Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic next for BYU softball

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: --