OREM, Utah – Timely hitting and a solid overall team effort propelled BYU softball to an 11-0 victory Tuesday afternoon at Wolverine Field in the UCCU Crosstown Clash.
“It was a good team win. We had production from everybody in the lineup offensively, timely hits, we executed well and our pitching kept Utah Valley from squaring the ball up,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We played good defense in the limited times we needed to and got almost the whole roster in for some work. It was a really good team effort.”
The Cougars (22-18, 3-0 West Coast Conference) scored in each inning on the strength of 14 total hits over five frames while holding the Wolverines (10-22,1-2 Western Athletic Conference) scoreless to earn the win by the NCAA eight-run rule.
Three BYU players had multiple hits, led by Libby Sugg’s perfect 3 for 3 from the plate and four RBI. Sugg hit her 10th home run of the season, a three-run dinger, and two doubles. Lexi Tarrow went 2 for 3 while Caitlyn Alldredge went 2 for 2, including one home run. Sugg, Tarrow and Alldredge each scored two runs while Rylee Jensen, Bridget Fleener, Briielle Breland, Morgan Bevell and Ashley Godfrey also crossed home.
Kerisa Viramontes and Arianna Paulson shared pitching duties and both recorded two strikeouts. Viramontes allowed just one walk in four innings pitched.
BYU took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Rylee Jensen walked before Tarrow’s single to left field moved her over to second. Sugg then doubled down the left-field line to advance runners and bring Jensen in for the first run. Madison Merrell doubled to left center, scoring Tarrow and Sugg to go up 3-0.
In the second frame, Alldredge laid down a bunt to get on base and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Godfrey. Jensen grounded out to second base to move Alldredge over to third before she crossed the plate when Breland reached on an error to give BYU a 4-0 lead. The scoring continued when Tarrow singled to third base as Breland advanced to second to set up Sugg's three-run homer to left field to make it 7-0.
With one out in the third, Alldredge sent a solo shot to left center to go up 8-0. Godfrey, who doubled to left center before advancing to third on Breland’s single, also scored in the inning on a Utah Valley throwing error for a 9-0 BYU advantage.
In the fourth frame, Sugg hit a double to left center, just shy of a home run over the fence, before Bevell came in as a pinch runner. Marissa Chavez grounded out to second, moving Bevell to third. Sanchez beat the throw to first for a base hit to bring in Bevell and increase the lead to 10-0.
Fleener led off in the fifth with a double to left center. Erin Miklus singled to left field to move Fleener over before Allie Hancock hit a single to left field as Fleener scored the final run.
The Cougars travel to Stockton, California, to take on Pacific this weekend in a three-game series. The teams will face off in a doubleheader on Friday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. PDT and then again Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT. A link to live stats will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.