Coco Tauali'i prepares to run to second base in a game against Pacific. Tauali'i's home run scored the only two runs for BYU against WSU. (Ari Davis)
BYU softball stumbled 9-2 in a non-conference loss to the Wildcats of Weber State Tuesday.
'We were terrible,' BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. 'We didn't show up to play.'
The Wildcats scored first in the top of the second inning off an RBI-double and a three-run homer. Arianna Paulson then entered the game to pitch in McKenna Bull's place, but Weber State wasn't deterred. WSU extended the lead to 5-0 in the third with a sacrifice hit while the bases were loaded. WSU added four more in the top of the fourth and led 9-0.
Coco Tauali'i saved BYU from an early loss with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth. The runs narrowed the lead to seven, preventing a post-fifth finish by the eight-run mercy rule.
Bull, Paulson, Madison Merrell and Ashley Thompson all took the mound for the Cougars during the game. Merrell and Thompson held the Wildcats from scoring in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. BYU threatened the lead in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and bases loaded, but a final pop fly finished the game 9-2.
'I don't mind getting beat, but when you don't show up and you just expect to win, I have a hard time with that,' Eakin said.
The loss didn't affect BYU's place in the West Coast Conference standings but put its season record at 34-10. The Cougars will travel to California Friday and Saturday for a three-game conference series against Santa Clara University.