Cougars' three home runs lead to victory over Wildcats

PROVO, Utah—Sydney Broderick continued her hot hitting to lead BYU softball to a 7-3 victory against Weber State Friday night at Gail Miller Field.

“It was a good team win,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “It was nice to bounce back after falling behind two to nothing to this Weber State team who was aggressive and came out swinging.”

Broderick finished 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. McKenzie St. Clair finished 2-for-3 with a home run and Ashlee Robinson was 1-for-1 with a double, both scoring two runs each.

Tori Almond earned the win, pitching 5.1 innings and striking out six. McKenna Bull was credited with the save, striking out four over 1.2 innings pitched.

The first inning kicked off with Weber State earning a double and then loading the bases with two outs. A single to left field crossed two and gave the Wildcats the 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Gordy Bravo reached on an error with two outs and Katie Manuma homered to center field to tie the game at two.  

After Almond held the Wildcats scoreless in the top of the second, St. Clair hammered one over the left field fence to give the Cougars their first lead at 3-2. With two outs, Robinson walked and Broderick hit one off the scoreboard in right-center field making it 5-2 in favor of BYU.

The Wildcats put runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the third and cut the lead to 5-3 when Kristin Kubo singled up the middle.

In the top of the fourth, Bravo made a diving catch in foul territory for the third out to hold the Wildcats without a baserunner. St. Clair singled down the left-field line to leadoff the bottom of the frame and advanced on a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt from Mercedes O'Connor. Robinson then sacrificed to center field to cross her making the score 6-3. 

Almond struck out two in the top of the fifth to strand a Wildcat runner on first. Weber State returned the favor stranding Ashley Thompson at second in the bottom of the fifth.

In the top of the sixth inning, Bull entered the game with runners on second and third and struck out two to end the threat.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Robinson doubled off the fence in left-center field, and Broderick singled to right center to score her and extend BYU’s lead to 7-3. Bull struck out the first two batters she faced in the top of the seventh to pass Summer Tobias for the ninth best strikeout season at BYU.

The Cougars will host conference foe Loyola Marymount next Friday, April 25 at 6 p.m. MDT in a three game series with a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon MDT. All three games will be broadcast live by BYUtv.