Cougars fall 4-2 to Long Beach State

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. — BYU softball fell to Long Beach State University 4-2 in its final game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Saturday morning.

The Cougars finished the 2022 Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with one win and three losses, for a 9-4 overall record on the season now. 

In the top of the second against LBSU, Huntyr Ava got hit in the head with a pitch. Alyssa Podhurcak was walked and Marissa Chavez was walked to load the bases. HannahJo Mills stepped up to the plate and also got hit by a pitch for Ava to score the first run of the day.

At the end of the second inning, the score was still 1-0. In those two innings, BYU’s pitcher Chloe Temples had dished out three strikeouts. 

In the bottom of the third, LBSU’s senior Naomi Hernandez hit a two-run home run over the center field wall to take LBSU’s first lead of the day at 2-1.

Mills hit a ball towards second base and barely beat out the throw to first. Zavodnik hit a sacrifice bunt, allowing Mills to advance to second. Next, Taryn Lennon doubled to left field, and Mills scored to even the game at 2-2. Ava singled and her pinch runner Lauren Flanders stole second when Martha Epenesa was up to bat. With runners on second and third, Epenesa fouled out. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Beach upped their score by two runs, with a two-run single by outfielder Corissa Sweet, taking the game to 4-2.

In the top of the sixth inning, Podhurcak and Hill-Barrington were both walked. Chavez hit a sacrifice bunt, to set up Mills with runners on second and third, but Mills fouled out and then Zavodnik struck out, ending the top of the sixth.

The Cougars were under pressure in the top of the seventh to score. Lennon was up to bat first, and reached first off of a fielding error. Ava was walked, then Epenesa hit a sacrifice fly for Lennon to reach third base. With pinch runner Lo Salcedo on first and Lennon on third, Podhurcak came up to the plate with two outs. She flew out to center field, and the game ended at 4-2.

Up next, the Cougars head on the road again next week for four matchups at the San Diego Classic.