PROVO, Utah – BYU softball swept a doubleheader with San Diego at Gail Miller Field on Friday night, combining for 28 hits and three home runs between the two games, including a grand slam by freshman catcher Hailey Morrow.

The Cougars (27-13, 6-2 WCC) received complete game starts from both Kaysen Korth and Chloe Temples, with each starting pitcher giving up just one run. Korth struck out three batters while Temples fanned five.

Game One: BYU 8 | USD 1

BOX SCORE

Player Highlights

• Huntyr Ava: 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI
• Tristen Turlington: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI
• Maddie Bejarano: 2-3, 2B
• Kaysen Korth: 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 3 K

The Cougars’ first hit of the game came in the form of a single by Maddie Udall, followed by a strong hit from Tristen Turlington to the back right fence for a triple to make it 1-0 through the first two innings. The hit was the freshman’s fourth RBI of the season.

With Torero runners on second and third with one out in the top of the third, San Diego recorded a sacrifice fly to even the score at 1-1, but BYU got the USD runner out at third to end the inning. The Cougars would respond by stringing together four consecutive hits, highlighted by a two RBI single from Huntyr Ava as Maddie Bejarano and Ailana Agbayani crossed the plate. BYU would have another chance to score with the bases loaded and two outs, but a fly ball kept the score at 3-1.

After getting out of the top-half of the fourth inning with no hits allowed, Ava hit a sacrifice fly as Alexis Gilio scored to make it 4-1 before a strikeout ended the inning.

Korth opened the fifth inning with zero hits and runs allowed yet again. The Cougars continued their dominance at bat as Turlington doubled along the left field line to advance Violet Zavodnik to home plate. During Agbayani’s at-bat, BYU executed a double steal, with Turlington coming home to make it 6-1.

After Bejarano hauled in all three of San Diego’s fly balls in the top of the sixth, Martha Epenesa singled to left center, scoring Jaelynn Lambert and Bejarano to extend the Cougar advantage to 8-1.

Korth shut down the San Diego offense in the seventh inning, finishing her 12th complete game of the season and 14th win on the season.

Game Two: BYU 12 | USD 1 (5)

BOX SCORE

Player Highlights:

• Tristen Turlington: 3-3, RBI
• Violet Zavodnik: 2-3, HR, 3B, 3 RBI
• Epenesa: 2-3, HR, RBI
• Hailey Morrow: 1-3, HR, 4 RBI
• Chloe Temples: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 5 K

San Diego loaded the bases with no outs to open the game, but Temples struck out the Torero side from there to get the Cougars out of the early jam.

BYU immediately set the tone in its home half of the first inning as Morrow nailed a grand slam to right field, capitalizing on the bases loaded with Ava, Bejarano and Agbayani. On the very next play, Epenesa hit a home run of her own, bolting the ball to center field for a 5-0 lead.

The Toreros countered with a solo home run of their own in the second inning to trim the Cougar advantage to 5-1, but they would only tally one more hit in game two from there. 

Zavodnik knocked a center field home run to notch BYU’s third of the game at the bottom of the third inning and extend the lead to 6-1.

The Cougars batted around the order in the fourth as they blew the game open with six runs. Ava, Morrow, Epenesa, Zavodnik, Alyssa Podhurcak-Foss, Turlington, Mallory Barber, Agbayani, Breezy Hayward and Taryn Lennon all reached base safely in the frame, taking a 12-1 lead after four innings.

BYU held the Toreros scoreless in the top of the fifth, including with a game-ending 6-4-3 double play en route to its 12-1 run-rule victory.

The Cougars will conclude their three-game set with San Diego on Saturday, April 29 at Noon MDT. The game will be streamed on the BYUtv app.

PROVO, Utah — Coming off of two mid-week wins against in-state teams, BYU softball resumes West Coast Conference play with a three-game series against San Diego. 

The Cougars (25-13, 4-2 WCC) and Toreros will play a doubleheader on Friday evening beginning at 5 p.m. MDT. Saturday’s game three is set to start at Noon after being moved up from 1 p.m. earlier in the week.

BYU earned a 10-5 victory over Utah State on Tuesday and a 4-3 win against Utah Tech of Wednesday, and have now won three-straight after beating Utah Valley a week ago. 

First baseman Huntyr Ava has gone 4-for-6 this week with two home runs, six RBI, three runs and two walks. She has a team-high 10 homers and 37 RBI, and now leads the Cougars with a .340 batting average.

Catcher Hailey Morrow (.330) and shortstop Ailana Agbayani (.328) join Ava as the three BYU batters hitting .300 or better this season, with left fielder Maddie Bejarano close behind, at .294.

The Cougars have six other hitters with double digit RBI: Morrow (28), Violet Zavodnik (28), Agbayani (15), Martha Epenesa (14), Mallory Barber (13) and Maddie Bejarano (13).

Now two games into its nine-game homestead, BYU is 5-3 at Gail Miller Field this year. The Cougars, 4-2 in the WCC, are tied for second in league play with the Toreros heading into this weekend’s three-game set.

San Diego (19-24-1, 4-2 WCC)

• The Toreros were on a four-game win streak after sweeping a conference series against Pacific before falling at CSUN earlier in the week
• San Diego has two four-game win streaks this season
• USD and BYU share a few common opponents outside of WCC play: Long Beach State, Boise State, Utah Tech, Portland State, Utah Valley, San Diego State and future opponent UCLA
• The Toreros are 5-9 away from San Diego in 2023
• MJ Knighten is in her third season as head coach of the Toreros, going 52-87 (.375) since 2021
• BYU leads the all-time series with San Diego, 31-5, going a perfect 12-0 against the Toreros in Provo
• Cougar head coach Gordon Eakin is 28-3 versus USD during his tenure

Following its conference series with San Diego, BYU will host No. 2 UCLA on Monday, May 1 at 1 p.m. MDT. The game will be televised on BYUtv and streamed on the BYUtv app.