FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Two home runs after a rain delay helped BYU softball to a 5-2 win over San José State in its NISC opener at Red Rocks Field on Thursday afternoon.

BOX SCORE

The Cougars (33-16, 11-4 WCC) saw homers from first baseman Huntyr Ava and designated player Maddie Udall as they rallied from a 2-1 deficit after taking an early lead.

Player Highlights

• Huntyr Ava: 1-3, 2 RBI
• Maddie Udall: 1-3, 2 R, RBI
• Ailana Agbayani: 1-3, 2 R
• Maddie Bejarano: 2-2, RBI
• Mallory Barber: 2-3, RBI
• Kaysen Korth: 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 8 K

BYU struck first in the bottom of the first, stringing together back-to-back doubles by Ailana Agbayani and Maddie Bejarano, with the second scoring Agbayani for a 1-0 lead.

Tristen Turlington led off with a walk in the second inning and advanced to third as Mallory Barber singled into right center, but they were left stranded at the corners.

San José State struck back in the top of the fourth, tagging back-to-back homers to go ahead 2-1.

Martha Epenesa drew a leadoff in the home half of the fourth inning and Turlington reached on a fielder’s choice before the game went into a weather delay.

Coming out of the hour-long delay, the Cougars quickly tied things up on a Maddie Udall fielder’s choice and Barber’s double.

Agbayani was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and advanced to second on a Bejarano sacrifice bunt. Ava then took the first pitch she saw deep to right center, putting BYU in front, 4-2 with her team-leading 15th home run of the season. 

Maddie Udall helped extend the Cougar advantage in the top of the sixth inning to 5-2, hitting a solo shot to right center, the first of her freshman career.

With two fly outs and a strikeout in the top of the seventh, starting pitcher Kaysen Korth wrapped up the 5-2 win for BYU and her 19th victory on the season.

With the win, the Cougars advance to play Maryland on Friday, May 19 at Noon MDT. 

PROVO, Utah — BYU softball gets set to continue its season at the National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC) in Fort Collins, Colorado on Thursday afternoon.

The Cougars (32-16, 11-4 WCC) will open NISC play on Thursday, May 18 with a first-round matchup against San José State on Red Rocks Field at 1 p.m. MDT.

2023 National Invitational Softball Championship

• BYU vs. San José State
• Thursday, May 18 (1 p.m. MDT)
• Live Stream: Triple Crown Sports/YouTube
• Live Stats: Sidearm Stats
• Tickets

BYU finished second in the WCC behind Loyola Marymount after dropping 2-of-3 at Saint Mary’s last week. Shortstop Ailana Agbayani led the Cougars at the plate, hitting .333 with one double.

Agbayani also pitched two innings of scoreless ball in Moraga, while Kaysen Korth finished with a 0.43 ERA and 1-1 record in 16.1 innings pitched. The freshman gave up just 10 hits, one earned run and struck out 16.

In its final year as members of the WCC, BYU took three of the league’s five major awards, with Huntyr Ava (Player of the Year), Agbayani (Defensive Player of the Year) and Hailey Morrow (Freshman of the Year) each taking home postseason honors.

The Cougars racked up nine total players on All-WCC teams as well. Agbayani, Ava, Korth and Violet Zavodnik were named to the First Team, while Maddie Bejarano, Martha Epenesa, Morrow, Chloe Temples and Tristen Turlington earned Second Team honors.

Heading into the postseason, Ava ranks No. 15 in the nation averaging 1.10 RBI per game and No. 16 with a 0.33 home runs per game average. Bejarano also finds herself in the top-15, recording 0.25 sacrifice bunts per game to sit at No. 15 in the country.

San José State (26-28, 11-11 Mountain West)

• The Spartans fell to San Diego State in the MWC Championship game last weekend after beating Fresno State and Boise State twice during the MWC Tournament
• Outside of SDSU and Boise State, San José State and BYU share a number of commons opponents: Stanford, Utah State, Saint Mary’s, LSU, Pacific, UNLV and Santa Clara
• The Spartans have two five-game win streaks this season
• Tammy Lohmann is in her third season with San José State, going 57-80 (.416) since 2021
• BYU leads the all-time series, 10-3
• The Cougars beat the Spartans last season, 8-5, while SJSU won the matchup in 2019, 2-1
• BYU head coach Gordon Eakin is 7-3 against San José State during his tenure, going 4-3 against the Spartans at neutral sites

Following the Cougars' round one game against San José State, they will face either the winner or loser of the Thursday morning game between No. 1-seed Maryland and CSUN on Friday, May 19.