MĀNOA, Hawai’i — BYU softball scored five runs in the first inning as it knocked off SEC foe Ole Miss, 7-4 in game two of the Paradise Classic at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Thursday.
"Our team showed great resilience today," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "We overcame two slow starts and came away with two nice team victories."
The Cougars trailed by a run heading into the bottom of the first inning, but scored five runs on three hits and two errors in the home half of the first to take a 5-1 lead, one that would hold up the entirety of the game.
Player Highlights
- Huntyr Ava: 3-4, R, 2 RBI
- Aleia Agbayani: 2-3, 2 RBI
- Chloe Temples: 3.2 IP, 5 H 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
- Kaysen Korth: 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 K
After Ole Miss plated one in the top of the first, BYU batted through the order en route to a five-run frame. Ailana Agbayani, Maddie Bejarano, Huntyr Ava, Keila Kamoku and Aleia Agbayani all reached base safely as the Cougars took a four-run lead through one.
Starting pitcher Chloe Temples got out of a bases-loaded jam to hold Holding the Rebels scoreless in the second inning before an Ava single, Hailey Morrow walk and Lily Owens single added an insurance run in the bottom of the third, pushing the BYU advantage to 6-1.
The Cougars tacked on one more run in the fourth on a Bejarano walk and back-to-back singles from Violet Zavodnik and Ava, scoring Bejarano to give BYU a commanding 7-1 lead.
With a scoreless fifth inning, each team left a runner on base in the sixth. Ole Miss got a leadoff double in the seventh, following it up with a single and two-run homer to left, cutting the lead to 7-4, BYU, but that would be as close as the Rebels would get as a pop out the next batter closed out the game.
Continuing Paradise Classic play on Friday, Feb. 9, the Cougars will play Nevada, with first pitch slated for 10:30 a.m. HST.