PROVO, Utah – It wasn’t a Sun Devil batter looking for another four-hit outing throughout Saturday afternoon’s game; instead, it was Yannixa Acuña driving in a career-high four runs to cap Arizona State’s three-game sweep of conference foe BYU with an 11-3 win.
Acuña helped Arizona State start chipping away at an early three-run deficit when she plated Katie Chester, who led off the frame with a single up the middle before working her way around the basepath, from third on a groundout to shortstop. It was the Sun Devils’ four-year senior who, again, cut the BYU advantage two innings later when she singled through the left side of the infield to score Nehanda Lewis, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Chester, from second.
Newly created momentum from Aissa Silva and Meika Lauppe (12-4), combining to strand a leadoff Cougar batter at third in the bottom of the fourth, went through the Arizona State batting order in the top half of the fifth, when the Sun Devils scored five runs on six hits to take a four-run lead. The big blow during the frame came occurred when Acuña connected for a two-out, two-run double to score Chester, who drove in pinch runner Brooke Piwowar with a single to right field minutes earlier, and Yazzy Avila to extend ASU’s lead from 4-3 to 6-3.
The five-run fifth – combined with Lauppe’s scoreless 2.1 innings of relief work – laid the foundation for a four-run seventh that saw Ryan Brown, JazMarie Roberts and Piwowar all have run-scoring singles to make it 11 unanswered runs scored by the Sun Devils over the final six innings of Sunday’s series finale.
From Head Coach Megan Bartlett
“(Yannixa Acuña) is a senior, at the end of her career and I think she’s finally reached that point, where she wants to go out there and leave it all on the field and let the chips fall where they may. Yaya is also food-driven and loves ice cream, so she was very motivated to go out there and do her job to help the team sweep so they could get ice cream.”
From senior outfielder Yannixa Acuna
“I think the fact I drove in four runs in kind of crazy, because I’m a slapper. The coaches told me to find a way to put the bat on the ball and I did that. I really just wanted to do my job and help the team. I’m not trying to just get on base. I just wanted to be a ‘Selfless Sun Devil’ today and do my job.”
Game notes
- With her run-scoring single in the top of the fourth, Yannixa Acuña was credited with her second RBI of the contest, marking the second multi-RBI performance for the senior Sun Devil since February 21, 2026, when she recorded a game-ending, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth against Michigan.
- As a result of her fifth inning single to score Brooke Piwowar from second, Katie Chester recorded her 63rd RBI on the season, the most by a Sun Devil in a single season since Cydney Sanders had 63 throughout the 2022 campaign.
- By finishing Saturday’s contest with 16 base hits, it marks the second three-game Big 12 series in which the Arizona State offense was credited with 10-or-more base hits in each game.
- The Sun Devils have 10-17-11 hits in each game at Houston from April 17 to April 19, 2026.
- As a result of sweeping the three-game series at BYU this week, Arizona State has swept multiple Big 12 series in a single season for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2025 season.
- The Sun Devils also swept a three-game road series against Houston (4/17-4/19) this season.
- Brooke Piwowar was credited with her first base hit since Feb. 14, 2026, when she recorded a two-hit game against Portland State, during the top of the sixth, when she blooped a 2-1 pitch into shallow right field.
- With 11 runs during Saturday’s action, Arizona State scored double-digit runs in back-to-back Big 12 games for the second time this season after having 10 against the Cougars on Friday, May 1.
- ASU scored 16 runs in six innings at Houston on Saturday, April 18, before plating 10 the following after on Sunday, Aprill 19.
- Yannixa Acuña’s four RBI throughout Saturday’s game set a new single-game career high, surpassing the previous mark (3) last reached on Feb. 27, 2025 against Oregon State.
Up next
Having now concluded its 2026 regular season, Arizona State (38-16, 11-13) will now turn its attention to next week’s Big 12 Conference Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Finalized seeding and matchups for the eight-team tournament will be announced following the conclusion of Sunday’s conference action between UCF-Iowa State (9 a.m. MST/ESPN+), Kansas-Oklahoma State (11 a.m. MST) and Arizona-Utah (11 a.m. MST).
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