Team effort gives BYU 10-4 win at San Diego

SAN DIEGO – Powerful hitting propelled BYU softball to a 10-4 victory at San Diego Friday night at USD Softball Complex.

"It was a good team win again tonight," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We have a few things to clean up for tomorrow but we played well tonight."

Nine Cougars (31-20, 9-1 West Coast Conference) combined for 16 hits while holding the Toreros (25-25, 4-9 WCC) to five hits. Alexa Strid went 3 for 4 at the plate with a game-high three RBI while Lexi Tarrow went 3 for 5 with two runs. Briielle Breland also had a good day at the plate going 2 for 4. Alldredge contributed two runs and two RBI while Brooke Vander Heide added two runs as well.

Kerisa Viramontes and Autumn Moffat shared pitching duties. Viramontes totaled six strikeouts and two walks in four innings while Moffat recorded one strikeout without giving up a walk in three shutout innings.

BYU opened the game scoring three runs on three hits in the top of the first. Jensen walked to lead off. Breland singled to the San Diego shortstop who committed a throwing error, allowing Jensen to score and Breland to advance to second.

Tarrow then got on base with a single to shortstop before she and Breland moved up on a wild pitch. Libby Sugg brought Breland in with a sacrifice fly to left field to make it 2-0. Bridget Fleener singled through the right side to advance Tarrow to third. Strid grounded out to the pitcher as Tarrow came across to give BYU a 3-0 lead.

San Diego responded in the in the second frame as Lindsay Clare sent a two-run homer over the left-field fence to close the gap 3-2.

The Toreros added another run in the fourth to even the score 3-3. Lauren Kane singled to right field and Savannah Shields came in as a pinch runner. Shields stole second before advancing to third on a BYU throwing error. She came home as Katie Vretoz singled up the middle.

The Cougars bats came alive in the fifth inning as BYU scored five runs on seven hits. Tarrow singled to shortstop on the first pitch before advancing to second as Sugg singled to right field. Pinch runner Ashley Godfrey came in for Sugg. Fleener singled to right center to move Godfrey to third and Tarrow home as the Cougars regained the lead 4-3.

Vander Heide pinch ran for Fleener before she advanced to third and Godfrey scored as Strid singled to right field, making it 5-3. Strid stole second before Caitlyn Alldredge doubled to left center, bringing in both runners for a 7-3 advantage.

Merrell singled to third base as Alldredge ran to third before a Torero fielding error by the first baseman allowed Alldredge to come across and finish the BYU scoring in the fifth.  

San Diego’s Hannah Gilliland hit an in-the-park-home run off the glove of the diving centerfielder to make it 8-4 in the bottom of the fifth.

With two outs in the top of the sixth, Vander Heide singled to left field before stealing second and advancing to third on a San Diego throwing error by the catcher. Strid singled up the middle to bring Vander Heide home and for a 9-4 BYU advantage.

Alldredge walked to start the seventh inning and moved to second as Jensen grounded out to second base. Tarrow singled to left field to score Alldredge for the Cougars’ final run of the night.

BYU at San Diego Box Score

The Cougars and Toreros finish the series Saturday with a doubleheader at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. PDT.