BATON ROUGE, La. — BYU softball came out victorious in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel against NC State in the Purple & Gold Challenge at Tiger Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Cougars (17-9, 0-0 WCC) closed out their trip to the Bayou with a combined shutout as starting pitcher Alyssa Aguilar earned the win and shortstop Ailana Agbayani pitched the final three innings, fanning four in 11 batters faced.
BYU registered five hits on the day to NC State’s three, with Martha Epenesa’s fifth inning RBI double in the gap the difference in the game.
Player Highlights
- Alyssa Aguilar: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 K
- Maddie Bejarano: 1-3, R
- Martha Epenesa: 1-2, RBI
Scoreless through the first four innings, each team had managed just two hits apiece until the top of the fifth inning, when the Cougars strung together back-to-back hits. Maddie Bejarano hit a two-out single to center field and then Martha Epenesa doubled to right center. The gap shot brought Bejarano around to score and give BYU a 1-0 lead.
After a four-inning start, Agbayani came on in relief for Aguilar in the bottom of the fifth. The Wolfpack got a runner on in both the fifth and sixth innings, but the Cougar defense held them from capitalizing.
Agbayani struck out the first two batters in the seventh and got a groundout to finish off the 1-0 BYU win.
Slated to play Idaho State in Pocatello on Tuesday afternoon, the Cougars return to the Mountain time zone next week with the game set for a 4 p.m. MDT first pitch. BYU will then open up West Coast Conference play at Santa Clara April 6-8.