The BYU softball team is coming off a series-sweep against WAC opponents New Mexico State and look to continue that streak against the University of Missouri-Kansas City on Tuesday.
The team is on a five-game winning streak as well as a 25-game winning streak at home, which is the second-longest home win streak in the nation. With a record of 19-8 on the season, five of those losses have come to ranked opponents. The Cougars have also picked up big wins against No. 15 Texas A&M and No. 11 Oregon, not to mention the weekend-sweep of the reigning WAC champions, New Mexico State.
UMKC has a record of 12-13 this season. As a team, they are hitting .237 and averaging only 2.96 runs per game. The Cougars are averaging 5.59 runs per game with a team batting average of .296.
Senior outfielder Delaney Willard is still leading the way for the Cougars offensively. She was recently chosen for the second time this season as Verizon Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week. Last week, Willard hit a whopping .444 with three home runs and seven RBIs as the Cougars went 4-0 at home. Willard has already tied her season home run record, picking up 11 home runs with more than half of the season remaining.
Willard said she and the team have been working hard to come out successful this season.
“[I have] just been working hard and have had a good attitude,” Willard said. “We are doing really well [as a team]. We really all love to play and we’re just enjoying our time together. It’s going to continue to get better throughout the rest of conference and I’m just excited to play the rest of conference this year. It should be a good time.”
Head coach Gordon Eakin said he couldn’t be more pleased with his team and their efforts in their first week playing at home.
“It’s hard to beat any good team three times in a row so I’m really pleased with the effort of our team in every area,” Eakin said. “It was consistent across the board in everybody doing their job.”
Eakin said if the team plays as they have so far at home, they won’t have any difficulty producing wins against UMKC.
“We want to build on what we’ve done this [last] weekend and just continue to play at a high level in every area: pitching, hitting and fielding,” Eakin said.
The Cougar softball team is sure to provide a fun experience for fans. The Cougars bring a lot of energy and intensity to each of their games.
BYU will play a double-header against UMKC on Tueday with the first being at 5 p.m. MT followed by the second game at 7 p.m. The Cougars will then be gone this weekend in another WAC series against Fresno State, before returning to Gail Miller Field to take on Southern Utah and Hawaii in a three-game series next weekend.
