UVU upsets the Cougars in cross-town battle
Reading Time: 3 minutes UVU Softball upset the Cougars in thanks to a 10-run third inning, avenging the loss in Provo earlier this year.
Utah Valley Softball used a 10-run third inning to propel them to a victory over in-state rival, BYU.
The Cougars took down the Wolverines in Provo earlier this season with BYU coming away with a 9-7 win after a seven-run effort in the final two innings of the game.
The Wolverines have defeated the Cougars just one time since 2015, the win came in 2021 after an 8-1 decimation at Wolverine Softball Field.
BYU took an early 1-0 lead after Lily Owens singled on a ball hit down the first base line, just passed the diving Megan Gibbs.
Utah Valley could have limited the damage, but shortstop Ry Binne got confused by the spin of the ball and the error allowed another Cougar to cross the plate in the first inning.
Binne, however, made up for her blunder and made a nice dig at short before throwing out the runner at first, ending the inning.
In the top of the second, BYU would get two more runs across by a walk and fielder choice while the bases were loaded. Utah Valley would be playing behind a four-run deficit early in the game.
BYU got yet another run in the top of the third, pushing Utah Valley closer to a mercy rule.
But the bats woke up. Three straight base hits got a run across for the Wolverines after an RBI single up the middle from the pitcher Payge Armendariz.
And with a crack of the bat, the Wolverines were back in the game.
Halle Morris launched a 3-run home run to left and turned it into a 5-4 ball game with just one out in the bottom of the third.
Megan Gibbs would hit a double off the wall and would toy with the Cougar defense after the next batter hit a ball to third and would put runners on first and second with one out.
After a wild pitch, the runners would advance to second and third, then Mya Higareda would send a ball through the infield to push the Wolverines to a 6-5 lead.
The bats would stay scorching as Angelique Mann would fly a ball over the fence for a 2-run shot. Completely flipping the game on its head.
After batting around the order, Armendariz came back up and brought home the final two runners, completing a 10-run inning.
UVU would get a run in the fourth and fifth innings, pushing the Cougars to the brink of the mercy rule.
The Wolverines got a runner on with no outs in the bottom half of the six and had a chance to end it early.
Despite the early pressure, Utah Valley was not able to get a run across and would have to settle with a 12-5 lead going into the top of the seventh inning.
BYU would not go down without a fight, however, scoring two runs after a one-out triple.
Shortly after the triple, the Cougars would go yard and turn this into a 3-run deficit, giving Utah Valley nightmares from the previous meeting in Provo where they gave up seven runs over the final two innings.
Violet Zavodnik of the Cougars launched a ball again and it was now a 12-10 lead for UVU.
But the effort would not be enough and Utah Valley upset BYU.
Utah Valley secures its first win over BYU since 2021, and the second since 2015.
In that time, UVU had been mercy-ruled nine times and they got revenge for the loss in Provo this year.
Avery Sapp pitched four innings, giving up six hits and five runs but struck out five.
Armendariz pitched three innings with five hits, five runs, and four walks but was excellent in the batter’s box with three hits and three runs batted in.
Utah Valley will jump back into WAC play versus UT Arlington on Friday, April 12, and then will return home to face Utah State on Tuesday, April 16.
Nathan Dunn is the Sports Editor for the UVU Review. After three years at Utah State, Nathan is majoring in Public Relations and Digital Media at Utah Valley University. In his free time, Nathan likes to watch all sports but mostly College Football. Nathan works hard to give the best sports content to UVU fans, media, and students.