STOCKTON, Calif. – Early hitting from a variety of players and tight defense sparked BYU softball’s 9-0 victory over Pacific Saturday afternoon at Bill Simoni Field.

“We came out strong today and played a complete game,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “Our team was determined after yesterday's split.”

The Cougars (24-19, 5-1 West Coast Conference) scored nine runs on eight hits while holding the Tigers (12-25, 2-4 WCC) to just two hits in five innings, due to the NCAA eight-run rule.

Eight different Cougars scored, led by Lexi Tarrow going 2 for 3 at the plate along with three RBI and two runs, including a three-run dinger. Libby Sugg and Alexa Strid both recorded two RBI as well.

Kerisa Viramontes did not give up any walks and recorded four strikeouts from the circle.

The Cougars scored six runs in the top of the first. Rylee Jensen led off with a single through the right side. Brooke Vander Heide then singled to the pitcher before Tarrow recorded a base hit up the middle. Sugg drove in two runs with a single through right side as Jensen and Vander Heide scored for a 2-0 lead and Tarrow moved to second.  

Bridget Fleener singled to left center before advancing on the throw with Sugg moving to third and Tarrow scoring to make it 3-0. Strid then doubled to right center to bring both Sugg and Fleener home for a 5-0 advantage. Briielle Breland laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Strid for the final run of the inning.

In the third frame, Caitlyn Alldredge walked to lead off before Breland bunted to move her over. Tarrow smashed a homer to right field with those two on to make it 9-0.                                                                  

BYU at Pacific Box Score

The Cougars will next take on in-state rival Utah in the Deseret First Duel Wednesday at 6 p.m. MDT at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.

PROVO, Utah – After a sweep of Santa Clara last week to open conference play, BYU softball will face Utah Valley in the UCCU Crosstown Clash Tuesday before heading to Pacific this weekend.

BYU Game Notes

The Cougars (21-18, 3-0 West Coast Conference) play Utah Valley (10-21, 2-3 Western Athletic Conference) at Wolverine Field on Tuesday, Apr. 10 at 3 p.m. MDT. BYU then travels to Stockton, Calif., to take on Pacific (11-23, 1-2 WCC) in a three-game series. The Cougars and Tigers face off in a doubleheader on Friday, Apr. 13 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. PDT and then again Saturday, Apr. 14 at 1 p.m. PDT.

The UCCU Crosstown Clash can be streamed live on the WAC Digital Network. Links to the stream and live stats for all games will be available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU STORYLINES

• BYU plays its second WCC series this weekend against Pacific. The Cougars swept Santa Clara at home last week and sit at the top of the WCC leaderboard. In 2017, They swept the Tigers at home. Since joining the WCC in 2014, BYU has not lost to Pacific.
• Junior catcher Libby Sugg and freshman pitcher Autumn Moffat earned West Coast Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week to give the Cougars their first weekly award sweep of the season. Sugg batted .600 in four games on the week with five runs on six hits and 11 RBI. She recorded two doubles and two home runs, including a two-run dinger against Santa Clara in the second game on Friday and a three-run homer against the Broncos Saturday. On the week, the junior slugged 1.300 and had an on-base percentage of .638. Moffat becomes the sixth freshman to earn Pitcher of the Week in nine weeks of the WCC season after pitching just over 11 innings in three games this week. Moffat recorded 11 strikeouts and posted an ERA of 0.62 in the series sweep against Santa Clara as well as a non-conference game against Utah State.
• BYU ranks No. 17 nationally and No. 1 in the WCC in home runs per game with 1.10. Twelve Cougars have hit 43 homers in 39 games so far this season, led by Libby Sugg’s nine. Rylee Jensen and Briielle Breland follow with six while Caitlyn Alldredge has five. Lexi Tarrow, Alexa Strid, Madison Merrell and Bridget Fleener have all hit three apiece. Allie Hancock and Madison Merrell both have two. Ashley Godfrey, Emilee Erickson and Olivia Sanchez have also hit dingers.

OPPONENTS OUTLOOK
Utah Valley (10-21, 2-3 WAC)

• The Wolverines are 10-21 this season and 2-3 in conference play. Last week, they dropped two games to Boise State and went 1-1 against WAC foe Grand Canyon.
• BYU leads the overall series 37-4 and went 3-0 against UVU in 2017.
• TJ Hubbard is in his second season at the helm of the Utah Valley program after going 16-24 in 2017.

Pacific (11-23, 1-2 WCC)

• The Tigers have an overall record of 11-23 in 2018 and opened WCC play going 1-2 at LMU last week.  
• The Cougars lead 15-1 in the overall series and swept the three-game series last season.
• Brian Kolze is in his 26th season as head coach at Pacific and is the winningest coach in in program history, having entered the 2018 season with an overall record of 732-653-1.