CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — BYU softball saw its six-game win streak snapped on Thursday, dropping its first two games of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic at the Big League Dreams Complex.

The Cougars fell to No. 21/24 Missouri, 11-3 in five innings before losing the second game of their doubleheader to Texas A&M, 8-6. 

Game 1 vs. Missouri

BOX SCORE

Mizzou opened the scoring, hitting back-to-back solo home runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.

BYU got one back in the top of the second, with Hunter Ava leading off with a single through the left side and Mallory Barber singling up the middle to move Ava to second.

Then pinch running for Ava, Taryn Lennon advanced to third off an Alyssa Podhurcak-Foss sacrifice bunt,  and scored thanks to a Hailey Morrow sacrifice fly.

In the third inning, Maddie Bejarano earned a leadoff walk, bringing up Ailana Agbayani. The freshman shortstop squared up to bunt and reached on a Tiger throwing error, with the ball ending up in the outfield. A bobble by Missouri’s right fielder allowed both Bejarano and Agbayani to come around and score, making it 3-2, Cougars.

Getting two-consecutive singles to center and stealing second once, The Tigers plated one in their half of the third to tie the game at 3-3, through three. 

Mizzou plated eight runs in the bottom of the fourth, homering twice in the frame to go ahead 11-3. BYU got a runner on in the fifth, but three groundouts would end the inning and close out the run-rule victory for the Tigers. 

Game 2 vs. Texas A&M

BOX SCORE

Texas A&M came running out of the gates, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning on four hits, including three doubles. 

BYU answered in the top of the second inning, loading the bases after both Ava and Martha Epenesa were by pitches and Morrow walked. Agbayani reached on a fielder's choice, but Lexie Bennett, pinch running for Ava, was thrown out at home.

Alexis Gilio singled, scoring Epenesa and Morrow scored on a Taryn Lennon groundout. Bejarano doubled to left field, scoring both Gilio and Agbayani to make it 5-4, Aggies. 

A&M would add back to its lead, however, with a single, double and two-run home run in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs to go ahead 8-4. 

The Cougars added a run in third as Jolee Benson singled through the right side, moving around to third on an Epenesa groundout and wild pitch, and scoring on an error by the Texas A&M catcher. 

In similar fashion, BYU scored another run in the sixth inning, with Bejarano walking and moving to second on a wild pitch. She advanced to third on a Tristen Turlington groundout and then scored as Violet Zavodnik reached on an error, to bring the Cougars within two runs, at 8-6, A&M. 

BYU got two runners on with one out in the seventh inning, but the Aggies got back-to-back swinging strikeouts from the Cougars to seal the 8-6 win. 

Back in action tomorrow night, BYU will play the late game on Friday, Feb. 24. against San Diego State. First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. PST and the game will be streamed on FloSoftball. 

PROVO, Utah — On a six-game win streak, BYU softball heads to Palm Springs to participate in the Mary Nutter Cathedral City Collegiate Classic this week. The Cougars are scheduled to face No. 21/24 Missouri, Texas A&M, San Diego State and Long Beach State in California.

All four games will be played at the Big League Dreams Park, with BYU’s Thursday and Friday games slated to be at Yankee Stadium and the Cougars’ Saturday matchup with Long Beach State at Pawtucket Field.

More information about the tournament, including ticket and parking information, can be found at the Mary Nutter Classic website.

Going 5-0 at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Arizona last week, including a 10-5 win over host and then No. 22 Arizona State, BYU swept the West Coast Conference’s weekly awards, with freshman Kaysen Korth earning Pitcher of the Week honors and senior third baseman Martha Epenesa being named Player of the Week.

The Cougars received one vote in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches Poll and 17 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 Poll this week and will face one ranked team at Mary Nutter in Mizzou. Both Texas A&M (7/54) and San Diego State (10/7) also received votes in the two polls.

As a team, BYU ranks in the top-100 of a number of statistical categories, including No. 39 in home runs per game (1.00), No. 49 in hit batters (3), No. 62 in on-base percentage (.385), No. 70 in scoring (5.33), No. 72 in batting average (.294), No. 73 in slugging percentage (.434) and No. 74 in stolen bases per game (1.44).

The Cougars also rank in a handful of categories on an individual scale. Violet Zavodnik is 11th in hit by pitch average, at 0.56, and Epenesa averages a walk a game, ranking 25th. 

With 14 hits on the season, Maddie Bejarano ranks No. 34, with Huntyr Ava’s three home runs ranking No. 39. Epenesa also ranks in the top-50 in on-base percentage (.609), coming in at No. 42, while Korth’s 30 total strikeouts rank No. 49. 

• No. 24/21 Missouri
  • Missouri has started the season 9-2 and is also on a six-game win streak
  • Most notably, the Tigers have beaten No. 8 Northwestern and No. 20 UCF
  • Jenna Laird (.487), Alex Honnold (.480) and Maddie Snider (.467) lead Mizzou in batting average, all hitting above .400
  • Lauren Krings (24 innings pitched) and Cierra Harrison (17.2 innings pitched) pace the Tigers in the circle, posting 3.21 and 2.77 ERA's, respectively 
  • In five seasons as head coach at Missouri, Larissa Anderson is 143-73 (.662), with a 271-146-1 (.651) record for her career
• Texas A&M
  • Texas A&M has also began its 2023 season 9-2
  • The Aggies earned wins over No. 15 Arizona and No. 20 UCF last week
  • Amari Harper (.550) and Trinity Cannon (.519) lead Texas A&M with .500+ batting averages
  • Emiley Kennedy (0.36 ERA), Shaylee Ackerman (1.59 ERA), and Emily Leavitt (2.57 ERA) have all pitched 16 or more innings for the Aggies this season
  • Trisha Ford is in her first season as head coach at Texas A&M, going 9-2 (.818) thus far. For her coaching career, Ford is 406-228-1 (.640). 
• San Diego State
  • San Diego State is 8-2 to start the season
  • The Aztecs have wins over Notre Dame, LMU and Utah Valley, with losses to No. 22 Arizona State and No. 24 Oregon
  • Jillian Celis (.419) and Bella Espinoza (.400) are the two SDSU players batting .400 or better on the year
  • Dani Martinez (0.86 ERA), Dee Dee Hernandez (1.84 ERA), Sarah Legman (2.10 ERA) and Allie Light (2.44 ERA) have all pitched 14 or more innings for the Aztecs
  • Two seasons in as head coach at SDSU, Stacey Nuveman Deniz is 47-18 (.723)
• Long Beach State
  • Long Beach State is 4-6 to begin its 2023 campaign
  • LBSU has beaten Kansas, NC State and San Diego this season
  • Sarah Olson (.343), Carly Robbins (.333) and Cassi Camou (.308) lead the Beach with batting averages of .300 or better
  • Shannon Haddad (2.96 ERA), Eryka Gonzales (3.07 ERA) and Samantha Fowler (3.73 ERA) have each seen significant time in the circle for Long Beach this season
  • Kim Sowder has spent all 17 seasons of her coaching career at LBSU, posting a 500-336-1 (.598) record in that time

The Cougars will return to the state of Utah after the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, making the drive south to Utah Tech to play in the Trailblazer Tournament next week, beginning with a second matchup against Oregon State on Thursday, March 2.