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BYU's Sweet 16 Gives Norton Record
BYU head coach Gordon Eakin has now led his team to 16 straight victories.
May 4, 2007 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Senior Jodi Norton broke BYU's single-season home run record, as the Cougars (36-16, 12-2) swept New Mexico (18-21, 7-7) 4-1 and 7-4 Thursday. BYU head coach Gordon Eakin has now led his team to 16 straight victories. The Cougars have hit a total of 77 homers on the season and have hit at least one home run in 16 straight games. "These girls have tremendous character," Eakin said. "They never quit. The wins feel good, but it feels better to be associated with these players." As has been the case for most of the season's late run, a BYU home run began scoring. It was sophomore Andrea Ramirez going long in the top of the second to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. Freshman Angeline Quiocho gave BYU a two-run lead in the third. After stealing third base, her 13th stolen base of the season, senior Jennifer Whiteley hit a sacrifice fly to right field bringing Quiocho home. The Cougars got their third run in the fourth inning when an Emi Snow lead-off double was followed by a Dani Urincho-Snow single to left field two batters later. Urincho-Snow's hit drove in her sister-in-law from third. BYU put a stamp on the game in the seventh where Quiocho went up to bat with runners at the corners and no outs. Quiocho singled to left field, scoring pinch-runner Jana Anderson. The Lobos scored an unearned run in the sixth for the 4-1 final. Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week Christie Zinanti picked up her team-best 16th win. Zinanti struck out six in her 14th complete game of the year. In game two, New Mexico took a 2-0 lead behind two solo home runs by Amy Ray in the first inning and Ashley Allen in the second. An unearned run in the fourth gave the Cougars a 3-0 deficit heading into the fifth. With the team's 15-game winning streak in jeopardy, senior Jodi Norton hit her 22nd home run of the season. The two-run shot to center field gave Norton BYU's all-time single season record in home runs and cut the Lobos lead down to one. The Cougars' second leading home run hitter, Snow, went to bat next and took care of that. The junior from Mililani, Hawaii cranked her 13th of the year to left field to make it a 3-3 ballgame. New Mexico regained the lead in the bottom of the order when a fielding error allowed Ray to give the Lobos the 4-3 advantage. However, BYU was not quite ready to have its winning streak snapped. With runners in scoring position senior Cortney Nix-Clark grounded out to short, but Tracee Hoch scored on the play. Whiteley then doubled down the left field line bringing in Quiocho for the game-winning run. In the seventh inning, Urincho-Snow drove Anderson in, and Hoch drove Stephanie Platt in for the 7-4 final. "We talked in the fourth about how they weren't going to give it to us," Eakin said. "We had to earn it. We made the right adjustments at the plate and just got the snowball going." Next up for BYU is a visit to Fort Collins, Colorado where the team will face conference-foe Colorado State for a weekend series. Friday's game is slated to begin at 3 p.m. (MST), while Saturday's game will start at noon.
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