CORVALLIS, Ore. – Holding off a late-rally in the seventh, No. 25 BYU softball defeated Oregon State 4-2 on Friday afternoon.

“Today's win was a complete team effort," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "Arissa Paulson threw great. She didn't start the game with her best stuff, but it was a gusty effort. The team played great defense, got key hits and made adjustments. It was a nice team win."

BYU (22-10, 0-0 West Coast Conference) was out-hit 6-5 by Oregon State (16-14, 1-5 Pac-12) in the win. Both teams had no errors.

Arissa Paulson pitched 6.2 innings for the Cougars, throwing six strikeouts in the victory. Senior Lauren Bell led the offense, going 2 for 4.

BYU at Oregon State Box Score

The Beavers struck first in the bottom of the first. A single with the bases loaded brought in a run. However, with the bases still loaded, Paulson struck out two straight to stop more from reaching home. The Cougars trailed 1-0 after the first inning.

In the top of the second, BYU answered back with two runs. The first was scored after Brooke Vander Heide was walked with the bases loaded to send Alexa Strid home. In the next at bat, Rylee Jensen hit a hard single to the short stop, bringing in Caitlyn Larsen Alldredge. The Cougars led 2-1 at the end of the first two innings.

Following a scoreless third, the top of the fourth saw another run come in for BYU. Alldredge hit a solo homer over right field to extend the Cougars’ lead to 3-1. That was her fourth home run of the season.

The top of the sixth saw Alldredge reach home a second time. A double to left center from Briielle Breland gave Alldredge a chance to run all the way to home plate, extending BYU’s advantage to 4-1.

The Beavers fought to stay in it in the bottom of the seventh, leading off with a solo home run to left field. With two outs and a runner on first, McKenna Bull came in to relieve Paulson. She got the final batter swinging to complete the 4-2 win.

The second and final game of the series between these two teams will be on Saturday at noon PDT. Live stats will be available on the BYU softball schedule page. 

PROVO, Utah – In the final Power-5 matchups of the season, No. 25 BYU softball will travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on No. 1/3 Oregon and Oregon State, facing the Ducks on Thursday and the Beavers on Friday and Saturday.

BYU Game Notes

The Cougars (21-9, 0-0 West Coast Conference) will start the trip off with a matchup against Oregon (29-0, 5-0 Pac-12) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. PDT in Eugene. BYU will then play Oregon State (16-13, 1-5 Pac-12) at 1 p.m. PDT on Friday and at 12 p.m. PDT on Saturday.

The game against the Ducks will be streamed live on the Pac-12 Network. All three games will have live stats available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU Storylines

• In 2017, BYU is 2-3 against the Pac-12. The two wins were against Washington and Utah, while the losses came against Arizona and in a doubleheader at UCLA.
• After defeating No. 11/13 Utah last week, BYU now has three wins over ranked opponents in 2017. The Cougars also picked up victories over then-No. 13 Washington and then-No. 11 Georgia.
• The Cougars are ranked for the fifth week of the season, the most a BYU softball team has been ranked in a single season. They checked into the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll at No. 25. The highest BYU has been ranked in 2017 is No. 23.
• For the sixth time this season, BYU softball won WCC Pitcher of the Week, this time with senior McKenna Bull earning her fourth nod. She picked up two wins last week with a 1.40 ERA while totaling 22 strikeouts and just four walks. Her win against No. 11/13 Utah was her third of the year against a top-25 opponent. Against Dartmouth, she threw 10 strikeouts enroute to becoming BYU’s career wins leader. As a team, the Cougars have taken at least one of the weekly awards every week so far in 2017, including sweeps of both player and pitcher of the week in weeks two and four.

Opponents Outlook

No. 1/3 Oregon (29-0, 5-0 Pac-12)

• The Ducks are the last undefeated division I team in the nation, picking up nine wins against ranked teams along the way.
• They are ranked first in the nation in batting average (0.372) and on-base percentage (0.470), along with being in the top five nationally in scoring (7.83), slugging percentage (0.557) and ERA (1.08).
• BYU trails in the series history 9-4 against Oregon. The Cougars have never won in Eugene, losing seven times, the last in the 2015 NCAA Eugene Regional. BYU last defeated Oregon in Provo, a 6-5 win in 2014.
   

Oregon State (16-13, 1-5 Pac-12)

• The Beavers are 15-13 so far in 2017, winless at home in four tries. They picked up a win at No. 21/24 Arizona State on Monday for their first ranked win of the year.
• Oregon State will play at Portland State on Wednesday before the matchup with BYU during the weekend.
• In the series history with the Cougars, the Beavers hold the 10-3 advantage, including a perfect 3-0 in Corvallis. BYU last played Oregon State in 2015, picking up a dominant 14-5 win.