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Arizona softball second baseman Sereniti Trice (00) Feb. 2026 at Hillenbrand Stadium | Photo by Ryan Kelapire
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The No. 14 Arizona Wildcats* were going for the unofficial state softball championship. They got the series win against Arizona State over the weekend. Tuesday brought No. 17 GCU to town. It wasn’t easy or typical for either team, but the Wildcats pulled out the 9-5 win.
“We have great competition just in the state of Arizona alone, so it really prepares us for Big 12, postseason, just everything,” said Arizona second baseman Sereniti Trice.
A popup that scored two runs for Arizona. A home run from a Wildcat slap hitter. A leadoff runner for GCU in six of seven innings. Another questionable call on a potential home run for an Arizona opponent. It was all part of the midweek outing.
Arizona freshman Rylie Holder got the start. She threw a complete game and improved to 9-3 on the season, but she had to work through some tough innings to get there. Holder gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits, five walks, a hit batter, and one official error behind her.
“I think she settled in very well after that first inning,” said Arizona head coach Caitlin Lowe. “I think she didn’t love the pitch that she threw to [Jada] Cooper, and then came right back and just went at them with her best stuff. She didn’t have her change up the whole night. She spotted it a little bit, but just worked around, again, a tight zone and just trusted her stuff. So I think she did a really good job tonight.”
The highlight of the evening came from Trice. The lefthander power slapper got a pitch inside that she could pull in the bottom of the second. It just kept going and left the park slightly to the right of the scoreboard. Her first collegiate career home run stretched Arizona’s lead to 5-2 after two innings.
Lowe guessed that it was the first home run of Trice’s lifetime, but the diminutive infielder did have at least a one under her belt.
“Maybe senior year of high school?” Trice said as she clutched the home run ball. “Yeah, crazy, though. Not expecting that today.”
Just seeing the bat hit the ball was her biggest goal. She credited hitting coach Amber Freeman with helping her get on track after a 1-for-11 weekend against Arizona State.
“I haven’t been feeling my swing as of late, so just going in there and kind of just letting it fly,” Trice said. “Ber helped me a lot. And I saw a pitch, and I just kind of put a swing on it.”
Trice ended the day 1-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBI.
“She’s got the juice, and she hits gaps a lot, but it’s rare that she kind of gets a pitch to do that,” Lowe said.
It didn’t start well for the Wildcats. They immediately fell into a 2-0 hole off Jada Cooper’s one-out home run in the top of the first.
The Lopes were on the way to maintaining that lead with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, but things went awry. Arizona sophomore Emma Kavanagh worked a long at-bat. She popped up the ninth pitch to shallow left field. It went incredibly high into the night sky.
It should have been the final out. Two Lopes were there, but the ball fell to the ground. Two runs scored. Grace Jenkins tried to make it three, but she was thrown out at the plate. For the ‘Cats, it was at least a new ballgame.
Holder continued to have some difficulties in the top of the second while her defensive support swung wildly behind her.
GCU’s Tinley Lucas hit a solid line drive towards second. As it started to drop, Trice snagged it out of the air then threw it on to first to double up Trinity Martin.
The nifty defensive play was followed immediately by a defensive miscue. Eight-hole hitter Mackenzie Nolan hit a fly to right-center. Jenkins made a diving attempt at a ball that was destined to get down. The ball careened off the glove of Jenkins, rolling far enough away to allow Nolan to motor to third. It was ruled a triple but looked very much like a single and a two-base error.
A pitcher can often tense up after a defensive play isn’t made. That’s especially true of a young pitcher, but Holder didn’t let it get to her. Her second strikeout ended the inning.
The freshman continued to flirt with danger but keep it at bay. The leadoff reached via a single in the first and second. The hit-by-pitch was the culprit in the top of the third. Walks put the leadoff on in the fourth and the sixth. It was a double in the seventh. Except for the first and sixth innings, Holder and her defense kept the runs off the board.
“I thought Biddy was excellent, Jenna [Sniffen], Tayler [Biehl], and even the the balls that weren’t caught, that’s them going for it,” Lowe said. “And so I thought, kudos to them, because Rylie’s throwing a bunch of ground balls, and we’re getting used to kind of backing her up.”
Arizona scored in every inning except the fifth, but it wasn’t the big bats driving them in. The Wildcats got RBI from Regan Shockey, Kez Lucas, Sniffen, and Trice.
It looked like the Wildcats might end the game early when they went up 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth. The Lopes had different ideas.
GCU finally found its way again in the top of the sixth. The visitors scored three off two hits and an error. They potentially could have scored another. Ellie Pond hit one towards right field that left the year, but it was ruled foul. It would have scored three, but the call stood after review. Two of the runs eventually scored anyway, but it wasn’t enough to put the Lopes over the top.
“Anytime you face a really good team, they’re going to threaten, so I think the biggest thing is that they did put up runs and then we were able to execute on the back end,” Lowe said.
As they had in the first inning, when GCU scored, Arizona buckled down and executed. The Wildcats responded in the bottom of the sixth by getting one of the runs back. They just needed three outs.
The first came on Arizona’s second double play of the game. Sniffen threw it across the diamond to Lucas. Addison Schifflett, who had led off the inning with a double, tried to take third as the ball flew across to Lucas. Lucas caught it for the out at first then snapped it back across to Biehl, who was covering third. The Arizona shortstop applied the tag. Two outs.
The final out was a grounder to Trice. A difficult game but a win. That’s all that mattered.
“[My defense] had my back all game long,” Holder said. “For us to do what we did in the seventh inning was just awesome, like completely put the momentum to our side.”
Arizona improved to 24-8 overall this year. It was just the second loss of the season for GCU, which was the last unbeaten team in Division I softball this year. The Lopes are now 33-2 overall with both losses coming to ranked Big 12 teams.
*All rankings in this article are taken from the NFCA poll. USA Softball ranks Arizona No. 13 and GCU No. 23.
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