SALT LAKE CITY – Solid hitting and pitching gave BYU softball a 5-2 win over in-state rival Utah in the Deseret First Duel Wednesday night at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.

“We played a solid game,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We got some key hits early. We left a lot of runners on base but were squaring balls up and they went right to the other team. If one or two of our balls weren’t right to them, we would’ve opened up this game early on.”

The Cougars (25-19, 5-1 West Coast Conference) outhit the Utes (20-19, 2-10 Pac-12) 10 hits to six and capitalized on two Ute errors.  

Rylee Jensen and Bridget Fleener both went 3 for 4, each with a double and two singles. Fleener contributed three RBI as well. Alexa Strid went 2 for 4 while Libby Sugg and Olivia Sanchez added one hit apiece.

Kerisa Viramontes and Autumn Moffat shared pitching duties and recorded four strikeouts each from the circle.

“We had a freshman and a sophomore on the mound and they definitely came through,” Eakin said. “Kerisa did a nice job starting the game for us. Autumn did a great job coming in and shutting them down. I’m very proud of our pitching.”

The Cougar bats came alive early in the first with three hits as they took an early 2-0 lead. Jensen led off to open the game with a double to center field before Briielle Breland walked. Lexi Tarrow then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move runners up and Sugg walked. Jensen came home from third on a wild pitch to begin the scoring as Breland and Sugg also advanced. Fleener singled up the middle to bring Breland across to make it 2-0.

In the fourth frame, Jensen had a bunt single before Breland reached on a fielder’s choice as Jensen got out at second. A Utah fielding error then allowed Tarrow to get on base and moved Breland to second. Breland would advance to third on a wild pitch before Sugg singled to left field to move Tarrow to second and bring Breland home for a 3-0 advantage.  

The scoring in the fourth continued for the Cougars when Fleener sent a two-run double to right field to bring Sugg and Tarrow home to go up 5-0.

Utah responded in the bottom of the fourth as BreOnna Castaneda doubled to center field to score Kelly Martinez from second and reduce the deficit to 5-1. Ute Rylely Ball later sent a solo shot over the left-field fence in the fifth to close the gap 5-2.

After allowing two singles to start the bottom of the sixth, Moffat shut down the threat on her own by striking out the side with three-consecutive strikeouts to close the inning. 

Utah went three up, three down in the seventh to end the game.

BYU at Utah Box Score

The Cougars will next host Utah State Wednesday, Apr. 25 at 6 p.m. MDT at Gail Miller Field.

PROVO, Utah – After going 2-1 at Pacific over the weekend, BYU softball will face in-state rival Utah in the Deseret First Duel on Wednesday.

The Cougars (24-19, 5-1 West Coast Conference) play the Utes (18-18, 2-10 Pac-12) at the Dumke Family Softball Stadium on Wednesday, Apr. 18, at 6 p.m. MDT. Before the matchup, Utah hosts a doubleheader against Weber State on Monday.

The Deseret First Duel will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks and can be streamed live as well. Links to the stream and live stats will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU STORYLINES

• The Cougars won the last two Deseret First Duel matchups in 2016 and 2017 and have gone 12-5 since the inaugural Deseret First Duel in 2008.
• Kerisa Viramontes earned her second WCC Pitcher of the Week honor of the season after pitching 16 innings in three games without giving up a single run, including 12 innings against WCC opponent Pacific. She allowed seven hits on the week and recorded 13 strikeouts en route to three wins. It is the Cougars’ fourth Pitcher of the Week award in 2018 and Viramontes is the first BYU student-athlete to repeat a weekly honor this season.
• BYU ranks No. 21 nationally and No. 1 in the WCC in home runs per game with 1.07. Twelve Cougars have hit 46 homers in 43 games so far this season, led by Libby Sugg’s 10. Rylee Jensen, Briielle Breland and Caitlyn Alldredge follow with six while Lexi Tarrow has hit four. Alexa Strid, Madison Merrell and Bridget Fleener have all hit three apiece. Allie Hancock has hit two and Ashley Godfrey, Emilee Erickson and Olivia Sanchez have also hit dingers.

OPPONENT OUTLOOK
Utah (18-18, 2-10 Pac-12)

• Then-ranked No. 16/17 Utah beat the Cougars twice in 2017 in the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional after BYU took a 4-3 win in the Deseret First Duel in Provo earlier that season. The Utes advanced to the Super Regional in Seattle and went 1-2 against conference foe Washington.
• The Cougars hold a 33-19 advantage in the overall series, including a 17-5 edge at home. BYU last won in Salt Lake City 5-4 in 2016.
• Utah most recently beat Southern Utah 9-0 last week.
• Head coach Amy Hogue is in her 10th year at the helm of the Ute program. She has compiled a record of 315-263-1 while there.