Cougars roll Gaels in 10-0 senior day win to clinch WCC title

PROVO, Utah — BYU softball took care of the Saint Mary's Gaels 10-0 on senior day at Gail Miller Field.

With the win, the Cougars (42-10; 13-2 WCC) clinch a share of the WCC regular season championship and stretch their win streak to 17-straight games. LMU lost one game in its series against Santa Clara this weekend, so the Cougars and Lions tied for the No. 1 spot in the conference standings. LMU will get the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament due to a tiebreaker, while the Cougars will wait to see if they receive an at-large bid.

This is head coach Gordon Eakin's 13th conference championship in-a-row, dating back to a Mountain West Conference title in 2009.

“As coaches we are so proud of this 2022 BYU softball team,” said Eakin. “With our backs against the wall, we have won 17 straight games, we are co-conference champions and have a 42-10 record. This team is playing great softball, and we hope the selection committee will recognize our accomplishments and give us a chance to compete in the NCAA tournament.”

Player Highlights

Huntyr Ava: 2 R, 2 H, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Marissa Chavez: 2 R, 1 H, 1 RBI
Autumn Moffat-Korth: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 5 K

Game Highlights

Eight Cougars recorded a hit
Pitcher Autumn Moffat-Korth had five strikeouts in a 4.2 innings shutout, allowing only one hit

Martha Epenesa drew a leadoff walk to open the game and was advanced to second on a Taylei Williams sacrifice bunt. With one out, Violet Zavodnik was walked to put runners on first and second before Alyssa Podhurcak hit a bases-clearing, two-out double to give the Cougars an early 2-0 lead.

Chavez then followed with a single to right field that scored Podhurcak to extend the BYU lead to three in the bottom of the first. Chavez stole second and Brooke Hill-Barrington drew the third walk of the inning to again put runners on first and second with two outs.

With a 2-2 count, Macy Simmons singled to center field to score Chavez and advance Hill-Barrington to third to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead after the first.

The Cougars put up three more runs in the second inning as Williams singled up the middle, Zavodnik walked and Ava blasted a home run to deep centerfield. The 3-run blast by Ava was her 14th homer of the year and the 33rd of her BYU career.

Hill-Barrington singled to left to lead off the bottom of the third and advanced to third on a Simmons single to left. Simmons was pinch run for by Lauren Flanders before HannahJo Peterson-Mills singled to center field to score Hill-Barrington and give the Cougars an 8-0 lead through three innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ava hit her second home run of the day to make it a 9-0 advantage for the Cougars. Bredget Fleener pinch hit for Alyssa Podhurcak and got a senior day single before being pinch run for by Alexis Gilio. Chavez reached on a fielder’s choice and scored from first after a throwing error by the Gaels to stretch the BYU lead to 10 after four innings.

Moffat-Korth retired the first two batters in the top of the fifth before coming off to a standing ovation in her last home game. Chloe Temples entered and struck out the next Gael batter to give the Cougars a 10-0 win on senior day.

NCAA Softball Selection Show

The selection show is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 15th. It will be streaming live on ESPN2, with broadcasters Beth Mowins, Michele Smith Amanda Scarborough, and Holly Rowe. An NCAA selection committee will choose 64 teams for the 2022 NCAA Tournament, with 32 being automatic qualifiers. The 2022 Women's College World Series is scheduled for June 2-10 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.