PUERTO VALLARTA, Mex. — Chloe Temples dealt five scoreless innings as a six-run third inning fueled BYU softball to a 10-1 win over North Dakota State at Nancy Almaraz Field on Saturday afternoon.

BOX SCORE

Temples went the distance in the Cougars' (2-2, 0-0 WCC) run-rule victory over the Bison. The senior gave up one run on four hits while retiring the side in order in three of the five innings.

Both Temples and left fielder Maddie Bejarano were named to the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge all-tournament team for their performances this week. Temples recorded a 1.65 ERA in 12 innings pitched with nine strikeouts. Bejarano hit .500 for the tournament with six hits, one run scored and an RBI, also flashing the leather with a foul ball snag in BYU's win against Wisconsin. 

Player Highlights

• Chloe Temples: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K
• Maddie Udall: 3-3, 3 RBI, 2 R
• Huntyr Ava: 2-3, 3 RBI
• Alyssa Podhurcak-Foss: 1-1, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB

Temples blanked the Bison in the top of the first, sitting them down in order. With two outs in the Cougars' half of the inning, Violet Zavodnik reached on a walk and stole second to move into scoring position. Maddie Udall singled to center, scoring Zavodnik from second to give BYU a 1-0 lead through the first inning.

North Dakota State scored in the top of the second before the Cougars rattled off six runs to take a 7-1 lead into the third inning. Mallory Barber singled up the middle, Lauren Flanders walked and Alexis Gilio singled to load the bases with nobody out.

After NDSU recorded the first out on a fielder’s choice, Maddie Bejarano drew a walk to score Flanders. Zavodnik then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gilio and take a 3-1 lead.

After Bejarano stole second, Udall recorded her second hit of the afternoon, scoring Ailana Agbayani, who reached on the fielder's choice. Alyssa Podhurcak-Foss notched her first hit of the ballgame to score Bejarano before Huntyr Ava singled, scoring Udall and Podhurcak-Foss to go into the third up 7-1.

Temples again retired the side in the top of the third to bring up the heart of the BYU order. With Zavodnik on second, Udall brought her around to score on a single before advancing to second. After Podhurcak-Foss drew a four-pitch walk, Ava singled up the middle to score Udall and give BYU a 9-1 lead through three innings.

In the top of the fourth, Temples forced two groundouts and a strikeout to retire the side. In the Cougars' half of the inning, Emma Andrewjeski beat the throw at first to score Hailey Morrow and put BYU ahead 10-1. The nine-run Cougar lead held up in the top of the fifth as Temples worked around two Bison baserunners to end the game via the run-rule, 10-1.

BYU will be back in action at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Arizona as it takes on Arizona State on Thursday, Feb. 16. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.

PROVO, Utah — BYU softball travels to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to begin its 2023 campaign at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge this week. The Cougars will kick off the year with a doubleheader on Thursday and a game each on Friday and Saturday. 

All games will be played at Nancy Almaraz Stadium in Puerto Vallarta. Online tournament pass sales are now closed but passes and single day tickets can still be purchased on site. More ticket information can be found on the College Challenge website. 

BYU participated in the inaugural College Challenge in 2015 and in four of the six years it has run since. This will be the fifth time that the Cougars travel to Puerto Vallarta for the PVCC, and the fourth time that they begin their season in Mexico since 2017, also opening at the PVCC in 2019 and 2020. 

Overall, BYU is 9-7 in its previous four trips to the College Challenge, going 4-0 in the inaugural year, 2-2 in 2017, 1-3 in 2019 and 2-2 again in 2020. The Cougars faced their day one opponent, North Carolina, in the 2019 PVCC, falling 5-4.

Other Puerto Vallarta opponents include Nevada, Northern Colorado, Southern Illinois-Carbondale, Auburn, Washington, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Carolina, Baylor, Liberty, North Carolina, George Washington and Oregon. Six of BYU's previous 16 PVCC foes have been ranked in Top 25 polls. 

• North Carolina
  • The Tar Heels went 23-28 (6-18 ACC) in 2022
  • Head coach Donna Papa is in her 37th year at UNC, going 1313-777-5 (.628) in that time
  • Carolina returns 18 players from last season, including outfielder Bri Stubbs, pitcher/utility player Kianna Jones and pitcher/utility player Carlie Myrtle
  • Stubbs led the returnees in batting average (.355), runs scored (38) and hits (50) last season, with Jones pacing the Tar Heels in slugging percentage (.478) and home runs (8)
  • Myrtle highlights the UNC returnees in the circle, posting a 4.03 ERA in 59 innings pitched
• Wisconsin
  • The Badgers went 30-21 (12-11 Big Ten) in 2022
  • In 12 seasons as head coach at Wisconsin, Yvette Healy has posted a 362-237-1 (.604) record
  • Returning infielder Kayla Konwent was ranked No. 92 in D1Softball.com's Preseason Top 100 players list
  • The Badger's all-time career home run leader, Konwent led the team in batting average (.351), hits (50), doubles (10), home runs (10) and RBI (32) last season
  • Right-handed pitcher Maddie Schwartz returns for Wisconsin with 30 starts, 213 innings pitched and a 2.30 ERA a season ago
• Maryland
  • The Terrapins went 29-23 (14-7 Big Ten) in 2022
  • Head coach Mark Montgomery has been at Maryland for three seasons and has a 60-59 record (.504)
  • Junior outfielder Jaeda McFarland was named to the Extra Innings Elite 100 College Players list, ranked No. 85
  • McFarland was named to the All-Big Ten First Team for the second time last year after finishing top-five on the team in a number of statistical categories
  • Senior right-handed pitcher Courtney Wyche returns for the Terps, striking out a career-high 139 batters and recording a team and career-low 1.95 ERA last season
• North Dakota State
  • The Bison went 30-33 (10-18 Summit) in 2022
  • 21 seasons in as NDSU's head coach, Darren Mueller is 700-418 (.626)
  • Returning six starters, the Bison are led by outfielder Emilee Buringa, who had the fourth-best batting average last season, at .296
  • Buringa drew the most walks (27) and also recorded the second-most RBI (37)
  • Paige Vargas, a senior right-handed pitcher returns for NDSU after posting a 2.21 ERA in 171.1 innings pitched last season

Led by outfielder Violet Zavodnik and left-handed ace Chloe Temples, BYU also returns power hitters at the corners, first baseman Huntyr Ava and third baseman Martha Epenesa. All four returnees were named to All-WCC teams last season, as well as second baseman Alyssa Podhurcak and utility player Mallory Barber, who return this season as well. 

Zavodnik and Ava also earned NFCA All-Pacific Region honors in 2022, with Zavodnik named to the First Team and Ava to the Second. The duo has gained preseason recognition from a couple of media outlets heading into 2023. Zavodnik was ranked No. 28 in the D1Softball.com Preseason Top 100 Player Rankings and also the fifth-best outfielder. Extra Innings has rated the junior outfielder at No. 25 on its Elite Top 100 list, while Ava was ranked No. 12 on the Stars at the Corners list. 

After making the NCAA Tournament each season dating back to 2004, the Cougars missed the tourney last year after finishing 42-10 (13-2 WCC) and closing out the year on a 17-game win streak. Despite clinching a share of the West Coast Conference title, BYU lost the auto bid to the NCAA Tournament to Loyola Marymount off a tiebreaker.

Beginning with their first four games of the 2023 slate in Mexico, the Cougars look to make their way back to the tourney this season and win the WCC crown for a ninth-straight year in their final season as members of the conference.