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Winning Streak Now at 11 For BYU
Jennifer Whiteley recorded her 56th hit of the year
April 25, 2007 PROVO, Utah - A double-header sweep of Southern Utah (20-29) kept BYU's (31-16) 11-game winning streak alive, as the Cougars defeated the Thunderbirds 8-0 and 6-5. Despite the wins, BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said he wasn't happy with his team's effort. "We walked onto the field just expecting to win," Eakin said, "and you can't do that in division one softball. We were lackadaisical. Especially in the second game, were just going through the motions." After Jennifer Whiteley recorded her 56th hit of the year, fellow senior Jodi Norton hit a blooper over the second baseman's head putting two on for Emi Snow. Snow launched the second pitch she saw into orbit, and just like that the Cougars had a 3-0 lead after one inning of play. Senior Tracee Hoch led off the second inning with a line drive down the middle. A fielding error by the Thunderbirds' first baseman put Hoch and sophomore Stephanie Platt at the corners with Monica Gonzales at the plate. Gonzales hit one into shallow left field to score Hoch. Whiteley stepped up next and got her second hit of the day along with her first RBI of the day with a single that sailed just past the first baseman. Platt's trot across home plate put BYU ahead 5-0. The Cougars ended game one early in the bottom of the fifth when Kristina Brooks hit both Norton and Snow with pitches. Brooks' pitches loaded the bases for Dani Urincho-Snow, who hit a three-RBI double for the 8-0 victory. Freshman Christie Zinanti threw the shutout one-hitter. Zinanti struck out five and retired 15 of the 19 batters she faced. BYU entered the bottom of the first inning in the second game down 1-0. The deficit was short-lived as Andrea Ramirez tied the game with an RBI line drive down the middle in the bottom of the order. However, the Thunderbirds would retake the lead in the second behind three unearned runs, which were topped off by a Cassie Cresswell two-run homer to right field. Another run in the top of the third gave SUU a 5-1 advantage. A pair of solo home runs from Norton in the third and Hoch in the fourth got the Cougars to within two. Hoch's swat tied BYU's all-time team record of 68 home runs hit in 2005. Senior Cortney Nix-Clark drove in Zinanti with a double that bounced off of the Thunderbirds' shortstop's glove and into left field to make it a 5-4 game. Still trailing by one in the bottom of the sixth, Norton put BYU over the hump with a two-run shot, her 19th homer of the season, to left center. "I'm proud of them for coming back," Eakin said. "That shows character for our team. But, we should have never gotten ourselves in that situation."
BYU hosts its archrival University of Utah on Friday at Gail Miller Field for Fireworks/Break the Attendance Record Night. Game time is set for 6 p.m., and fans who attended last Friday's game against New Mexico and brings their ticket stub this Friday will get in for free. There will be a fireworks show after the game.
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