Arizona won its third in a row against area rivals to continue its Grand Canyon State dominance.
No. 13 Arizona held on to beat No. 23 GCU 9-5 on Tuesday night at home, maintaining its perfect record against the Lopes (33-2), after winning the conference series against Arizona State last week.
“I think we have great competition just in the state of Arizona alone and so it really prepares us for a Big 12, postseason, just everything,” said UA sophomore infielder Sereniti Trice. “So I think just taking what we can learn from these games and carrying them into our next games is really going to help us.”
UA sophomore infielder Sereniti Trice hit her first home run of her college career vs. GCU March 24, 2026.
Up next for Arizona (24-8, 6-3 Big 12) is a three-game series against Baylor (21-9, 5-1) starting on Friday.
In Arizona’s last conference series, ASU won Game 1 16-5, but UA took Games 2 and 3 9-8 and 6-4.
The Wildcats hold a 109-63-1 all-time edge against ASU and have won eight of their last 10 against the Sun Devils. On Tuesday, Arizona improved to 17-0 overall and 12-0 at home against GCU.
Although the UA softball X (Twitter) account posted “STATE CHAMPS” after the third Grand Canyon state win and the school painted the block “A” logo in the outfield surrounded by an outline of the state ahead of the ASU and GCU games, UA head coach Caitlin Lowe said they were focused on the Lopes on Tuesday.
“Honestly, we were all about Grand Canyon and they're a very, very good team, I mean, they win a lot of games for a reason,” Lowe said. “They coached well, they pitched well, they played defense well, so we were solely focused on just executing our game plan, against a very good pitching staff and against good hitters (Tuesday).”
With a 3-1 record against Arizona teams, UA can lay claim to the state title. The only remaining in-state game in the regular season is when GCU hosts ASU on April 14.
Northern Arizona doesn’t have a varsity softball team.
Holder holds on
UA freshman pitcher Rylie Holder (9-3) started the GCU game rough, and things got hairy in the sixth inning. But she held on to get the win and the complete game.
The Lopes started the game with a two-run homer by sophomore utility Jada Cooper, and then junior infielder Mackenzie Nolan hit a triple in the second. But Holder didn’t allow another hit until the sixth. Holder gave up a couple earned runs and a double that inning. In the seventh, she surrendered another double before securing the win.
“I thought she settled in very well after the first inning, I think she didn't love the pitch that she threw to Cooper and then came right back and just went at them with her best stuff,” Lowe said. “She didn't have her change up the whole night, she spotted it a little bit, but just worked around a tight zone and just trusted her stuff, so I think she did a really good job.”
Arizona starting pitcher Rylie Holder (14) deals as she faces Arizona State in the second inning of their Big 12 game in Tucson on March 20, 2026.
After Holder got hit in the mask by a BYU line drive on March 6, she returned to give up eight earned runs in two outings at Texas Tech and then eight earned runs in her first appearance against ASU, but she won the next game against the Sun Devils and got the complete game win on Tuesday.
“It was awesome, felt good,” Holder said. “I mean if any of the pitchers came in, they were going to have my back, but to go for the complete game and get it is awesome.”
Trice homers
Trice getting another extra base hit isn’t a surprise, but her homer on Tuesday was unexpected.
The 5-foot-2 speedy slap hitter hit a two-run homer. Trice is hitting .453 this year with four doubles and three triples, but it’s the first home run of her college career. She thinks she last hit one in her senior year of high school.
“Yeah, crazy though, was not expecting that (Tuesday),” Trice said.
Trice has 20 RBIs and a .605 slugging percentage.
The NCAA softball account even tweeted about her home run.
“I think she has in practice, never in a game and I think that was her first of her lifetime,” Lowe said. “So not trying to do it and at the same time she's got the juice and she hits gaps a lot.”
Big 12 parity
After three weeks of conference play, a couple of Big 12 Texas originals sit atop the league, followed by a slew of teams. With an 8-1 Big 12 record, No. 2 Texas Tech is in first, Baylor, which is receiving votes in the USA Softball poll, is second and Arizona is third. Then it gets crowded with Utah (4-2 Big 12), Kansas (4-2) and Iowa State (3-3).
Baylor is No. 22 in the RPI after it went 0-2 at No. 1 Texas last weekend and then beat UT Arlington 8-0 on Tuesday.
“You look at Baylor, I think their RPI is a top 25, they’ve had a really good season, played some good competition, so we're really excited for the opportunity to set a tone this weekend, too,” Lowe said.
Lucas lands Big 12 honor
UA infielder Kez Lucas won Big 12 Co-Freshman of the Week on Tuesday.
It’s her first conference award and Arizona’s second Big 12 weekly award after senior utility Sydney Stewart won Big 12 Player of the Week.
Lucas went 4 for 9 with a .444 average, a .556 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage against ASU. Against GCU, she went 3 for 4 with an RBI.
Wildcats drop in rankings
The voters were not impressed by Arizona’s series victory over ASU.
In the primary rankings released Tuesday before the game by USA Softball, the Wildcats dropped a couple spots to No. 13. Arizona moved down one slot in the NFCA’s coaches’ poll to 14th and in the D1 Softball rankings to No. 14. It remained No. 15, according to Softball America.
ASU, meanwhile, moved into the USA Softball rankings, at No. 25, for the first time since March 3. Arizona moved up to No. 13 in the RPI following the GCU win.
