Provo, Utah - In the finale of a three game series at BYU's Gail Miller Field, the Pacific Softball team dropped an 8-0 decision to the host Cougars as McKenna Bull tossed a one-hit shutout to stifle the Pacific offense that had put on a prolific power display just a game ago. Pacific falls to 10-32 on the season (0-6 WCC) while Brigham Young moved to 29-8 and a conference leading 6-0 in WCC play.
Pacific sent senior Dani Bonnet (5-16) to the circle for her second start of the series while BYU again countered with Bull (25-5), who picked up her third victory in as many games. In the top of the first inning, Pacific saw two runners reach on a pair of Cougar errors, but Bull recovered to strikeout junior Nicole Zapotoczny and induce a pop out off the bat of freshman Sydney Lahners to end the threat.
After Bonnet twirled a scoreless frame in the bottom of the first, Pacific went down in order against Bull in the top of the second. With two down, senior Alex Steinmehl rocketed a one-hopper to third base but CoCo Tauali'i was able to snag the shot and throw to first to retire the side.
Tauali'i put the Cougars up 1-0 in the bottom of the frame after two were down. The Cougar third baseman homered to center field on a screamer that barely cleared the fence in left center field. Bonnet recovered to retire Alexa Strid on a fly out and limit the damage in the inning to just the one run for the hosts. Pacific had a scoring opportunity in the top of the third inning as sophomore Toni Santos drew a leadoff walk and freshman Molly Bourne singled with two out. Bull struck out Pacific cleanup hitter Zapotoczny for the second time to end the Tiger threat in the frame.
The bottom of the third saw BYU plate a run as Lacey Hofstedt reached on an infield single, stole second base, advanced to third on a fly ball to center field and scored on a fielder's choice, sliding past the tag of freshman catcher Rachel Sellers to put the Cougars up 2-0. In the fourth inning, the Cougars broke the game open with a six-run frame, highlighted by a Tauali'i three-run homer, her fourth of the series, and a bases-clearing double from Mercedes O'Connor.
BYU had the runs it needed to give Bull a chance to end the contest early, heading into the top of the fifth with an 8-0 advantage. Bull was able to finish the complete game effort and send BYU to a sweep of the weekend series, surrendering only two-out walk to junior Sara Anderson.
Bonnet recorded two strikeouts and walked none over her 3.1 innings of work while freshman Marissa Young worked 0.2 innings in relief, allowing one earned run while walking a batter. Molly Bourne had the lone hit for the Tigers, a single in the third inning, as the Orange and Black saw its losing streak hit ten games.
Pacific will regroup and return to the friendly confines of Bill Simoni Field for a midweek non-conference home game against Big Sky Conference opponent Sacramento State on Wednesday. The first pitch is slated for 6:00 pm.
For the latest on the Pacific Softball program, be sure to follow @PacificSoftball on Twitter and Instagram.
