Cougars close out Mexico trip, down Bison 10-1 in five

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mex. — Chloe Temples dealt five scoreless innings as a six-run third inning fueled BYU softball to a 10-1 win over North Dakota State at Nancy Almaraz Field on Saturday afternoon.

BOX SCORE

Temples went the distance in the Cougars' (2-2, 0-0 WCC) run-rule victory over the Bison. The senior gave up one run on four hits while retiring the side in order in three of the five innings.

Both Temples and left fielder Maddie Bejarano were named to the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge all-tournament team for their performances this week. Temples recorded a 1.65 ERA in 12 innings pitched with nine strikeouts. Bejarano hit .500 for the tournament with six hits, one run scored and an RBI, also flashing the leather with a foul ball snag in BYU's win against Wisconsin. 

Player Highlights

• Chloe Temples: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 3 K
• Maddie Udall: 3-3, 3 RBI, 2 R
• Huntyr Ava: 2-3, 3 RBI
• Alyssa Podhurcak-Foss: 1-1, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB

Temples blanked the Bison in the top of the first, sitting them down in order. With two outs in the Cougars' half of the inning, Violet Zavodnik reached on a walk and stole second to move into scoring position. Maddie Udall singled to center, scoring Zavodnik from second to give BYU a 1-0 lead through the first inning.

North Dakota State scored in the top of the second before the Cougars rattled off six runs to take a 7-1 lead into the third inning. Mallory Barber singled up the middle, Lauren Flanders walked and Alexis Gilio singled to load the bases with nobody out.

After NDSU recorded the first out on a fielder’s choice, Maddie Bejarano drew a walk to score Flanders. Zavodnik then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Gilio and take a 3-1 lead.

After Bejarano stole second, Udall recorded her second hit of the afternoon, scoring Ailana Agbayani, who reached on the fielder's choice. Alyssa Podhurcak-Foss notched her first hit of the ballgame to score Bejarano before Huntyr Ava singled, scoring Udall and Podhurcak-Foss to go into the third up 7-1.

Temples again retired the side in the top of the third to bring up the heart of the BYU order. With Zavodnik on second, Udall brought her around to score on a single before advancing to second. After Podhurcak-Foss drew a four-pitch walk, Ava singled up the middle to score Udall and give BYU a 9-1 lead through three innings.

In the top of the fourth, Temples forced two groundouts and a strikeout to retire the side. In the Cougars' half of the inning, Emma Andrewjeski beat the throw at first to score Hailey Morrow and put BYU ahead 10-1. The nine-run Cougar lead held up in the top of the fifth as Temples worked around two Bison baserunners to end the game via the run-rule, 10-1.

BYU will be back in action at the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Arizona as it takes on Arizona State on Thursday, Feb. 16. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.