The BYU softball team won its 12th consecutive West Coast Conference championship with a three-game sweep at Santa Clara over the weekend. The softball and baseball teams both brought in weekly awards to complete this week's BYU Olympic sports overview.
Softball
The sweep at Santa Clara gave BYU its 22nd win in the last 24 games and the WCC title gives BYU an automatic bid to its 16th-straight NCAA Tournament. Outfielder HannahJo Peterson was named WCC Player of the Week following the wins, her second of the year, and BYU's 13th WCC weekly player award. Peterson had three home runs last week against Southern Utah and Santa Clara.
The Cougars followed up the WCC championship-winning weekend with a home doubleheader against Dixie State on Monday, May 10. After the second game, and final home game of the season, BYU honored its six seniors on Senior Night at Gail Miller Field. Rylee Jensen, Arissa Paulson, Emilee Erickson, Erin Milklus, Morgan Bevell and Marissa Chavez had their numbers painted on the field and were recognized in front of the crowd with their families.
One of the seniors, Jensen, continued her record-breaking season over the weekend against Santa Clara. The senior outfielder now sits at No. 2 all-time at BYU in career runs and hits, and is now No. 1 in career doubles in BYU history.
BYU followed up Senior Night with a 4-0 win on the road at Utah State on Tuesday, May 11, extending the team's win streak to eight and finishing the season with 25 wins in 27 games.
The Cougars will play an intra-squad scrimmage on Friday in preparation for the NCAA Tournament, and will also honor the seniors following the scrimmage as well, giving fans ample opportunities to see an impressive group of seniors play one last time in Provo.
Baseball
The BYU baseball team continued its late-season hot streak, winning seven of the last eight games. Infielder Andrew Pintar was named WCC Player of the Week and one of the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Players of the week after the Cougars went 3-1 last week, with wins at UVU and San Diego. USD entered the week as No. 1 in the WCC, and BYU was able to win the three-games series with a 2-1 record, moving to a winning record of 11-10 in conference play.
Pintar had three home runs, a double and a triple last week, and had at least two hits in each game. The WCC Player of the Week award is the first of Pintar’s BYU career and the second for the Cougars in 2021. BYU right fielder Cole Gambill was named the WCC Player of the Week on Monday, May 3.
BYU travels to Stockton, California this weekend for a three-game series against Pacific at Klein Field on May 13-15, before returning to Provo to play Utah on May 18 and Pepperdine on May 20-22 to cap off the regular season at Miller Park.