BYU softball home opener this weekend

PROVO, Utah – After eight straight weeks on the road, BYU returns to Gail Miller Field for its home opener against Pacific for a weekend series. 

BYU Game Notes Week 9

The Cougars were scheduled to play Utah State on Tuesday, in Logan but the game was cancelled due to rain. BYU will open its 10-game home stand against Pacific for its second West Coast Conference series with a doubleheader on Friday followed by one game on Saturday. 

BYU beings its weekend series on Friday, April 12, with a doubleheader against Pacific at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. followed by a game on Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m. MT. The games on Friday will be on BYUtv with the Saturday game on TheW.tv.

BYU Storylines

HOME OPENER. After eight straight weeks and 36 games on the road, the BYU softball team returns home for a weekend series against Pacific. 

NATIONAL ACTIVE LEADER. Libby Sugg is currently No. 2 nationally among active career leaders in RBI with 202. Sugg has tallied 21 so far this season including tying her career-high of five RBI against UTEP.

CHASING THE CHARTS. A handful of BYU softball players are moving up in the BYU all-time record books. Senior Libby Sugg finished the 2018 season ranked No. 2 and No. 3 at BYU in career on-base percentage (.455) and slugging percentage (.700), respectively. She continues to move up in other categories including No. 3 in RBI (202), No. 5 in homers (47) and No. 5 in doubles (42). After this weekend, Arissa Paulson moved into the No. 9 spot for career shutouts (6) and No. 10 in career strikeouts with 210.

BACK-TO-BACK WEEKLY AWARDS. Arissa Paulson was named WCC Pitcher of the Week for the second consecutive week. She won the award last week, when BYU swept the weekly awards. Paulson struck out a career-high 11 batters against Loyola Marymount this past weekend, pitching a complete game, allowing only one run and no walks. This was BYU’s eighth award this season and the second time a BYU player has won back-to-back weekly awards. 

Opponent Outlook

Pacific | April 12-13 | Friday 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., Saturday 1 p.m. | BYUtv, TheW.tv

• Pacific is 14-22 on the season and 0-3 in conference after opening conference play last weekend against San Diego.

• BYU leads the series 17-2 but the Tigers gave BYU its lone loss in conference play last season. 

• Brian Kolze is in his 27th season as the head coach of the Tigers. He holds a 763-700-1 overall record in his 27 seasons.