STANFORD, Calif. – Katie Manuma, Gordy Bravo and Ashlee Robinson combined to lead the Cougars but were unable to comeback, losing 3-5 against No. 17/22 Stanford on Thursday.

“Overall we played a quality game,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We just didn’t get the timely hits we needed and one inning their speed created some defensive miscues for us.”

Manuma, Bravo and Robinson all hit .500 for the Cougars (7-11) and were all involved in scoring the three BYU runs. Tori Almond (0-2) went five innings with five strikeouts and allowed just three earned runs.

After two scoreless innings, Stanford (18-5) got on the board first with a couple of singles and a double to take the 2-0 lead over BYU.

Manuma and McKenzie St. Clair singled to start the fourth inning but couldn’t advance any further. Stanford then took advantage of two BYU errors in the bottom of the frame to score its third run of the game and a wild pitch to get its fourth.

The Cougars mounted a comeback in the top of the fifth after a Robinson double; Lauren Bell walked and Bravo singled to third to load the bases. Ashley Thompson walked to bring Robinson in and Bell scored on a wild pitch. Manuma then singled up the middle to score another and cut the Cardinal’s lead to 4-3. Stanford answered scoring one in the bottom of the inning on a double to right-center to make it 5-3 in its favor.

BYU threatened again in the sixth after Robinson walked and Bravo singled, but it could not cross a runner and Stanford closed the Cougars out in the seventh to secure the win.

BYU returns to action tomorrow against Portland State at 10 a.m. PST before taking on North Dakota State at 12:15 p.m. PST.

PROVO, Utah – After being rained out of the final three games of the San Diego Classic, BYU was able to get a needed break for some injured players going into the Stanford Louisville Slugger Classic.

Stanford Louisville Slugger Classic
Mar. 6-8
Smith Family Stadium

Stanford, Calif.

No. 17/22 Stanford
Thursday, Mar. 6 at 6 a.m. PST

Portland State
Friday, Mar. 7 at 10 a.m. PST

North Dakota State
Friday, Mar. 7 at 12:15 p.m. PST

North Dakota State
Saturday, Mar. 8 at 10 a.m. PST

No. 17/22 Stanford
Saturday, Mar. 8 at 12:15 p.m. PST

BYU
BYU (7-10) played only two games last week in a rain-shortened tournament in San Diego. It was able to hand No. 2 Tennessee its first loss of the season with a 6-3 victory before losing 0-2 to San Diego State. Senior Katie Manuma won the West Coast Conference Player of the Week going 3-for-7 with two home runs and four RBIs. Freshman McKenzie St. Clair batted .333 on the week and added a solo home run. Senior Tori Almond saw her first action of the season getting the save against Tennessee and pitching a strong game in the loss to SDSU. She struck out nine batters in her eight innings of action.

Stanford
No. 17/22 Stanford (17-5) went 3-2 at last week’s Under Armour Invitational in Florida. It defeated Central Arkansas, Georgia State and Kennesaw State, while dropping contests against South Florida and Central Connecticut State. Freshman infielder Kylie Sorenson leads the Cardinal in batting average (.421), doubles (9), triples (2) and walks (17). Stanford bats .330 as a team and scores 6.63 runs per game. In the circle, freshman pitcher Madi Schreyer has made 19 appearances in 22 games with 15 starts. She holds a 14-3 record and maintains a 1.29 ERA with 87 strikeouts.

North Dakota State
NDSU (10-6) was only able to play two games in last weeks University of New Mexico invitational. It lost to Buffalo 2-3 in the first game before getting a 7-4 victory over Idaho State. Junior outfielder Alex Sobrero leads the Bison from the plate batting .386 with six doubles, a home run and 10 RBIs. Sophomore infielder Cheyenne Garcia adds a .378 batting average and leads the team with 13 RBIs. Junior pitcher Krista Menke leads NDSU in the circle with a 7-2 record with 60 strikeouts and a 1.78 ERA.

Portland St.
BYU and Portland State (3-9) met earlier this year when BYU pulled out a 5-4 walk-off victory. The Vikings beat Rutgers and lost to Cal State Northridge at the Cal State Northridge Tourney last week. Junior outfielder Aubrey Nitschelm leads the team at the plate batting .324 with 10 RBIs. Three pitchers have split starts in the circle on a staff that maintains a 5.94 ERA with 32 strikeouts.