PALM SPRINGS, Calif. –  Three homers against Mississippi State lifted the BYU softball team to a 6-2 win followed by an 11-0 shutout against Bethune-Cookman on the final day of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic.

Game One

Game Highlights:

• Autumn Moffat recorded her third win of the season, pitching a complete game with only one earned run and seven strikeouts.
• Rylee Jensen-McFarland, Bridget Fleener and Huntyr Ava all blasted balls over the fence in the game. It was Jensen-McFarland and Ava’s third of the season and Fleener’s first.

Player Highlights:

• Autumn Moffat: W (3-3), 7.0 IP, 1ER, 4BB, 7K
• Huntyr Ava: 2-4, 3RBI, 1R, HR
• Rylee Jensen-McFarland: 1-3, 2R, 2RBI, HR, BB

BYU vs. Mississippi State Box Score

In the top of the first, the Cougars got on the board first. With Jensen-McFarland on third, Ava singled to left field to send Jensen-McFarland home for a 1-0 lead.

The next two innings remained scoreless as the two teams battled at the plate. In the fourth frame Bridget Fleener added to BYU’s score sending one over the fence to give BYU a 2-0 edge. It was answered by a run from Mississippi State in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 2-1.

In the top of the fifth, with Erin Miklus on first, Jensen-McFarland homered to right field to increase BYU’s score to 4-1. The Bulldogs again answered it with another run in the bottom of the sixth frame.

Ava tallied the Cougars final homer in the top of the seventh. Taylei Williams had reached base on an error bringing her home when Ava homered to go up 6-2.

Mississippi State went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh and BYU took the 6-2 win.

Game Two

Game Highlights:

• Arissa Paulson and Carley Brown both made an appearance in the game with Paulson tallying the win after pitching five innings.
• Nine players recorded hits in the game with two coming from Rylee Jensen-McFarland, Taylei Williams, Martha Epenesa and HannahJo Peterson.
• Rylee Jensen-McFarland tallied her 100 career RBI in the game.

Player Highlights:

• Rylee Jensen-McFarland: 2-4, 1R, 3RBI
• Arissa Paulson: W (5-1), 5.0 IP, 3H, 0R, 4K
• Martha Epenesa: 2-4, 2R, RBI, 2B
• HannahJo Peterson: 2-2, 2R, BB

BYU vs. Bethune-Cookman Box

The two teams remained scoreless for the first four innings with the Cougars going three-up, three-down in the first and fourth innings.

The Cougar bats came alive in the top of the fifth as Hannah Jo Peterson, Jensen-McFarland, Miklus and Ava all tallied runs to go up 4-0. In the sixth, BYU put up another three runs and followed it up with four more in the top of the seventh to make the score 11-0.

Bethune-Cookman went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh and BYU tallied their second win of the day.

BYU travels back to California next week to the Judi Garman Invite with its first game against Cal Poly on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on FloSoftball with live stats.

PROVO, Utah – In its third week of the season, the BYU softball team will travel back to California to play in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

BYU at Mary Nutter Classic Game Notes

This will be the first tournament this season where the Cougars will face five different teams including three from the Power 5 conferences. 

On the first day of the tournament, BYU will take on UC Riverside on Thursday, Feb. 20 in a 6 p.m. PT match-up followed by a game against Notre Dame at 8:30 p.m. On Friday, Feb. 21, BYU will play only one game against Nebraska with a 3:30 p.m. start time. 

Mississippi State and Bethune-Cookman are on the slate for Saturday, Feb. 22 on the final day of competition at 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. 

All five games will be played at the Big League Dreams Complex in Cathedral City, California. The first three games will be played on Yankee Field while the Saturday contests will be at the Pawtucket Field. All of the games will be streamed on FloSoftball with live stats on the BYU schedule page. 

BYU Storylines

20 Years of BYU Softball. The start of the 2020 season marks the 20th anniversary of the start of BYU softball. February 4, 2000, the Cougars defeated Sacramento State 3-2 in San Jose to start the program off with a win. In the 20 years, BYU has captured 14 conference titles and made 16 appearances in the NCAA tournament. Head coach Gordon Eakin has been part of the BYU softball program since its inception and took over the head coaching duties in 2002.

Ranked Opponents. Throughout the 2020 season, BYU will play six top 25 teams as well as a handful of teams that received votes in the poll. 

California Calling. In their second week of travel to California, the Cougars return to the Mary Nutter Classic. This is BYU’s 12th-straight season going to Cathedral City after first attending in 2005.  

Return to the WCC. This will be BYU’s seventh season as a member of the West Coast Conference after joining in the 2014 season. Since its first season, BYU has claimed the WCC Championship for six-straight years. Last season, BYU earned three of three of the top season awards including Player of the Year (Lexi Tarrow), Pitcher of the Year (Arissa Paulson) and Defensive Player of the Year (Erin Miklus) as well as having seven players be named to the All-WCC teams. 

BYU Record Book. Left fielder Rylee Jensen-McFarland returns for her senior season at BYU already ranked in multiple categories in the BYU record books. Jensen-McFarland ranks top 10 at BYU in career batting average (.350), runs (143) and on-base percentage (.444). Only a junior, starting pitcher Arissa Paulson ranks top ten at BYU in career wins (34), complete games (32), shutouts (7), strikeouts (288) and all-time consecutive scoreless innings pitched (20.0).

Opponent Outlook

UC Riverside | Thursday, Feb. 20 | 6 p.m. PT | FloSoftball  
Overall: 3-0
Home: 0-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 3-0
Under Eakin: 3-0
Longest win Streak: 3
Last win: 9-5, 3/26/04
Longest Losing Streak: --
Last loss: --

Notre Dame | Thursday, Feb. 20 | 8:30 p.m. PT | FloSoftball
Overall: 0-3
Home: 0-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 0-3
Under Eakin: 0-3
Longest win Streak: -
Last win: --
Longest Losing Streak: 3
Last loss: 4-2, 3/13/16

Nebraska | Friday, Feb. 21 | 3:30 p.m. PT | FloSoftball 
Overall: 4-9
Home: 0-0
Away: 0-2
Neutral: 4-7
Under Eakin: 3-5
Longest win Streak: 2
Last win: 12-1, 2/9/17
Longest Losing Streak: 4
Last loss: 3-1, 5/17/01

Mississippi State | Saturday, Feb. 22 | 2:30 p.m. PT | FloSoftball|
Overall: 2-2
Home: 0-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 2-2
Under Eakin: 2-2
Longest win Streak: 2 
Last win: 8-0, 5/18/17
Longest Losing Streak: 2
Last loss: 1-0, 2/15/07

Bethune-Cookman | Saturday, Feb. 22 | 5:00 p.m. PT | FloSoftball
Overall: 2-0
Home: 0-0
Away: 0-0
Neutral: 2-0
Under Eakin: 2-0
Longest win Streak: 2 
Last win: 3-0, 2/25/16
Longest Losing Streak: --
Last loss: --