning percentage is the highest in the history of the program, and the 13 wins in conference play is 2^nd only to the World Series year of 2016-17.