Week 6 served as the introduction to the final season of Mountain West play as we know it. Just like in seasons past, the first week of league play injected some much-needed chaos, intrigue, and incomprehensible upsets into the season. The conference standings are a complete mess right now, so let’s take a look at where things sit heading into Week 7.
Standings (After Week 6 of 14)
- Grand Canyon (30-0, 3-0 MWC)
- Nevada (18-10, 2-1 MWC)
- San Diego State (17-11, 2-1 MWC)
- Utah State (12-15, 2-1 MWC)
- San Jose State (10-16, 2-1 MWC)
- Fresno State (12-11, 1-2 MWC)
- Colorado State (13-14, 1-2 MWC)
- UNLV (12-14, 1-2 MWC)
- Boise State (13-17, 1-2 MWC)
- New Mexico (12-16, 0-3 MWC)
Since there are far fewer games to talk about from this point forward, I am likely to talk about just four teams in these
articles going forward unless circumstances dictate otherwise. Reason being that there is just less distance between the teams that perform well and those that perform badly. Also, if a team loses to/gets swept by GCU, it hardly seems fair to criticize them much (looking right at UNM). With that being said, let’s discuss the Lopes, the good, the bad, and the ugly of Week 6, 2026.
The Good
#17/23 Grand Canyon Lopes (30-0, 3-0 MWC)
Game Results: 3-0 (3-0 away)
at New Mexico (12-16) – W, 7-2
at New Mexico (12-16) – W, 4-1
at New Mexico (12-16) – W, 8-0 (5 innings)
vs. #21/15 Oklahoma State (18-9) – TBD
The beat rolls on for the Lopes, who currently stand as the last remaining undefeated team in the country, following losses by Alabama and Tennessee on Saturday. New Mexico put up a spirited fight against the Lopes this weekend, but GCU was ultimately just the better team, able to continue their historic run of form.
Game one was competitive for a while, as the Lobos hit a two-run homer off of Taryn Batterton in the third inning to tie the game up at two. Unwilling to stand for this insolence, GCU immediately scored five runs in the fourth inning, with the score remaining unchanged for the rest of the game in a 7-2 Lope win. Game two looked closer on paper, but GCU never trailed and allowed just one hit after the fifth inning, taking a low-scoring affair 4-1. Finally, Lope pitcher Natalie Fritz got her chance to prove herself against her former team, starting and recording 3.1 innings of a three-hit shutout in an 8-0, 5-inning win to advance to an incredible 30-0.
Aside from Fritz, Abi Jones also recorded three scoreless innings in Game 2. No Lope pitcher was particularly amazing, but they all turned in a fantastic collective performance. Offensively, two Lopes recorded a hit in every game. Raegan Holtorf went a combined 4-for-9 with three RBIs, while Addison Shifflett went 3-for-10 with three RBIs. Sydney McCray and Jada Cooper each led the team with four hits, the latter leading in RBIs with four.
The Lopes return home on Tuesday to get their first real challenge against a ranked Oklahoma State squad. Afterwards, GCU will have their conference home opener against San Jose State. Finally, the Lopes have another game against a ranked team, this time against in-state rival Arizona in Tucson. This is the beginning of the toughest stretch of games for the Lopes this season. While it is very unlikely that they will go through this entire gauntlet remaining undefeated, they have a great chance to bolster their tournament resume. If the Lopes do win all five of these games, or even just four of them, I would expect a Top 15 ranking to be next to the Lopes’ name next week.
Utah State Aggies (12-15, 2-1 MWC)
Game Results: 2-1 (2-1 away)
at Fresno State (12-11) – W, 9-2
at Fresno State (12-11) – W, 8-4 (9 innings)
at Fresno State (12-11) – L, 6-2
at Idaho State (18-11) – TBD
I don’t think there is anything that could have been more appropriate than Utah State ending up in the “good” tier the week I put them at the bottom of my power rankings. Making a complete mockery of my “knows ball” status, the Aggies immediately went from losing eight straight games, giving up an ERA of nearly 15.00 in that span, to beating Fresno State, one of the conference’s better teams going into conference play, two games to one on the road. This was a historic win for the Aggies, as this was their first series win over Fresno State since 2017, and their first series victory in Fresno since 1981. Yes, the last time Utah State beat Fresno State two or more times on the road in a season, the NCAA had not yet started sponsoring softball.
In Game 1, Kaylee Erickson went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs in what ended up being a streak-breaking 9-2 win. Rylie Pindel recorded a complete game, giving up two runs on four hits, with two walks and strikeouts each. Game 2 featured the Aggies blowing a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the 7th when Kendall Cochran’s complete game crumbled once she got over 100 pitches. USU put Pindel in the game again, who delivered once again, shutting the ‘Dogs out in the 8th and 9th, while four runs scored by USU’s offense in the top of the ninth won the Aggies their first extra-inning game of the year. Utah State finished the weekend off with a deflating 6-2 loss, one where USU had the tying run at the plate in the top of the 7th, but a rare Alex Bunton popup ended the game with the bases loaded. Regardless of its bad ending, the weekend was a much-needed break from the Aggies’ month-long collapse.
USU hitters mostly had a field day this weekend, combining for 32 hits across the three games. Bunton and Jazmin Ramirez were the only Aggie hitters to get a hit in all three games, but several others, including Erickson, far surpassed those two in impact with single-game performances. Bunton’s five hits was second on the team to Kya Pratt, who combined to go 6-for-10 with five RBIs across the last two games of the series, but was hitless in Game 1. In the circle, Pindel recorded 10.2 innings while giving up just four runs, earning the win in both Aggie wins.
Utah State finishes its week today with a rematch of Idaho State in Pocatello. After that, the Aggies host two of their former pitchers: Tess Bumiller and Hailey McLean, facing off against Nevada in their home-opening series. If the Aggies perform anything like they did this weekend, or last year when they faced the Pack in Reno, favored Nevada may be in for a rough few days.
The Bad
UNLV Rebels (13-15, 1-2 MWC)
Game Results: 1-2 (1-2 away)
at San Jose State (10-16) – L, 5-2
at San Jose State (10-16) – W, 3-2
at San Jose State (10-16) – L, 4-3
vs. Utah Tech (10-17) – TBD
Another week, more results unworthy of turning Twitter comments back on. UNLV continued to reinforce my skepticism in their recent success, losing a series against the worst team in the conference this season, San Jose State, two games to one.
Game 2 of the series was the only UNLV win. UNLV allowed one run in the first, but two runs in the top of the third meant the Spartans would never get the lead back. A Mantha Hatzenbeller triple in the sixth game gave the Rebs the only run they would need to snap a three-game losing streak. Games 1 and 3 were both Rebel losses, both ending in nearly the same exact way. In Game 1, UNLV led 1-0 before giving up five straight runs to the Spartans, going to the top of the seventh down 5-1. The Rebels loaded the bases with just one out, scoring a run on an RBI walk, but two straight outs left all runners stranded to end the game. Game 3 was similar, the Rebels going into the top of the seventh down 4-1, loading the bases with nobody out. UNLV scored two runs, but two outs in that same span meant that a harmless pop fly ended the game with two runners on once again.
UNLV left a combined 12 runners on base during their two losses, hitting a combined .278 on the series. Diamond Sefe was the only productive hitter during this series, going 5-for-8 at the plate, but Sefe only recorded a single RBI, with Hatzenbeller and Keyannah Chavez being the only hitters to record a team-leading two RBIs. UNLV simply could not hit with runners in scoring position, going an atrocious 4-for-29 (.138) with at least one runner in scoring position. Even worse, only two of those hits actually scored a run, the other two being singles that advanced a runner from second to third. Rebel pitching performed decently well, overall, with Yanina Sherwood recording 3.1 scoreless innings in Game 3 to bring her team back into the game. However, that is about as comforting as a spiky blanket when the Rebels lost arguably their easiest series of the season.
The Rebels travel back home today for a rematch with Utah Tech, then host conference contender San Diego State for their first home conference series. The Rebels should be overmatched here, but SDSU did just struggle mightily at home against fellow conference bottom-feeder Colorado State, so it is very possible that the Rebels take at least one game here. Maybe if they do, they will turn their social media comments back on for a couple games.
The Ugly
Fresno State Bulldogs (12-11, 1-2 MWC)
Game Results: 1-2 (1-2 home)
vs. Utah State (12-15) – L, 9-2
vs. Utah State (12-15) – L, 8-4 (9 innings)
vs. Utah State (12-15) – W, 6-2
After a 7-2 finish to nonconference play, Fresno State was gifted the easiest possible conference opening series: a home match against a Utah State team that had lost 13 of their last 18 games, eight straight games where they surrendered an ERA of 14.95, and four straight by a combined score of 52-5. Yet, the Bulldogs somehow not only failed to sweep this seemingly hopeless squad, but inexplicably lost the series.
After leading 2-0 after the first inning of Game 1, Fresno State was outhit 12-2 the rest of the way, giving up nine straight runs in an embarrassing 9-2 loss. This effort was certainly not helped by the Bulldogs’ imitation of a Benny Hill sketch, where their five errors gave up four unearned runs. Game 2 was much different, as after trailing the entire game, clutch hitting in the bottom of the seventh turned a 4-1 deficit into a tie game heading into extras. However, after the Bulldogs failed to get on the board in the eighth, Utah State scored four runs in the top of the ninth, with Fresno State being unable to respond in the bottom of the frame, clincing a humiliating series loss.
The Bulldogs ended the series with a 6-2 win where they never trailed, salvaging at least some of their dignity, but that does not change just how awful their performance was against a team that had looked like the worst team in the country for the last two weeks. As if the series loss alone wasn’t humiliating enough, Fresno State did something here that they have not done since 1981, a time so long ago, it was prior to the NCAA softball era: lose a home series to Utah State. a team that has been mostly atrocious for the better part of the last 30 years. If this is not indicative of just how far the Bulldogs have fallen, I don’t know what is.
The best pitcher for the ‘Dogs in this series was Alyssa Ramirez, who gave up one run in her 2.2 innings of play. Lauryn Carranco and Alyssa Loza both recorded eye-watering numbers in this series. Offensively, Jamie Hicks had an excellent series, going 5-for-9 with 3 RBIs. Emma Martinez recorded a hit in every game, going 4-for-10 overall, and senior Alyssa Rebolledo made the most of her two starts, going 4-for-8. Sophomore Rylee Bocchini was the hero of the Bulldogs’ only win, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs.
Fresno State’s next series will be a trip up to Boise for a matchup with a Broncos team that stole one off of Nevada in Reno, before losing by wide margins in their other two games. The Broncos are 3-3 at home so far this season, and their pitching core will surely be aching for redemption after an abysmal performance in their series loss to the Wolf Pack. Fresno State has won the last two series against Boise State, so that fact will surely serve as extra motivation for the Broncos as well. This should be a competitive series, but then again, what should and should not happen doesn’t seem to matter to these ‘Dogs. Seriously, guys, you lost at home to Utah State? Really?
