Cougars travel to Arizona for ASU Invitational

PROVO, Utah – Following a 3-1 upset over No. 13/14 Baylor, BYU softball travels to Tempe, Arizona, for the ASU Invitational Friday and Saturday.

BYU Game Notes

The Cougars (17-14) open the tournament with a doubleheader against North Dakota State (18-10) at 1:30 p.m. MST and host No. 7/8 Arizona State (27-4, 5-1 Pac-12) at 6:30 p.m. MST. BYU will play both schools the following day with the Bison at 11:00 a.m. MST and Sun Devils at 4:00 p.m. MST.

Please note that Tempe, Arizona, does not observe Daylight Saving Time and observes Mountain Standard Time all year. If following the games from Utah, they begin at 2:30 p.m. MDT (Mountain Daylight Time) and 7:30 p.m. MDT, respectively.

All games will be played at Farrington Stadium. Both ASU games will be streamed online by the Pac-12. Links to live stats and the stream will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU STORYLINES

• Sophomore pitcher Kerisa Viramontes has been named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week, her first of the season and second of her career. She pitched three complete games for BYU en route to a 0.28 ERA over 25.1 innings pitched. Viramontes opened the week throwing 199 pitches in a 12-inning walk-off loss at No. 10/11 LSU, giving up no earned runs in the complete game. She also pitched in BYU’s 3-1 win against No. 13/14 Baylor, going seven innings with just five hits and one earned run allowed. Viramontes had seven strikeouts on the week while lowering her season ERA to 1.83.
• BYU ranks No. 14 nationally and No. 1 in the WCC in home runs per game with 1.13. Eleven Cougars have hit 35 homers in 29 games so far this season, led by Rylee Jensen’s six. Libby Sugg and Caitlyn Alldredge follow with five while Briielle Breland has hit four. Lexi Tarrow, Bridget Fleener and Alexa Strid have all hit three apiece. Allie Hancock and Madison Merrell both have two. Ashley Godfrey and Emilee Erickson have also hit dingers.
• Junior catcher and team captain Libby Sugg has been named to the 2018 USA Softball College Player of the Year Watch List. She earned NFCA All-Pacific Region First Team honors and was named to the All-WCC Second Team last season. Sugg led the team in RBI and home runs with 56 and 13, respectively, while hitting .356 in 2017.

OPPONENTS OUTLOOK
North Dakota State (18-10)

• The Bison have an 18-10 overall record in 2018, having gone 1-3 last week at the LSU Round Robin. They fell to BYU 3-1 before beating No. 10/11 LSU 1-0 in nine innings.
• In 2017, NDSU advanced to the Norman Regional before falling to No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 23 Tulsa.
• The Cougars lead the series 3-2 after last week’s matchup in Baton Rouge.
• Darren Mueller enters his 17th year at the helm of the North Dakota State program with a record of 571-315 in 16 seasons.

No. 7/8 Arizona State (27-4, 5-1 Pac-12)

• The Sun Devils are 27-4 this season with losses to No. 1 Washington, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 12 Tennessee, and Iowa.
• ASU leads the overall series 8-0, most recently winning 3-0 on March 15, 2012, when the Sun Devils were ranked No. 5 at the time.
• Arizona State advanced to the Oxford Regional in 2017 before falling to Ole Miss and North Carolina.
• Head coach Trisha Ford is in her second season at ASU after compiling an overall record of 31-22 in 2017.