BYU softball took care of the Saint Mary’s Gaels 10-0 on senior day at Gail Miller Field on Saturday — but had to wait until Sunday to see if it would be enough to get into the NCAA tournament.

In the end, it wasn’t.

Despite the fact that with the win, the Cougars (42-10; 13-2 WCC) clinched a share of the WCC regular season championship and stretched their win streak to 17-straight games, the committee weren’t impressed enough with BYU’s body of work to give it an at-large spot.

LMU lost one game in its series against Santa Clara this weekend, so the Cougars and Lions tied for the No. 1 spot in the conference standings. LMU got the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament due to a tiebreaker.

This is head coach Gordon Eakin’s 13th conference championship in-a-row, dating back to a Mountain West Conference title in 2009.

Martha Epenesa drew a leadoff walk to open Saturday’s game against Pacific and advanced to second on a Taylei Williams sacrifice bunt. With one out, Violet Zavodnik was walked to put runners on first and second before Alyssa Podhurcak hit a bases-clearing, two-out double to give the Cougars an early 2-0 lead.

Chavez then followed with a single to right field that scored Podhurcak to extend the BYU lead to three in the bottom of the first. Chavez stole second and Brooke Hill-Barrington drew the third walk of the inning to again put runners on first and second with two outs.

With a 2-2 count, Macy Simmons singled to center field to score Chavez and advance Hill-Barrington to third to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead after the first.

The Cougars put up three more runs in the second inning as Williams singled up the middle, Zavodnik walked and Ava blasted a home run to deep centerfield. The 3-run blast by Ava was her 14th homer of the year and the 33rd of her BYU career.

Hill-Barrington singled to left to lead off the bottom of the third and advanced to third on a Simmons single to left. Simmons was pinch run for by Lauren Flanders before HannahJo Peterson-Mills singled to center field to score Hill-Barrington and give the Cougars an 8-0 lead through three innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, Ava hit her second home run of the day to make it a 9-0 advantage for the Cougars. Bredget Fleener pinch hit for Alyssa Podhurcak and got a senior day single before being pinch run for by Alexis Gilio. Chavez reached on a fielder’s choice and scored from first after a throwing error by the Gaels to stretch the BYU lead to 10 after four innings.

Moffat-Korth retired the first two batters in the top of the fifth before coming off to a standing ovation in her last home game. Chloe Temples entered and struck out the next Gael batter to give the Cougars a 10-0 win on senior day.

Cougar baseball sweeps Pacific

BYU baseball shutout Pacific 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at Miller Park to sweep the three-game WCC series. The Cougars have now won nine-straight games, including seven straight in conference, and have qualified for the post-season WCC Baseball Tournament, May 25-28, at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, California.

Pacific (14-34, 5-19) pitcher Marv Guarin held BYU (31-18, 14-10) to just three hits through the first three innings before the Cougars busted the game open with five runs in the fourth inning. Josh Cowden doubled down the right field line followed by a walk by Collin Reuter. Dawson Hall then doubled to right field, scoring Reuter and Cowden. Ozzie Pratt kept the inning alive with a single to left center that brought home Hall for a 3-0 lead. Brock Watkins finished off the scoring with a two-run blast over the left field wall for a 5-0 advantage.

The next five innings remained scoreless as BYU took the win 5-0.

Ryan Brady (3-3) went six innings with three strikeouts and allowed just four Tigers to reach base for the win. BYU had five different players scores runs in the sweep and four different Cougar pitchers recorded at least two strikeouts. Hall went 2-3 with a two-RBI double, while Watkins went 1-of-3 with a home run and two RBIs.

BYU returns to action versus rival Utah on Tuesday, May 17, at Miller Park in the final non-conference contest of the regular season. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. MDT and will be streamed live on the BYUtv App, while the audio broadcast can be heard on the BYU Radio Network–107.9 FM, BYU Radio App, BYUCougars.com and BYU Cougars app.

BYU track enjoys record-breaking day

No. 13 BYU men’s track and field enjoyed a home finale at Robison Track and Field on Saturday as the team recorded 20 personal-bests, five Top-10 marks, a 33 year-old facility record and a school record.

“It’s been a phenomenal day,” Director of Track and Field Ed Eyestone said. “We hold this meet two weeks before the NCAA West Preliminary because it gives our athletes the chance to improve, whether they’ve already qualified or are trying to.”

Pole vaulter Zach McWhorter wrote the next chapter in the story of his superb BYU career, on Saturday. McWhorter cleared a school record height of 5.76m/18-10.75, soaring past his previous school record mark of 5.70m/18-8.25.

“It was a great way for him to finish the home season,” said McWhorter’s event coach and father, Rick. “It’s a joy to be his coach and dad, to see how hard he’s worked and how much his hard work has paid off.”

The sophomore from Springdale, Ark. initially set BYU’s record clearance at the 2021 Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays but tied it again at the Mt. SAC Relays in April 2022. Following Saturday’s performance, McWhorter moves into No. 2 nationally, surpassing Princeton’s Sondre Guttormsen.

In less than six months’ time, McWhorter has broken his own outdoor school record once and his own indoor school record twice.

Caleb Witsken accompanied McWhorter in Saturday’s prolific pole vault showcase. Witsken set a new personal-best with a clearance of 5.56m/18-3, surpassing a 2001 mark by Jeff Hansen for No. 3 all-time at BYU.

BYU’s Saturday success was far from limited to the pole vault.

Sebastian Fernandez, a newcomer to the team, burst onto the scene with a Robison Track and Field Complex record of 1:47.03 in the 800-meters. The previous facility record was held by former Virginia athlete Paul Ereng and had gone untouched since June 2, 1989. Fernandez’s performance also secured him No. 5 all-time at BYU, surpassing Mao Tjiorze (2001).

Following a week off, qualifying BYU athletes will begin their quest for a national title at the NCAA West Preliminary in Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 25-28.

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