Sacramento in late April?
 
Sounds nice.
 
The dream season continued in emphatic fashion for the Grand Canyon University Club Softball team as the Lopes mowed through University of California Irvine in three games Saturday at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix. None of the three games reached the normal seven-inning limit as the Lopes invoked the mercy rule in sweeping the tripleheader, 12-4 (in five innings), 18-9 (in six) and 17-2 (in four). The sweep kept the Lopes unbeaten in National Club Softball Association Pacific Region South Conference play, and their 12-0 record was enough to clinch the team's first conference title since 2017. That means the Lopes will make their first trip to the Pacific Region Tournament in eight years at the end of this month.
 
Game 1:  GCU 12, UCI 4 (F/5)
 
The Lopes got out of the gates quickly but didn't put things out of reach until the final five outs. An Emma Pinkstaff triple highlighted a three-run Lopes' 1^st inning, and a three-run blast by Denise Lopez a frame later doubled the Lopes' lead to 6-0. That was eventually enough for Lopes' starter Bailey Pool, but the Anteaters still made things interesting with four runs in the next two at-bats to come within two runs in the middle of the 4^th. Pinkstaff gave the Lopes a little more room with an RBI single in the 4^th, then GCU used three walks, three base hits and a game-ending UCI error to plate five in the bottom of the 5^th to end it. Pool struck out six Anteaters' hitters while pitching a complete-game eight-hitter, while Pinkstaff and Lopez combined for four hits and seven runs batted in.
 
Game 2:  GCU 18, UCI 9 (F/6)
 
UCI's only lead of the day came after a two-run 1^st inning, but the lead didn't last long. A Paloma Saenz double plated a pair of runs for the Anteaters, but the Lopes responded with a five-run 2^nd – highlighted by a two-run Lopez single and a two-run double from Abigail Bucher. GCU tacked on five more in the next two innings to seemingly determine the outcome, but UCI jumped on tiring Lopes' starting pitcher Quincy Weinbender with five runs in the 6^th to suddenly make it a one-run game. No problem. The Lopes sent 11 to the plate in the bottom half of the inning, with 10 of them reaching base. Three walks, an Irvine error and six singles – the last one a Pinkstaff shot to right field that scored two – gave the Lopes a nine-run lead and a mercy-rule win. Lopez led the attack with four hits (all singles) in five at-bats, while she, Pinkstaff and Allison Wilson each knocked in three runs.
 
Game 3:  GCU 17, UCI 2 (F/4)
 
Lopes' starting pitcher Taylor DeShon made sure there was no hot start for UCI this time around, limiting the Anteaters to a pair of harmless singles in the first two innings. That allowed the Lopes to blow the game open with nine runs in the 2^nd on eight hits – the big hits coming from a bases-clearing double by Lopez and a two-run triple from Megan Reichley. Irvine got to DeShon for a pair of runs in the next inning, but the Lopes responded by batting around again in the bottom of the 3^rd, scoring six runs, with four of them coming from a grand-slam homer by Reichley. Emily Reilly's RBI single plated the 17^th and final run in the bottom of the 4^th to bring the curtain down on the sweep. DeShon allowed six hits over four innings to get the win, while her batterymate Reichley went 2-for-3 with a whopping six RBI, and Lopez's three RBI gave her nine for the day.
 
The Lopes will finish off the regular season schedule this Saturday, April 12 in Los Angeles, California against the 2^nd-place team in the conference, UCLA. Then GCU will turn its attentions to regionals in Sacramento two weeks later, where it hopes to duplicate the success of its 2017 trip to the tournament – one that saw the Lopes win it and eventually finish 3^rd in the nation. Opponents and times for the tournament will be announced next week.