OREM, Utah – Timely hitting and a solid overall team effort propelled BYU softball to an 11-0 victory Tuesday afternoon at Wolverine Field in the UCCU Crosstown Clash.

“It was a good team win. We had production from everybody in the lineup offensively, timely hits, we executed well and our pitching kept Utah Valley from squaring the ball up,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We played good defense in the limited times we needed to and got almost the whole roster in for some work. It was a really good team effort.”

The Cougars (22-18, 3-0 West Coast Conference) scored in each inning on the strength of 14 total hits over five frames while holding the Wolverines (10-22,1-2 Western Athletic Conference) scoreless to earn the win by the NCAA eight-run rule.

Three BYU players had multiple hits, led by Libby Sugg’s perfect 3 for 3 from the plate and four RBI. Sugg hit her 10th home run of the season, a three-run dinger, and two doubles. Lexi Tarrow went 2 for 3 while Caitlyn Alldredge went 2 for 2, including one home run. Sugg, Tarrow and Alldredge each scored two runs while Rylee Jensen, Bridget Fleener, Briielle Breland, Morgan Bevell and Ashley Godfrey also crossed home.

Kerisa Viramontes and Arianna Paulson shared pitching duties and both recorded two strikeouts. Viramontes allowed just one walk in four innings pitched.

BYU took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning. Rylee Jensen walked before Tarrow’s single to left field moved her over to second. Sugg then doubled down the left-field line to advance runners and bring Jensen in for the first run. Madison Merrell doubled to left center, scoring Tarrow and Sugg to go up 3-0.

In the second frame, Alldredge laid down a bunt to get on base and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Godfrey. Jensen grounded out to second base to move Alldredge over to third before she crossed the plate when Breland reached on an error to give BYU a 4-0 lead. The scoring continued when Tarrow singled to third base as Breland advanced to second to set up Sugg's three-run homer to left field to make it 7-0.

With one out in the third, Alldredge sent a solo shot to left center to go up 8-0. Godfrey, who doubled to left center before advancing to third on Breland’s single, also scored in the inning on a Utah Valley throwing error for a 9-0 BYU advantage.  

In the fourth frame, Sugg hit a double to left center, just shy of a home run over the fence, before Bevell came in as a pinch runner. Marissa Chavez grounded out to second, moving Bevell to third. Sanchez beat the throw to first for a base hit to bring in Bevell and increase the lead to 10-0.

Fleener led off in the fifth with a double to left center. Erin Miklus singled to left field to move Fleener over before Allie Hancock hit a single to left field as Fleener scored the final run.

BYU at Utah Valley Box Score

The Cougars travel to Stockton, California, to take on Pacific this weekend in a three-game series. The teams will face off in a doubleheader on Friday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. PDT and then again Saturday at 1 p.m. PDT. A link to live stats will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.

PROVO, Utah – After a sweep of Santa Clara last week to open conference play, BYU softball will face Utah Valley in the UCCU Crosstown Clash Tuesday before heading to Pacific this weekend.

BYU Game Notes

The Cougars (21-18, 3-0 West Coast Conference) play Utah Valley (10-21, 2-3 Western Athletic Conference) at Wolverine Field on Tuesday, Apr. 10 at 3 p.m. MDT. BYU then travels to Stockton, Calif., to take on Pacific (11-23, 1-2 WCC) in a three-game series. The Cougars and Tigers face off in a doubleheader on Friday, Apr. 13 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. PDT and then again Saturday, Apr. 14 at 1 p.m. PDT.

The UCCU Crosstown Clash can be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network. Links to the stream and live stats for all games will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU STORYLINES

• BYU plays its second WCC series this weekend against Pacific. The Cougars swept Santa Clara at home last week and sit at the top of the WCC leaderboard. In 2017, They swept the Tigers at home. Since joining the WCC in 2014, BYU has not lost to Pacific.
• Junior catcher Libby Sugg and freshman pitcher Autumn Moffat earned West Coast Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week to give the Cougars their first weekly award sweep of the season. Sugg batted .600 in four games on the week with five runs on six hits and 11 RBI. She recorded two doubles and two home runs, including a two-run dinger against Santa Clara in the second game on Friday and a three-run homer against the Broncos Saturday. On the week, the junior slugged 1.300 and had an on-base percentage of .638. Moffat becomes the sixth freshman to earn Pitcher of the Week in nine weeks of the WCC season after pitching just over 11 innings in three games this week. Moffat recorded 11 strikeouts and posted an ERA of 0.62 in the series sweep against Santa Clara as well as a non-conference game against Utah State.
• BYU ranks No. 17 nationally and No. 1 in the WCC in home runs per game with 1.10. Twelve Cougars have hit 43 homers in 39 games so far this season, led by Libby Sugg’s nine. Rylee Jensen and Briielle Breland follow with six while Caitlyn Alldredge has five. Lexi Tarrow, Alexa Strid, Madison Merrell and Bridget Fleener have all hit three apiece. Allie Hancock and Madison Merrell both have two. Ashley Godfrey, Emilee Erickson and Olivia Sanchez have also hit dingers.

OPPONENTS OUTLOOK
Utah Valley (10-21, 2-3 WAC)

• The Wolverines are 10-21 this season and 2-3 in conference play. Last week, they dropped two games to Boise State and went 1-1 against WAC foe Grand Canyon.
• BYU leads the overall series 37-4 and went 3-0 against UVU in 2017.
• TJ Hubbard is in his second season at the helm of the Utah Valley program after going 16-24 in 2017.

Pacific (11-23, 1-2 WCC)

• The Tigers have an overall record of 11-23 in 2018 and opened WCC play going 1-2 at LMU last week.  
• The Cougars lead 15-1 in the overall series and swept the three-game series last season.
• Brian Kolze is in his 26th season as head coach at Pacific and is the winningest coach in in program history, having entered the 2018 season with an overall record of 732-653-1.