BYU Softball Finally Home

Cougars to face SDSU and UNLV this week.

Softball Home HEADLINES New Mexico's Gayle Tripp, UNLV's Brittany Meade Nominees for 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year Award New Mexico's Gayle Tripp, UNLV's Brittany Meade Nominees for 2009 NCAA Woman of the Year Award Mountain West Conference Softball Press Release - 2009 Wrap-Up RELATED LINKS • Follow all of the college softball action at CollegeSports.com • Email this to a friend

March 31, 2004

PROVO, Utah - The BYU women's softball team (18-9) is home at last after a long 27 games on the road. The Cougars will host the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Thursday (3 p.m./5 p.m.) and San Diego State on Friday (4 p.m./6 p.m.) at Gail Miller Field to mark the beginning of Mountain West Conference play.

UNLV is posting a 17-21 overall record heading into conference play coming off three losses to ranked teams including No. 1 Arizona and No. 20 Nebraska. SDSU, last year's regular-season conference champs, is notching a 21-16 overall record and is currently on a five-game win streak.

The first game of Friday's doubleheader against SDSU will be broadcast live on KBYU TV. Jay Monson will provide the play-by-play and Garry Sheide will be the color analyst.

Live stats will be provided for both games. A link is available on the BYU softball schedule page.

BYU is coming off two wins from neighboring Utah Valley State College on Tuesday in Orem. The Cougars defeated the Wolverines 15-2 and 11-1 in five-inning games. BYU was hot at the plate with seven hitters batting .333 or better. The team recorded four doubles and two homers in the contests.

The Cougars are also coming off the Stanford Classic in Palo Alto, Calif. last weekend. BYU posted a 2-2 record against tough competition. The Cougars got a big 5-2 win over Hawai`i in California after losing to the Wahine the first game of the season in Hawai`i. In the third match up of the season against UC Riverside, BYU also got a nice 9-5 win over the Highlanders. BYU was defeated by two quality opponents including a 3-2 loss to Illinois (receiving votes in the top-25) and a close 7-5 loss to No. 12 Stanford.

"It was a good weekend for us," BYU defense and recruiting coach Mindy Hanson said. "We feel confident that we're in the right spot to start conference."

BYU Earns MWC Player and Pitcher of the Week Awards (March 30)

Shortstop Jodi Norton and right-handed pitcher Niki Andersen were named MWC Player and Pitcher of the Week on March 30 for their performances at the Stanford Classic. This is Norton's first MWC award of her BYU career and is Andersen's back-to-back MWC pitching honor.