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No. 2 BYU Upsets No. 1 San Diego State, 8-4, In Semifinals Of MWC Softball Tournament Teams will face each other tomorrow in elimination game
May 12, 2006 LAS VEGAS - Final Boxscore in PDF Format
In game eight of the Mountain West Softball Tournament, No. 2 seed BYU (42-19) defeated No. 1 seed San Diego State (31-12), 8-4, after an explosive offensive game. With the victory, San Diego State and BYU will match up again in the elimination game Saturday, May 13 at 2:30 p.m. (PDT).
"We're capable of putting runs up, which is tough to do against a team like San Diego State," said BYU Head Coach Gordon Eakin. "The trick is trying to beat them for the fourth time in a row. It's hard to beat any team four times in a row, but especially with San Diego State's pitching staff. We are going to have to play a heck of a game to beat them tomorrow."
BYU came out strong as leadoff hitter Andrea Ramirez hit a single, followed by one from Monica Gonzales. The MWC Player of the Year Ianeta Le'i batted cleanup and knocked a line drive down the first base line for a two-run RBI. With the Cougars up 2-0, the MWC Pitcher of the Year Christina Ross walked the next two batters before San Diego State's Celena Velasquez entered the game. With the bases loaded, Velasquez forced BYU's Jodi Norton to ground into a double play and end the inning with the Cougars leading, 2-0.
San Diego State countered BYU's attack with a stand-up double to leadoff the first inning, but a diving catch by centerfielder Courtney Nix ended the inning, leaving the Aztecs scoreless. They cut the Cougars' lead in the second inning after Monica Alnes singled down the line and Chrissie Markham singled to centerfield to drive her home and make the score 2-1.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Cougars continued their offensive swing as Norton hit a two-run shot over the centerfield wall to increase their lead to three. A combination of three BYU hits and an error by San Diego State increased the Cougars lead to six, giving them a 7-1 advantage.
Scoring continued as SDSU's Ashley Owens smacked a standup double, advancing teammate Taryin Casillas to third. Markham hit her second RBI of the game as the Aztecs cut BYU's lead to five at the end of the fourth inning. SDSU continued to chip away the Cougars' lead, as Tamani Wells and Erin Floros singled, while teammate Casillas drove them home with her first hit of the evening. The Aztecs finished the fifth inning down four runs.
BYU's Ashlyn Russell singled to left field and rounded the bases off Paige Paramore and Jodi Norton's hits to give the Cougars an 8-4 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Tobias retired the first three San Diego State batters in the seventh to seal the 8-4 victory for the Cougars.
"It doesn't happen very often that you have 10 hits, score runs and lose a ball game," said SDSU Head Coach Kathy Van Wyk. "You have to give BYU credit, a lot of balls fell in for them and we didn't take advantage of extra runners we had on base and they did. We'll come back fighting tomorrow."
Tobias (20-7) tossed a complete game in the circle, allowing four runs on 10 hits. San Diego State's Ross falls to 15-8 on the season.
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