Cougars continue WCC play with San Diego series

PROVO, Utah — Coming off of two mid-week wins against in-state teams, BYU softball resumes West Coast Conference play with a three-game series against San Diego. 

The Cougars (25-13, 4-2 WCC) and Toreros will play a doubleheader on Friday evening beginning at 5 p.m. MDT. Saturday’s game three is set to start at Noon after being moved up from 1 p.m. earlier in the week.

BYU earned a 10-5 victory over Utah State on Tuesday and a 4-3 win against Utah Tech of Wednesday, and have now won three-straight after beating Utah Valley a week ago. 

First baseman Huntyr Ava has gone 4-for-6 this week with two home runs, six RBI, three runs and two walks. She has a team-high 10 homers and 37 RBI, and now leads the Cougars with a .340 batting average.

Catcher Hailey Morrow (.330) and shortstop Ailana Agbayani (.328) join Ava as the three BYU batters hitting .300 or better this season, with left fielder Maddie Bejarano close behind, at .294.

The Cougars have six other hitters with double digit RBI: Morrow (28), Violet Zavodnik (28), Agbayani (15), Martha Epenesa (14), Mallory Barber (13) and Maddie Bejarano (13).

Now two games into its nine-game homestead, BYU is 5-3 at Gail Miller Field this year. The Cougars, 4-2 in the WCC, are tied for second in league play with the Toreros heading into this weekend’s three-game set.

San Diego (19-24-1, 4-2 WCC)

• The Toreros were on a four-game win streak after sweeping a conference series against Pacific before falling at CSUN earlier in the week
• San Diego has two four-game win streaks this season
• USD and BYU share a few common opponents outside of WCC play: Long Beach State, Boise State, Utah Tech, Portland State, Utah Valley, San Diego State and future opponent UCLA
• The Toreros are 5-9 away from San Diego in 2023
• MJ Knighten is in her third season as head coach of the Toreros, going 52-87 (.375) since 2021
• BYU leads the all-time series with San Diego, 31-5, going a perfect 12-0 against the Toreros in Provo
• Cougar head coach Gordon Eakin is 28-3 versus USD during his tenure

Following its conference series with San Diego, BYU will host No. 2 UCLA on Monday, May 1 at 1 p.m. MDT. The game will be televised on BYUtv and streamed on the BYUtv app.