BYU softball hosts Weber State, travels to Santa Clara

PROVO, Utah – A sweep of second-place San Diego has BYU softball is position to take control as it heads into its second-to-last week of West Coast Conference play.

The Cougars (34-9, 9-0 WCC) continue their home stand after four consecutive wins as they host Weber State for a nonconfernce game Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. MDT that was postponed two weeks earlier because of weather. BYU will then travel to Silicon Valley in Northern California for a WCC series against Santa Clara that begins with a doubleheader Friday at 4 and 6 p.m. PDT and Saturday at noon.

At the plate. McKenzie St. Clair put together a standout week with her two home runs and 11 RBI on a 5-for-10 hitting performace over four games. Ashley Thompson also hit 5-for-10, scoring seven runs with a double, a homer, five RBI, two stolen bases and five walks, including two bases on balls and one intentional base on balls in the game two win over San Diego. 

Home runs. St. Clair hit the team’s third grand slam of the season after the bases were juiced in the bottom of the fifth of game two against San Diego. Bravo hit her fourth of the year earlier in the same inning as St. Clair’s. Thompson hit her eighth of the season in the first inning of the same game, tying for the team lead with Coco Tauali’i.

From the circle. Pitcher McKenna Bull is 30-6 with 207 strikeouts and a 1.99 ERA. She is currently second in BYU history for wins in a season, needing two to tie Paige Affleck’s mark. 

Runs. Ashley Thompson and Sydney Broderick are 1-2 in the RBI category with 39 and 27, respectively. Seven of the eight starters have surpassed their RBI totals from 2014.

Win total. With the 34-9 mark, BYU has matched its 2014 win total when it ended the season 34-23 after a trip to the NCAA tournament.

Links to video and live stats will be available on the softball schedule page.

Weber State (Tues. 5:30 p.m. MDT | BYUtv)

The Wildcats have put together a strong record in conference play with a 10-6 mark and a 31-17 record overall. Aubrey Whitmer leads the team with her .411 average from the plate with two home runs and 31 RBI. Weber State has five players with more than 30 runs batted in on the season. Alyson Kulp leads the team with 40 RBI with a .375 batting average and five homers while Hingsberger is batting .364 with 35 RBI and a team-high six home runs. Three WSU pitchers have winning records with MaCauley Flint (9-7, 2.74 ERA) having pitched the most with 104.2 innings. BYU won 8-0 in five innings in the first meeting between the two teams in Ogden on March 24.

Santa Clara (Fri. 4 & 6 p.m. PDT | Sat. 12 p.m.)

The Broncos (14-32, 4-8 WCC) will host BYU after having lost six of their last seven games with a 5-4 win at San Diego on April 19. Santa Clara will look to get out of its funk when the Cougars come to town. The Broncos took one of the three games last year in Provo. Ellie Fisher leads SCU in batting average (.343) and on-base percentage (.452) while Breezy Bernard leads the team with 24 RBI with a .319 clip at the plate. From the circle Ciara Gonzales is 11-14 with a 3.31 ERA and 144 innings pitched.