RENO, Nev.— The Lobos twice held leads over No. 1-seed Grand Canyon on Thursday, including a 6-2 lead following a Jessica DeLeon grand slam in the top of the seventh inning, but GCU walked it off in the bottom of the seventh 7-6.
UNM trailed 1-0 heading into the top of the sixth and rallied to take a 2-1 lead after DeNae Vasquez-Dickson led off with a single through the right side of the infield and a double off of the wall by Gabrielle Briones that brought Vasquez-Dickson around to score. A grounder by Allie Williams moved Briones to third and after DeLeon was hit by a pitch and Miracle McKenzie walked to load the bases, Melanie Macias hit a sacrifice fly to right with Briones tagging for the Lobo lead.
GCU tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice of its own after loading the bases, but an infield fly to Macias at second and an groundout to Estrella Rowe at third ended the inning with the game tied at two.
The Lobos rallied with two outs in the top of the seventh with Vasquez-Dickson reaching on a fielding error by the GCU first baseman, a walk by Briones and a hit-by-pitch for Williams to load the bases. DeLeon drove the 2-2 pitch over the fence in left for the grand slam, her sixth home run of the season and second of the Mountain West Championship.
GCU had its leadoff batter reach on a single to left field with the Lobos getting the first out on the next at-bat on a grounder to Rowe at third that moved the runner to second. A walk following a full count was followed by a bunt to third with all runners reaching safely. A single to center scored two runs with the second out being made at third after Hayden Luderer threw to Rowe who made the tag.
The Lopes hit a double with a 2-2 count that put two runners in scoring position with a double that just fell within the right field line tying the game at six. A double to the gap in left center brought in the winning run.
UNM returns to the field on Friday at 3 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. MT.