OREM, Utah—The Utah Valley University softball team dropped a 10-6 decision in the final game of a three-game series to Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon at Wolverine Field.  The game was the final home game for seniors Tiani Hensley, Morgan Smith and Dynasty Lauvai, who were each honored in a ceremony prior to the first pitch.  
 
The win moves Grand Canyon to 32-15 on the season and 7-5 in WAC play. Utah Valley falls to 6-36 overall and 2-10 in league play.

"We'll miss our seniors," Utah Valley head coach Nikki Palmer said. "We will miss Morgan's speed and leadership, and Tiani's heart on the field. Losing your two middle infielders will be hard to replace. Dyanasty coming in clutch today and has worked really hard this year. She's come back fighting this year and is a great teammate."
 
Grand Canyon was first to get on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning when Briielle Breland hit a sacrifice line drive to right field to score Nicole Newbury from third to take an early 1-0 lead over UVU. GCU's Camree Wartman singled up the middle in the top of the second inning to put Shea Smith cross the plate to give the Lopes a 2-0 advantage.
 
Utah Valley put up its first run of the game in the bottom of the third as Smith crossed the plate on a wild pitch to make the score 2-1.
 
The Lopes broke open the game in the top of the fifth inning with three runs on four hits. GCU's Madelyn Dowdle singled through the middle to score Breland before Kendsey Hill singled to left to put Sierra Smith across the plate. Dowdle then scored on a UVU wild pitch for the Lopes' third run of the inning to give GCU a 5-1 lead.
 
Grand Canyon scored two more runs in the top half of the sixth inning as Jenna Coates cross the plate on a Breland double down the left field line. Dowdle then singled up the middle to score Smith to give the Lopes a 7-1 advantage.
 
The Wolverines rallied in the bottom half of the sixth inning, scoring four runs on three hits. With bases loaded, Taleigh Williams singled to right field to help Brianna Gatlin and Brittney Vansway cross the plate to cut the GCU lead to 7-3. Kendall Ohman reached on a fielder's choice to shortstop, which helped Hensley score to cut the GCU lead to a 7-4 advantage. Breezy Roth then singled through the right side to score Williams, cutting the GCU lead to 7-5.
 
GCU got a run back in the seventh inning as B Medina flied out to centerfield, scoring Newbury on a UVU muffed throw as the Lopes extended their lead to 8-5. Sierra Smith then grounded out to second but was credited with the RBI as Breland scored give the Lopes a 10-5 lead.
 
Utah Valley was able to put up one more run in the bottom half of the seventh inning as Gatlin hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Vansway from third base to cut the score to a 10-6 advantage. Vansway had opened the inning with a double to right field and then advanced to third on an illegal pitch.

"Taking care of the little things would have helped us out quite a bit," Palmer said. "Grand Canyon has a really good offense and they really came at us today with a lot of hits. I though we did a good job of making adjustments but made some of them just a little too late."
 
Taylor Nowlin picked up the win in the circle for GCU, improving to 17-5 on the season. Nowlin worked 5.0 innings with two strikeouts. She gave up only four hits. Bailey Bergman came in to secure the save, pitching 2.0 innings with one strikeout.
 
Utah Valley used four pitchers on the day. Bailey Moore worked 3.0 innings with a strikeout. Makayla Shadle worked 2.0 innings, Kellee Ramsey pitched 1.2 innings and Kelsey Ensign went 0.1 innings.

Roth went 2-for-3 at the plate on the day with a double and an RBI. Vansway was 2-for-4 on the day with two doubles and two runs scored. Hensley, Williams and Smith each tallied a hit.
 
Utah Valley will wrap up WAC play next week as the Wolverines travel to play a three-game series against Seattle U, April 29-30.