PROVO, Utah - The BYU softball team plays five games this week at Gail Miller Field, starting off with a doubleheader on Tuesday, Apr. 3, against Southern Utah before playing three games over the weekend against No. 15 Hawai'i, the current Western Athletic Conference standings leader.
BYU is currently 21-10 and 3-2 in the WAC after winning two against UMKC and losing two at Fresno State last week. The Cougars are currently 1.5 games behind the league leader Hawai'i, which is 5-1 after sweeping its series against New Mexico State over the weekend.
BYUtv will nationally televise the second Southern Utah game along with both games against Hawai'i on Saturday.
Southern Utah
Tues., Apr. 3
3:30 p.m., 6 p.m. MT
No. 15 Hawai'i
Fri., Apr. 6
6 p.m. MT
Sat., Apr. 7
1:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. MT
COUGAR QUICK FACTS
— BYU is 118-23 (.837) all-time against in-state opponents, including a 37-3 record vs. SUU.
— BYU hosts Hawai’i for the first time in series history this weekend. The Rainbow Wahine are the first ranked team to play at Miller Field since Apr. 24, 2008, when No. 19 San Diego State played a doubleheader against the Cougars and the highest ranked team since No. 9 Arizona State played BYU in an NCAA Regional on May 19, 2007. Hawai'i is the highest ranked team to ever play a regular season game in Provo.
— Picking up her second WAC Hitter of the Week award a week ago, senior Delaney Willard has emerged as an All-America candidate. The right fielder is ranked in the NCAA top-15 in six different categories, including batting average (4th, .483), slugging percentage (4th, 1.000), RBI per game (3rd, 1.45), on base percentage (5th, .578), home runs per game (12th, 0.39) and home runs (14th, 12).
— BYU is currently on a 27-game home win streak, good for second longest in the country. Last season, the Cougars went 14-0 and they are 6-0 at home this year. BYU also has a 37-game, regular season, non-conference win streak, having not lost since Southern Utah earned a 10-5 victory on Apr. 11, 2006.
OPPONENT NOTES
SOUTHERN UTAH
• BYU has a 23-game win streak against the T-Birds, having not lost since 2006. In the last six games since 2010, BYU has outscored SUU 62-6.
• Mikkel Griffin and Terysa Dyer both bat above .400 for SUU, with Griffin leading the team at .427 with 44 hits, eight doubles and eight home runs.
• In the circle, Heather Black has a 2.57 ERA and 13-9 record with 92 strikeouts and 132 hits allowed.
• Southern Utah is currently tied for No. 3 in the Summit League standings at 8-4 behind only North Dakota State (8-1) and Western Illinois (10-2).
• Among common opponents, BYU went 2-0 against UMKC while SUU went 2-1 against the Kangaroos last weekend.
HAWAI'I
• Hawai’i is making its first-ever trip to Gail Miller Field, having never played in Provo.
• The Rainbow Wahine are atop the WAC standings with a 5-1 record, 1.5 games ahead of the Cougars.
• Hawai’i leads the conference in pitching with a 0.83 ERA - Fresno State is second all the way down with an ERA of 2.55. Stephanie Ricketts has an ERA of 0.90 in 21 appearances with an 18-2 record and 154 strikeouts. Kaia Parnaby has a 0.71 ERA in 12 apperances, currently with an 11-1 record.
• The Rainbow Wahine can also hit, leading the WAC in slugging percentage, on base percentage, runs scored and home runs.
• Hawai’i won its first 21 games of the season before losing to Texas on Mar. 13.
• Among common opponents, BYU and Hawai’i have both defeated UMKC, Memphis, Portland State, Cal State Northridge, Idaho State, UC Santa Barbara and New Mexico State. Hawai’i also beat DePaul, a team to which the Cougars lost while Hawai’i was defeated by Texas A&M, a team BYU has both beat and lost to this season.
UNBEATABLE AT HOME
The Cougars have the second-longest home win streak in the nation, having currently won 27 in a row, including a 14-0 season last year. BYU is 6-0 this season at Miller Field. Louisiana-Lafayette has a 31-game home win streak, currently the longest in the nation.
GRAND OLE TIME
BYU players have hit four grand slams this season, including two by senior Delaney Willard (Cal State Northridge, Purdue) and one each by senior Stacie Toney (No. 14 Texas A&M) and freshman Megan Arnold (UMKC). The four grand slams is tied for third-most by a BYU team in a season behind five from the 2010 squad and six by the 2003 team.