PHOENIX – The Saint Joseph's softball team opened its final tournament weekend of the spring in Arizona, competing in the Purple Classic. SJU fell to New Mexico, 7-4 in its first game of the day before being upended 8-0 by Grand Canyon in the evening matchup.

The Hawks got on the board in the bottom of the third against the Lobos. With two outs in the frame, Sarah Cancila and Hailey Malito singled, bringing up Meghan Sinkus, who singled. That hit, along with a throwing error brought home a pair of runs, pulling SJU to within 4-2.

New Mexico scored two in the fourth and one in the sixth.

Showing their resilience in the seventh as with runners on second and third, Jayda Shehadi scored on a wild pitch while Kasi Loser moved to third. Cancila came up and bunted Loser home, climbing back to 7-4.

Marla Freiwald didn't allow an earned run and struck out three in 3.2 innings of relief.

Taking in the host Lopes in the second game of the afternoon, SJU saw GCU come up with a five-run second inning on its way to the game two victory

Offensively, Cancila had three hits combined in the two games, raising her average to .312 for the season.

St. Joe's is back in action on Friday with a doubleheader against Utah State beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET.