South Dakota softball is competing in five games over three days at the Lopes Up Classic hosted by Grand Canyon University starting Friday. The Coyotes will take on Utah State and Grand Canyon twice and Montana once.
 
The Schedule
Friday, Feb. 24
Noon (CT) – Utah State (4-6) | Live Stats
2:30 p.m. (CT) – Montana (0-10) | Live Stats
 
Saturday, Feb. 25
2:30 p.m. (CT) – Utah State | Live Stats
7:30 p.m. (CT) – Grand Canyon (9-1) | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+)

Sunday, Feb. 26
1 p.m. (CT) – Grand Canyon | Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+)
 
Homecoming
It will be a homecoming of sorts for three South Dakota starters. Third baseman Aleesia Sainz (Casa Grande), catcher/first baseman Jordyn Pender (Phoenix) and catcher Bela Goerke (Tucson) all played their high school ball in the Phoenix area.
 
The Coyotes
South Dakota salvaged an 8-1 win last weekend in its final game in Texas during a rematch against Sam Houston State. That followed five losses in which the Coyotes mustered just two runs, though the competition included two nationally-ranked teams and a third 2022 NCAA tournament team.
 
Those results coupled with two solid wins on opening day the week before has USD 3-5 heading to Arizona. Right fielder Gabby Moser and Goerke are both hitting over .400 and sophomore Clara Edwards delivered a gem in the circle in her last outing. But fellow pitcher Kori Wedeking has yet to find her groove and the Coyotes will need some other big bats to emerge. This weekend provides another opportunity.
 
Utah State
The Aggies, 28-28 a year ago, spent their first two weekends in California. They lost in extra innings to a good Loyola Marymount team, but have been blanked in half their 10 games. The team is batting .208 through 10 games, but opponents aren't fairing much better at .230 and are averaging fewer than four runs against the Aggies.
 
Those numbers are despite the loss of ace Kapri Toone, a 14-game winner last year. Sophomore Mia Reynolds, who was the No. 2 last year, has allowed just eight runs through 26 innings, but has an 0-3 record. Hailey McLean and Tess Bumiller, freshmen pitchers from Nevada and Washington, respectively, are helping to fill the void left by Toone.
 
Offensively, Utah State returns four starters including first team all-Mountain West first baseman Gabriella Jimenez, a fifth-year with 30 career home runs and 99 RBIs. All but four of those homers have come in the past two-plus seasons. Sophomore Claire Raley is off to a good start in year two. She is 9-for-21 (.429) with two doubles and is 7-for-7 on the base paths.
 
Montana
Winless thru 10 games is not what Montana envisioned following its 20-win campaign a year ago. The Grizzlies returned both pitchers this year, but one of them – Dana Butterfield – has not played yet this season. Montana also graduated Big Sky Player of the Year Maygen McGrath who hit 17 home runs a year ago.
 
Junior Kelly Sweyer is batting a team-high .296 (8-for-27) with three doubles through two weekends. Sophomore Hannah Jablonski has two home runs. Montana hasn't attempted to steal a base this season after going 23-of-26 on the base paths in 47 games a year go.
 
Ten-game winner Allie Brock is back in the circle, but Montana has yet to get newcomer Grace Haegele going. She has allowed 36 runs – 29 earned – in four starts, seven appearances and 16 innings trying to fill in for Butterfield.
 
Grand Canyon
The last time USD faced Grand Canyon in 2020, it turned out to be the final game before COVID-19 forced college athletics to shut down. The Coyotes and Lopes met five times from 2018-20 with Grand Canyon winning three.
 
The Lopes are built for a return to the NCAA tournament. They return their top two hitters in Kristin Fifield and Katelyn Dunckel, who are off to fine starts in 2023, and picked up first-team all-WAC first baseman Ramsay Lopez who hit 17 home runs for New Mexico State last year. They added Kayla Rodgers, an NJCAA all-American who is batting .478 thru 10 games, and pitcher Emily Darwin who is 4-0 with a 0.67 ERA. Both competed at Yavapai College last year. The Lopes stole 128 bases last year and are 18-of-19 this year. Thankfully, Gianna Nicoletti (51 stolen bases in 2022) has graduated.
 
The Lopes' lone loss was a 4-3 decision to Oregon State last time out. They blanked Weber State, a top-60 program last year, 6-0, the game before that. Ariel Thompson, a 21-game winner in the circle and the WAC Tournament MVP last year, is back for her senior season. She pitched four innings against Oregon State.