Two fifth-inning homers lift Cougars to 5-2 win over Idaho State

PROVO, Utah — Two fifth-inning home runs from Marissa Chavez and Taylei Williams lifted BYU softball to a 5-2 win over the Idaho State Bengals at Gail Miller Field, Thursday.

After Idaho State retired the first four Cougar batters, Macy Simmons recorded the first BYU hit of the day with a single up the middle. Alexis Gilio was sent to pinch run and promptly stole second, putting her in scoring position with one out. ISU’s Emma McMurray struck out the next two batters to escape the bottom of the second with the game scoreless.

Through three innings, Autumn Moffat-Korth had given up two hits and struck out three Bengals.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Bengals got their second base runner of the game on a BYU error. After Moffat-Korth’s fourth strikeout, a groundball to shortstop advanced the runner into scoring position and resulted in the second out of the inning. Morgan Hess hit a double into right field driving in the first run of the game, givin Idaho State a 1-0 lead.

The Cougars responded with back-to-back singles from Williams and Violet Zavodnik to put runners on the corners with no outs in the bottom of the fourth. After Zavodnik stole second, Alyssa Podhurcak hit a sacrifice fly to right center that scored Williams tying the game at one and moving Zavodnik to third. McMurray retired the next two Cougar hitters to escape the jam and move to the fifth inning deadlocked at one.

Chavez took a 1-0 offering deep to center field and over the fence for her first home run of the year, giving BYU a 2-1 lead with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. This marked the third home run given up by McMurray on the season.

After retiring Brooke Hill-Barrington and walking Taryn Lennon, McMurray’s day came to a close when she was replaced by Maria Ramirez who made her 11th appearance of the season.

Martha Epenesa welcomed Ramirez to the game by reaching on an error by the shortstop, which moved Lennon to third. Williams broke the game open by taking an 0-2 pitch deep to left field for her first home run of the season. The three-run blast by Williams gave the Cougars a 5-1 lead.

The Bengals didn’t go quietly with their first two batters reaching base in the top of the sixth before Frankie Tago singled to right field to push a run across which would end Moffat-Korth’s day. She exited having pitched 5.0 innings, giving up six hits, one earned run and ringing up five Bengals.

Chloe Temples entered the game with runners on first and second, no outs and the tying run at the plate. The first batter she faced flew out to right field with Williams throwing the ISU runner out at second for the double play. Temples then struck out Hess to exit the inning holding onto a 5-2 lead.

Huntyr Ava led off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the left field line. After a groundout that moved pinch-runner Mallory Barber to third, Hill-Barrington walked, putting runners on the corners. Lennon worked a full-count walk to juice the bases bringing up Epenesa. The next two Cougars were retired leaving three runners stranded but went to the last inning with a three-run lead.

After the first Bengal flew out to right field, Temples walked two straight batters to bring the tying run to the plate for the second-straight inning. With runners on first and second, Temples punched out Brooke Richards and got Rheanne Lewis to ground out to third to complete the six-out save and give the Cougars a 5-2 victory.

Up next, the Cougars will host Southern Utah University on Saturday for a double header at 1 and 3 p.m. MDT. Both games will be broadcast live on BYUtv.