The Los Angeles Regional was the home of the nation’s biggest upset on Friday, with the regional 4-seed Grand Canyon picking up a win over hosts and #2-ranked UCLA on their home turf at Easton Stadium.
Madison Schaefer was the hero of the game offensively for the Lopes; her three-run home run off UCLA ace Megan Faraimo proved to be the difference in the 3-2 victory.
Here’s what Schaefer, infielder Katelyn Dunckel, and head coach Shanon Hays said after the game…
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On the game and the win:
Hays: “Well, obviously a huge win for us. I was talking to Madison during batting practice before the game and I said ‘this is your type of pitching to hit off of’. She loves to hit off velocity. She got a good pitch and, obviously, took a great swing and [it was] perfect timing with runners on. Obviously timing is everything in this game. So, with KK [Dunckel] hitting the double and hustling to get to second base and a big walk for Kaitlyn Brannstrom behind KK then [Schaefer] delivered. Then on top of that, we pitched as a staff today. They’re such a great offensive team, but that’s what makes it such a great win – that they’re such a great win. But that’s the story, you’ve got to play the game every day. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going; proud of these girls, obviously such a great win for Grand Canyon, and hopefully tomorrow we can keep the momentum going as well.”
On the team showing up in big moments:
Hays: “Moments were the whole year. We came in here with 46 wins in such a tough Regional… it’s a bear, to say the least. Our girls came in with confidence. We were playing well in the conference tournament, obviously pitching to that lineup is very tough. KK made a great play, I believe in the 3rd or 4th, to stop an inning and get us going. We played clean defense and had a good game.”
On whether moments like this were why she transferred to GCU:
Schaefer: “I came here to play on a bigger stage. I was at Division 2 before and Hays talked to me… ‘this is what you’re going to see. You’re going to see a bigger stage’, which I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid. I never got this opportunity and I got this opportunity and ran with it to be honest.”
On handling the game and the moment:
Dunckel: “I think, as a team, we had a lot of conversations about how we wanted to come in and how we wanted [to mark] our presence. And that was just to be us, be fearless, to play our game. We trusted each other and ourselves and knew, whatever the outcome, it was in God’s hands, but we knew we could compete and have fun. That’s what Coach Hays always tells us to do, just compete and have fun. No stage is too big, no team is too big; we can just play and enjoy it, so that’s what we did today.”
On the momentum shift after her 4th-inning double:
Dunckel:Â “I was fired up! It’s so fun to look at your teammates and see them get excited for you. Being on second is a really good chance to score, and so I could just tell the girls were just fired up and making us hopeful.”
On their team showing up in big moments:
Dunckel: “I’d say first and foremost, just trusting God and knowing that it’s in His hands, whatever the outcome. But also, all of the moments in between of just preparing and getting ready for this game. We don’t change anything, no matter what the [opponent]. Coach Hays keeps it very consistent so we just go in there and do our thing.”
Schaefer: “I think overall just the biggest thing is to have fun and play. Like Hays said, just have fun and compete. I think that’s really what we did, what we tried to do all season. This stage is where you can have the most fun, in my opinion. That was probably the most fun game I’ve played in my entire life, and you can see we won. Having fun, with energy, and nothing can stop us to be honest.”
On her home run and rounding the bases after:
Schaefer: “My first at-bat, I realized ‘she’s coming in, she’s coming in’ and I hit a little pop-up to left field. In my second at-bat, I changed my approach to looking in and looking in hard. She threw it right there, I adjusted from my first at-bat, I just swung and it went over the fence. I thought it was going foul, so I was running to first and I was like ‘No, no’ and then it went out. I heard my teammates cheering, I was running and jumping… it was a great moment. I was like ‘this is where we’re winning this game right now.'”
On his perspective of his team showing up in big moments:
Hays:Â “First and foremost, go out to compete and have fun. Do your best. We are always happy with competing and doing our best. We feel like we have a good enough ball club, if we don’t show fear and go out and go at people and let the chips fall where they may, like the girls did tonight. This team has grown through the year. Madison had a bad ankle injury early in conference which sidetracked her, and she’s fully healthy now and she’s coming back to be the great player we think she is. We’ve got a good club, and what happened to us last year fueled the fire here. We came in and didn’t pitch well – our team played well, we swung the bat, but we didn’t pitch it well. We have a lot more pitching depth now; that’s usually why you see 2-3 arms for us. We try not to let anyone fall off the cliff and give them a different look. They put some good swings on some balls and just missed that last ball – she was right on, good swing, but a good enough riseball where we got to make a play on it. The girls played a clean game and that’s what it takes to win and hopefully we’ll bring that tomorrow as well.”
On whether familiarity with the Los Angeles Regional affected preparation:
Hays:Â “Well, as Katelyn said, we don’t change anything. We were the same in yesterday’s practice before the game as two months ago. What makes this win even more amazing for us, how we played well, was when we saw our seeding and that we were coming to UCLA, that took some mental toughness because they drilled us last year. If you show weakness, they’re going to get you because they’re such a good team. I was very proud of how our girls stood up and played well, but that can change at any time. We’ve got to keep playing with confidence and hopefully keep going.”
On whether keeping UCLA off-balance was always the key:
Hays: “We wanted it to be a two-pitcher game, with [Meghan Golden] and [Emily Darwin], and Meg just hasn’t had her good stuff lately. She’s dealt with some nagging injuries and hasn’t had the same kick. But when we got a lead and Schaef put us up, we were going to save [Ariel Thompson] for game two. And so we just used Ariel to close the game and she did a good job. Last year, she came in a little injured and not throwing well and her velocity was down, and she had her worst outing of the year, which is easy to do against UCLA. She came back and her getting that save, that’s good for us and for her confidence.”
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