PROVO, Utah — BYU softball gets set to welcome cross-town foe Utah Valley to Gail Miller Field on Monday, Mar. 11 at 4 p.m. MT.
The Cougars began Big 12 play last week, picking up the program’s first ever league win on Saturday with Maddie Udall’s go-ahead grand slam in the sixth inning to beat Texas Tech, 10-8.
BYU will now turn its attention to a mid-week game with the Wolverines before resuming conference play in the latter half of the week.
Udall led the Cougars with a .500 batting average, five hits, five RBI and nine total bases. She was joined by five other BYU batters who finished the series hitting .300 or better: Huntyr Ava (.444), Hailey Morrow (.429), Violet Zavodnik (.375), Ailana Agbayani (.364) and Taryn Lennon (.333).
Hitting .342 as a team on the weekend, BYU tallied 26 hits and scored 15 runs across its three games with Texas Tech, but gave up 40 hits and 33 runs on a .426 average to the Red Raiders, the difference in the series loss.
The Cougars continue to hit above .300 as a team in 2024 with a .353 average through 21 games. BYU was unable to break into the .300s in 52 games last season.
Maddie Bejarano paced the Cougars offensively with a .479 batting average for the season. She and three others are batting .400-plus: Zavodnik: (.448), Lily Owens (.439) and Agbayani (.420), with Ava (.364) and Udall (.347) I the .300s.
Kate Dahle and Chloe Temples have done majority of the lifting for BYU in the circle, combining for nine of the Cougars 15 wins. Gianna Mares is just behind, with a 4-2 record on nine appearances. Dahle (3.61 ERA) and Temples (3.75 ERA) have 32 and 59 strikeouts, respectively.
BYU and Utah Valley will face off for the 53rd time in series history on Monday, with the last six matchups alternating between Provo and Orem.
Utah Valley (6-11, 0-0 WAC)
- The Wolverines have faced two Big 12 opponent this season in Oklahoma and Iowa State. UVU has also played common opponent Arizona State, and future opponent Idaho State.
- Two of Utah Valley’s wins have come against former WCC foe, Saint Mary’s.
- BYU leads the all-time series between the two teams, 47-5, and has won the last four matchups. The Cougars are 24-1 against the Wolverines in Provo.
Following BYU’s in-state game with UVU, the Cougars will jump back into Big 12 play with a three-game series at No. 2 Texas, Mar. 14-16.