PHOENIX - The Broncos (2-5) split two games on the first day of the Grand Canyon University Purple Classic on Friday, falling 8-2 in the early morning game to Long Island before bouncing back with an 8-1 victory in the nightcap against host, GCU. 

GAME 1: Long Island 8 - Santa Clara 2
Long Island collected 10 hits and scored eight runs while starting pitcher Elena Valenzuela kept the Santa Clara softball offense in check in the Sharks' 8-2 win in the first game of the GCU Purple Classic.

Valenzuela (1-2) allowed four hits and two runs, one earned, over seven innings.  She struck out five and walked four.  Offensively, the Sharks (1-6) did most of their damage in the fourth and seventh innings.

It was a scoreless game through the first three inning before Camryn Lyman led off the fourth with a double off Broncos (1-5) starter Hannah Edwards.  With one out, Ciara Granado singled home Lyman to put LIU up 1-0.

Ryleigh Bermea followed with a double to put runners at scoring position before both came home on a two-RBI single by Katie Hinkle.  The three runs in the inning were the first earned runs given up by Edwards in 17 1/3 innings this season.

LIU added a run in the sixth and four more in the seventh against Bronco reliever Zoe Straughn to open up an 8-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Valenzuela held the Broncos to just two hits in the first six innings before the Santa Clara lineup got back-to-back RBI singles by Allyson Ferreira and Emma Bickford in the bottom of the seventh to make it 8-2.

Hinkle went 2-for-3 with three RBIs as Lyman also had a two-hit game.

Edwards (1-2) was the losing pitcher giving up five hits, three runs and two walks over five innings.

GAME 2: Santa Clara 8 - Grand Canyon 1
Santa Clara softball freshman pitcher Sage Hager held down a potent Grand Canyon offense to throw a complete game and the Bronco bats came alive in the 8-1 win in Friday's nightcap.

Hager (1-0), making her Bronco debut, allowed just four hits and a run over seven innings against the Lopes (6-2) lineup that entered the game averaging over seven runs a game with a team slash line of .374/.423/.616 to go along with 12 home runs.  She walked one batter and struck out three.  

The freshman hurler got help from the Broncos lineup who had been struggling, with nine hits and a season-high eight runs.

Ashley Trierweiler reached base in her first four plate appearances, going 3-for-4 with a walk and scored three times from atop the lineup.  Emma Bickford also went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs.

Santa Clara (2-5) put up three runs in the top half of the second, all coming after two outs.  The ninth batter in the lineup Bailey McLaughlin was hit by a Kaila Eastburn pitch to get the offense started. After McLaughlin stole second, she came home on an RBI hit by Trierweiler.  Following another hit batsman, this time to Allyson Ferreira, Bickford followed with an RBI double to score Trierweiler.  Ferreira plated the third run on a wild pitch.

The Broncos pushed the lead to 5-0 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly RBI by Bickford and an RBI single by Sammy Needham.

In the sixth, Santa Clara tacked on three more runs with Bickford once again singling home a run followed by Needham's RBI bunt and Morgan Salmon's sacrifice fly.

With an eight-run cushion, Hager looked to end the game in the sixth but Katelyn Dunckel spoiled the shutout bid with an RBI hit.  Hager came back with a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh to pick up the win.

Easterburn (0-1), who came in relief of starter Ryan Denhart gave up five runs on five hits over three innings to take the loss.   

NEXT UP

The Broncos play two games on Saturday, against Long Island at 8 a.m. and Idaho State at 11 a.m. PT.   

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