BYU sweeps San Diego with 7-4 and 11-0 doubleheader wins

SAN DIEGO — BYU softball defeated the University of San Diego 7-4 and 11-0 in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at the USD Softball Complex. With Friday's win, it was BYU’s first series sweep over a West Coast Conference opponent this season.

GAME ONE

Game Highlights

• Huntyr Ava hit her eleventh home run of the season, tying Violet Zavodnik for the most homers for BYU this season.
• The Cougars came back to win after trailing 2-0 through three innings.

San Diego’s sophomore pitcher McKenna Braegelmann started off by striking out all three of BYU’s batters in the top of the first inning. She went on to have a career-high of 10 strikeouts through five whole innings.

Similar to game one of the series, BYU and San Diego went scoreless through the first two innings. The Cougars were on their way to scoring in the top of the third, but stranded two runners on second and third when Violet Zavodnik struck out swinging.

The Toreros were able to score first in the bottom of the third inning. With the bases loaded, Lauren Hendrickson singled to center field, bringing home two of her teammates for the 2-0 lead.

Huntyr Ava earned BYU’s first run of the day in the top of fourth inning, with a solo shot to right center field. Then, Mallory Barber evened the score at 2-2 with an RBI single that brought home Marissa Chavez. 

BYU’s pitcher Chloe Temples dished out two strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth inning to keep the game tied at 2-2. She finished with five K's.

BYU’s offense ignited in the top of the fifth inning when they scored four runs. Alyssa Podhurcak hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to bring home pinch runner Lauren Flanders and Taylei Williams for a 4-2 score. An RBI double by Marissa Chavez and RBI single by Macy Simmons took the score up to 6-2.

San Diego narrowed the gap by two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, with a two-run home run from Joecellia Roberts. The Toreros then swapped out pitchers in the top of the sixth inning in an attempt to slow down the Cougars, but BYU scored at least one more run courtesy of an RBI double by Martha Epenesa for a 7-4 score.

Neither team had any hits after that, and the game ended at 7-4.

GAME TWO

Game Highlights

• The Cougars hit four doubles in the top of the third inning.
• This was BYU’s 10th time mercy ruling an opponent this season.

BYU scored its first run in the first inning off an error by San Diego’s second baseman.

The Cougars scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning off of four hits. An RBI double by Podhurcak and a two RBI double by Simmons would up BYU’s lead to 4-0. Then, Peterson doubled for a third time to bring pinch runner Taryn Lennon home. Lastly, Epenesa doubled to left center for Peterson to score, making it a 6-0 game.

BYU's Alyssa Podhurcak stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and capitalized on the opportunity with a two RBI double, bringing home Zavodnik and pinch runner Flanders for an 8-0 lead. Chavez bunted to bring pinch runner Lo Salcedo home. Podhurcak scored when Simmons grounded out to first. Next, Barber singled to center field for BYU’s 11th run of the day, with Chavez being the scorer.

Carley Brown came in to pitch for the Cougars in substitution of Moffat-Korth in the bottom of the sixth inning and allowed just one hit. In total, only four batters from either team were struck out the entire game. San Diego tallied eight hits, but zero runs, and the final score was 11-0 after six innings due to the NCAA run-rule.

Up Next

BYU will travel to southern Utah to face Dixie State University and Southern Utah University and will also host a series with Santa Clara next week. The Cougars will play in St. George at DSU on Tuesday and face SUU in Cedar City on Wednesday. On Friday and Saturday, BYU hosts WCC opponent Santa Clara. Both of those games will be streaming live on byutv.org and the BYUtv app.