The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: 2026 Mountain West Softball Week 3

Week 3 of the 2026 Mountain West softball season has come and gone, and we are starting to get a bit more of a gauge on the quality of the 10 teams in the conference. This was not a very successful week overall for the conference, with only a few teams finishing with a record at or above .500, so it was a bit harder than usual to find any teams to put in the “good” tier. Of course, there is one stallwort in that category, but we’ll get to them in a moment. For now, let’s take a look at the current

conference standings entering Week 4.

Standings (After Week 3 of 14)

1. Grand Canyon (16-0)
2. San Diego State (10-5)
3. Utah State (9-6)
4. Nevada (8-7)
5. Boise State (8-8)
6. UNLV (7-8)
7. New Mexico (5-8)
8. Fresno State (4-7)
9. Colorado State (5-10)
10. San Jose State (4-11)

Due to the nature of every teams’ performance this week, I had to edit the categories this week to reflect my thoughts more accurately. Now let’s take a look at who was the elite, the sort of good, and the ugliest during this week’s games.

The Elite

Grand Canyon Lopes (16-0)

Game Results: (5-0, 5-0 home)

vs. San Diego: W, 7-0

vs. Montana: W, 8-0 (5 innings)

vs. #RV/NR North Florida: W, 9-0 (5 innings)

vs. UC Santa Barbara: W, 10-6

vs. UC Santa Barbara: W, 6-1

vs. Montana: W, 8-0 (5 innings)

On this week’s edition of “The Journey for Respect,” Grand Canyon advanced to a ridiculous mark of 16-0, one of just five remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA, all despite missing star hitter Savannah Kirk yet again. Four of the Lopes’ six games ended via shutouts, three of which were by run-rule. I decided that this mark was good enough to put GCU in their own tier, one they will remain in at least until they take a loss or two.

In the first three games, the Lopes allowed a combined nine hits against 17 strikeouts. Taryn Batterton continued her runless streak in the San Diego game, going 5.1 innings before passing it off to freshman Abi Jones, who finished off the rest of the complete-game shutout. Offensively, Addison Shifflett and Alina Satcher continued to be on fire, the former going 3-for-4 with an RBI, while the latter had only one at-bat, crushing a three-run homer in the fifth. Against Montana, Maggie Place and Lily Camp combined for the three-hit shutout, one where Trinity Martin and Emily Gonzalez each recorded three hits, the last of which was an RBI single by the former to clinch the five-inning win.

In what was projected to be the Lopes’ first true test of the season, the Lopes destroyed mid-major powerhouse North Florida behind Jones and Oakley Vickers combining for two hits and six strikeouts. Gonzalez and Ellie Pond each had two hits, while Raegan Holtorf led the Lopes with 3 RBIs. Then, in the Lopes’ final game of the Purple Classic, the Lopes beat Montana again by the same score, with Batterton having yet another complete-game shutout. Pond and Shifflett each had two hits, the latter going 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.

As for the Lopes’ final two games against the reigning Big West champion Gauchos, UCSB put up a bigger fight against GCU than any team not named Santa Clara this season, yet still lost both games by a combined score of 16-7. In the first game, GCU got out to a 7-0 lead before the Gauchos blew up Batterton for six runs in the third inning, ending her run of scoreless innings to start the year at 28.0. Thankfully for GCU, Place and Vickers were more than capable relief options, shutting out UCSB the rest of the way to record a 10-6 win. In the second game, Jones, Vickers, and Natalie Fritz combined to not allow an earned run, with the Gauchos’ only run coming off of a gutsy steal of home. At the plate, no Lope had more than one hit, but Jada Cooper ended up recording 5 RBIs off of a sac-foul and a grand slam.

The Good?

Boise State Broncos (8-8)

Game Results: (2-3, 1-1 away, 1-2 neutral)

vs. #15/16 Arizona: L, 11-2 (6 innings)

vs. Santa Clara: W, 8-2

vs. #3/3 Texas: L, 10-0 (5 innings)

at #12/10 Stanford: W, 5-4

at #12/10 Stanford: L, 3-2

I have no idea what to make of Boise State at this point. They simultaneously have the two best wins in the conference, while also having some of its most embarrassing losses. The Broncos got run-ruled twice this week, yet took the hosts, #12 Stanford, to the brink twice, defeating them once before choking away the second game in heartbreaking fashion. Inconsistency incarnate.

The Broncos were simply not competitive in either of their first two losses to #15 Arizona or #3 Texas. Against the Wildcats, Boise State led 2-1 after the first inning, but Arizona scored six runs in the top of the second and never looked back. As for Texas, the Broncos’ pitching staff did very well at first against the Longhorns, only giving up two runs through three innings, but back-to-back innings of four runs allowed allowed Texas to win via run-rule, all while the Broncos were held to just two hits.

In between the two run-rule games, Boise State faced and beat the reigning West Coast Conference champion Santa Clara Broncos by a score of 8-2. Charley Duran and Loula-Rae McNamara combined to allow nine hits, but just two runs and nine strikeouts. Meanwhile, Marissa Gonzalez and Skylar Stroh each had two hits, the latter recording a whopping 5 RBIs.

Finally, the Broncos wrapped up the tournament by facing the #12 Stanford Cardinal in two straight games. Despite being a top-10 team, the Cardinal had been struggling in their home invitational, having lost two straight close games to the Wildcats and Longhorns. That was a fact the Broncos pounced on, recording their new best win in program history by defeating Stanford 5-4 in the first matchup. Boise State had been held to no hits through the first five innings, but simply refused to give up, recording four hits, including a three-run homer by Stroh, to go up 5-3 entering the bottom of the inning. Duran, McNamara and Julianne Rose, visibly filled with infectious intensity, went on to dominate in the final two frames, only allowing one Cardinal run before closing out the game.

Filled with all the momentum in the world, the trio of McNamara, Rose, and Olivia Bauer combined to shut out the Cardinal through the first six innings of the second game. Much like Nevada against LSU, however, the score was still 0-0, with the Broncos being on the business end of a no-hitter entering the top of the 7th. The Broncos once again delivered in the clutch, scoring two runs in the 7th to seemingly end things. The game looked even more over in Stanford’s part of the frame, as Bauer had worked Cardinal third baseman Jade Berry down to a 2-2 count with two outs and the bases loaded. That’s when everything fell apart, as Berry dribbled the ball right past Bauer’s glove into center field for a 2 RBI single, before Joie Economides ripped out what was left of Bronco fans’ hearts with a walkoff single.

It was certainly a successful week for Boise State based off of the Stanford win alone. However, the two run-rule losses, the incredible choke in the Cardinal rematch, and their 2-3 overall record lead me to hesitate in calling their performance outright “good.” Therefore, they wind up here, in a tier signifying their slightly chaotic status.

Nevada Wolf Pack (8-7)

Game Results: (2-2, 2-2 neutral)

vs. Oregon State: L, 4-2

vs. California: W, 8-3

vs. #9/11 UCLA: L, 6-5

vs. UC Riverside: W, 10-2 (5 innings)

Nevada is another team that confuses me. The Wolf Pack went 2-2 at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, beating Cal, their fourth power conference win of the season, as well as run-ruling UC Riverside in their final game. Their two losses, meanwhile, were to a not-great Oregon State team, a loss that has aged much better in hindsight, as well as a one-run loss to #9 UCLA, dropping the Wolf Pack to 0-5 against ranked teams this season, the last three of which have been by a combined four runs.

The biggest concerns for the Wolf Pack at this point are clutch hitting and Hailey McLean. Let’s start with McLean. To say that she is completely cooked would be a gross understatement at this point. McLean was thrust into the starting role against Oregon State, obviously a “get-right” game. She immediately gave up a two-run homer in the first inning, then another run in the second. She was pulled for Bumiller after 1.1 innings, but the damage had already been done for the cold-hitting Pack lineup in their 4-2 loss to the Beavers.

McLean was then demoted to reliever for the game against Cal, coming into the game in the fourth inning, up 8-0 after Tretton had allowed just one hit in her three innings. McLean instantly gave up two runs yet again, then proceeded to try her best to blow the rest of the Pack’s lead in the top of the 7th, giving up a run and loading the bases via an onslaught of walks and hit-by-pitches. Thankfully, the game ended right after an RBI walk, but the perception of McLean had long since been destroyed. She has gone from the projected conference Pitcher of the Year to a pitcher that I genuinely question as a viable relief option, a monumental fall from grace. I truly cannot say whether McLean can be fixed at this point, as it would take perfect management and coaching to get her confidence and lethal pitching abilities back.

Now let’s discuss the Wolf Pack’s biggest issue: clutch hitting ability. Whereas Nevada hits .328 overall, their clip with runners in scoring position throughout their seven losses is a ghastly .240. In other words, the Wolf Pack quite literally go from the best-hitting team in the conference to its absolute worst any time they have a chance to score runs. This has been the primary cause of each of their last three ranked losses, games where Nevada held the lead for the majority of the game, only to let things slip away as opportunity after opportunity passed without the score changing.

The same rings true for hitting in the final two innings, which popped up again in the loss to the Bruins, where the Wolf Pack went hitless in the final two innings after gaining a 5-2 lead in the fifth, disturbingly similar to the Pack’s previous losses to the Arizona schools. Tess Bumiller also collapsed once brought into the game in the fifth, allowing four runs in two innings to blow the lead and lose 6-5. The Wolf Pack rebounded in their final game against an awful UC Riverside team, with Ainsley Berlingeri allowing just two runs before Nevada won by run-rule, 10-2 in the fifth.

Overall, it was another disappointing week for Nevada, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Nevada ended up getting run-ruled by UCLA a year ago in a very uncompetitive game. This year, the Wolf Pack nearly took out an unstoppable juggernaut that won their other five games of the Nutter—three of which were against ranked teams—by a combined score of 64-17. Yes, the Oregon State loss looked bad, but OSU is much better than their record shows, now being 8-8 with a season series win against a Long Beach State team that took down a Top-5 Oklahoma squad. Nevada is a good team, there is no doubt. They just still lack that signature win to fully legitimize themselves in the eyes of the committee. Can they get one? I truly do not know.

UNLV Lady Rebels (7-8)

Game Results: (4-1, 4-1 home)

vs. Valparaiso: W, 11-6

vs. Utah Valley: L, 8-1

vs. Idaho State: W, 14-6 (6 innings)

vs. Merrimack: W, 8-0 (5 innings)

vs. Merrimack: W, 6-3

Yes, UNLV went 4-1 on the week, but they are still 7-8, and played three mediocre to terrible teams and one good team, the latter of whom destroyed them. Putting them in the same tier as GCU seemed like sacrilege, so I figured the best place to talk about them would be alongside the Broncos and Wolf Pack in the “maybe good” tier.

Against Valparaiso, the Rebs gave up 14 hits to the Beacons, but only allowed six runs in the 11-6 victory. Taryn Calderon, Rachel Cook, and Lyla Gonzalez each recorded two hits, Cook leading the Rebels in RBIs with four after a 3 RBI homer in the 1st inning. Amelia Weber started and got the win, before passing it off to Emma Wardlaw, who struggled, giving up five runs in her 3.1 innings but still closing things out.

The Rebels’ next game came against a good Utah Valley team, where the Rebels looked completely outmatched in an 8-1 loss. All scoring came in the first four innings, with Keyannah Chavez’ RBI single in the third serving as UNLV’s only run. The Rebels had four hits over the final four innings, but went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position, grounding into double plays to end both the fifth and seventh innings. Yanina Sherwood continued her streak of terrible play, going the full distance while giving up five earned runs against just two strikeouts. The Rebels’ defense let Sherwood down again, with their three errors combining to give up the other three runs.

In their next game against Idaho State, a formerly great team off to a rough start this season, the Rebels got by far their best win of the season, run-ruling the Bengals 14-6 in an all-around impressive performance. Emma Wardlaw was great for a bit, but again gave up six earned runs in the fourth inning to blow the Rebels’ 6-0 lead. Lauren Fettic performed flawlessly in relief, holding the Bengals scoreless after that, while a 3-for-3 day by Chavez and and 5 RBIs from Charelle Aki led to the Rebels’ fourth run-rule victory of the season.

Finally, the Rebels had a back-to-back against Merrimack, a team a year removed from going 12-32. UNLV run-ruled the Warriors 8-0 behind a dominant one-hit performance by Fettic, while the second game was a lot closer, the Rebels eking out a 6-3 win with four runs in the sixth inning. Gonzalez was the team leader at the plate across both games, going 4-for-5 with 4 RBIs.

It was the first week of the season where the Rebels had a record above .500, so it was necessary to recognize that accomplishment. However, within the context of exactly who UNLV was facing, the Rebels were a bit worse than their record would indicate. If they pull off the same performance next week, however, there would be no such asterisk.

The Ugly

Fresno State Bulldogs (4-7)

Game Results: (1-3, 1-3 neutral)

Last Week: #5

This Week’s Games:

vs. #2/2 Texas Tech: L, 12-2 (5 innings)

vs. California: W, 5-4

vs. Cal Baptist: L, 5-2

vs. #9/11 UCLA: L, 11-0 (5 innings)

There were too many teams that performed badly this week to justify having a “bad” tier at all, so let’s just skip to the team that, for the second week in a row, had the ugliest performance of the week: Fresno State. The Bulldogs got run-ruled twice, took a bad loss to a decent CBU squad, and barely beat a very bad Cal team that got run-ruled by San Jose State earlier in the year. It turns out that my faith in the Bulldogs before the season was quite badly misplaced.

Fresno State started off the week by getting crushed by #2 Texas Tech in their Mary Nutter opener, ending with a final of 12-2. Bulldog pitchers did very well for three innings, and the Bulldogs only trailed 3-2 entering the fourth, but a whopping nine runs by the Lady Raiders in the bottom of the inning resulted in a run-rule loss. For reference, while Texas Tech is arguably the best team in the country, San Diego State also played Tech later on, only losing 5-0. Tech was certainly beatable here, but it would have required a performance miles better than what the Bulldogs delivered.

Against Cal, the Bulldogs actually played well, leading 5-2 for most of the game, but Lauryn Carranco nearly blew the game in the top of the 7th, giving up two runs before closing out the game. Carranco went the full distance, while Natalie Elias, Jamie Hicks, and Isabella Reboleddo each had two hits. In their following game against Cal Baptist, the Bulldogs never led, being largely shut down by Lancer pitchers Emily Darwin and Miranda De Nava, only scoring two runs on six hits, committing two errors defensively, and recording just three strikeouts in the circle, and falling 5-2 in a game that never really felt that close.

Finally, in the Bulldogs’ final game against #9 UCLA, with the Bruins a game removed from being taken to the brink by the Wolf Pack, the ‘Dogs got absolutely steamrolled 11-0 in 5 innings. UCLA led 4-0 after the first inning, and just kept rolling from there. Sophomore Olivia Hill was the only Bulldog to get a hit off UCLA’s third best pitcher, Sydney Somerndike, while Fresno State’s pitchers combined to allow six earned runs, with the Bulldogs allowing five unearned runs off of their two errors.

This week was nothing more than a continuation of last week: the Bulldogs looking completely lost at the plate, and their pitchers sometimes holding firm, other times getting shredded. Yes, the Bulldogs were playing two top-10 teams, a good mid-major, and another power conference team, but that is no excuse for how terrible they looked in each of these games. Besides, San Diego State also played Texas Tech, and Nevada played both Cal and UCLA, with each of those three games ending with either winning by more or losing by less than the Bulldogs did.

Yes, Colorado State finished with a worse record, barely avoiding going winless with an embarrassing win against Texas State in their final game, but CSU was expected to be among the conference’s cellar. Fresno State largely was not. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, Fresno State looks like a genuinely bad team right now, which is a fate that this program had, up until this decade, avoided throughout its entire history.