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Seventh Inning Rally Gives BYU the Win¬
• BYU softball: At Salt Lake City, despite falling behind early in the game, the BYU women's softball team rallied in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs on two homers to beat Utah 5-4 on Ute Field.
"I'm proud of our girls for not giving up when we put ourselves in deficit situation," BYU coach Gordon Eakin said. "It has been the hallmark of our team during this conference season."¬
With BYU trailing 4-2, Kristin Delahoussaye led off the top of the seventh inning with a long ball over the right-center fence to spark a Cougar scoring rally. Amanda Vance singled, bringing Dani Snow to to the plate. The BYU slugger went deep down the left-field line to give BYU the 5-4 lead.¬
"I was expecting the pitch so I sat back and went for it," Snow said. "Delahoussaye hit a home run, which was huge and gave us momentum."
Christina Gwyn-Trice, who started the game but was relieved in the fourth by Paige Affleck, re-entered the game in the bottom of the seventh to try to close the contest for BYU (38-16, 11-4 MWC). She allowed a leadoff single to put the tying run on first. A ground out advance the runner to second and a wild pitch put the runner on third with two outs. A fly ball to right field ended the game.
BYU had a runner thrown out at home in the first inning and loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman in the second, but couldn't capitalize. The Cougars finally took the lead in the fourth, when a walk and bunt single put two Cougars on and Caschjen Davis laid down a sacrifice bunt. She reached first on a throwing error that allowed Angeline Quiocho to score.
Utah (26-22, 9-6) scored twice in the bottom of the fourth. The Cougars tied it with a run in the top of the sixth, but the Utes scored twice in the bottom of the frame, setting up the Cougars' final rally.
The two teams face off again today at 1 p.m. on Ute Field.
• UVSC softball: At Orem, six home runs led to 12 runs in two wins for the Utah Valley women's softball team in a doubleheader against Cal State Bakersfield, as the Wolverines topped the Runners 6-4 in the first game and 6-1 in the second. UVU jumped to 14-32 on the season while CSUB fell to 22-23.
Lauren Augino and Kylee Steadman each hit their first two homers of the season while Jessica Anderson and Cherylyn McGraw each hit their third on the year. All 12 runs scored on home runs.
Alli Bramwell (12-14) pitched both games and gave up a total of five runs on 14 hits in 14 innings, improving her record to 12-14 this season.
"I thought we played two solid games today," UVSC coach Todd Fairbourne said. "I really think those were our two best games against a quality opponent. Hopefully we can play that well, regardless of the win or loss, tomorrow."
The Wolverines (14-32) fell behind 3-0 in the first inning of the first game, but came back to score five in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good. McGraw hit a three-run shot in the inning to tie the game, and Steadman hit her first homer, a two-run shot, just three batters later. Augino hit a solo home run in the fourth to add an insurance run.
The second game started slow offensively for both teams. The game was knotted at 0-0 through 2 2/3 innings until Utah Valley went on a two-out rally that featured six runs with eight consecutive batters reaching safely and seven hits.
McGraw started the rally with a double, Heidi Stocks then walked, and both batters were brought home on a three-run dinger from Anderson. Steadman hit her second home run right after that to boost the lead to 4-0, and Shelly Manuel then singled. Augino followed with her second homer of the day, this one a two-run shot to left field. Two more batters hit singles in the inning before CSUB recorded the final out of the inning.
The same two teams play a doubleheader today b eginning at noon. Senior Sara Roskelley will be honored prior to the start of the first game.
• UVSC baseball: At Stillwater, Okla., Utah Valley ran into one of the hottest teams in the country as No. 9 Oklahoma State won its 10th consecutive game, 13-1, in the opener of a four-game series.
The Cowboys (33-11) put this one out of reach early, scoring five runs in the first, another in the second and four in the fourth to take a 10-0 lead.
The Wolverines (12-29-1) scored in the sixth after Jake Rickenbach doubled and moved to third on an error to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Cole Anderson flew out to deep right to score Rickenbach.
Rickenbach and Ryan Jones had two hits each to lead UVSC while Scott Croshaw singled in the sixth to extend his hit streak to 13 games.
The series continues today with a doubleheader scheduled at noon.
• BYU lacrosse: The BYU lacrosse team honored its three seniors in the final home game of the season en route to a 13-6 victory over the No. 17-ranked Lindenwood Lions.
The Cougars took a 5-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. By halftime, the Cougars led 9-2.
The second half was a different story, as the Cougars came out sluggish and were outscored 4-3 in the half. But the big lead held up.
BYU's three seniors, Josh Austin, Christian Kikumoto and Corby Bivans, were honored at halftime as each player received the traditional graduating blanket.
Austin had three goals and three assists.
The Cougars (5-2) have won four games in a row. Linwood dropped to 8-5.
BYU is at Utah on Thursday.
• BYU rugby: At Stanford, Calif., the Cougars advanced to the final of the USARFU Collegiate National Tournament with a 42-13 victory over Colorado at Stanford's Steuber Rugby Stadium.
The Cougars jumped out to a 25-6 lead in the first half, and extended that in the second half.
BYU will face Cal today at 5 p.m. in the national championship game. |
