PROVO, Utah -- A late rally proved not to be enough as BYU fell in a 7-3 decision Friday night to the University of Houston at Gail Miller Field.

Starting pitcher Hannah Howell dropped to 5-11 on the season as the Cougars (14-16, 4-0 PCSC) couldn't recover from a five-run Houston first inning in front of 1,023 fans. Houston starting pitcher Bailey Watts recorded her 12th win of the season, striking out four to preserve the Scarlet Cougars (20-10, 8-1 CUSA) victory.

"Hannah wasn't ready to pitch," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "She was flat and they roughed us up in the first inning and we never recovered. Carly came in and did a nice job for us. That was probably the only thing tonight that I'll take away as a bright spot."

JC Clayton, Katie Manuma and Marissa Bravo all finished with two hits in the loss. Pitcher Carly Duckworth came in relief of Howell to start the third inning and gave up just two runs in five innings of play.

Houston got the bats swinging early with a five-hit, five-run first inning. Outfielder Tylor Duplechain began the barrage with a triple, driving in two runs to take an early 2-0 level. Houston’s next three batters hit three-straight doubles, scoring three more runs to extend Houston’s lead to 5-0.

The Cougars looked to narrow the gap during the bottom of the second inning. With two outs, Clayton singled up the middle to load the bases for the Cougars, before Duckworth hit a pop-up to center field to end the inning.The score remained at a 5-0 Houston advantage through four.

In the top of the fifth inning, Holland advanced to second on her second double of the game with a deep ball into center field. Houston’s next batter singled up the middle and drove in the run to up Houston’s lead to 6-0. Jessica Snyder batted in another Houston run with a grounder to the left-field gap to end the top of the fifth with a seven-run lead.

BYU got on the board in the bottom of the fifth after taking advantage of multiple Houston errors. Manuma singled up the middle to load the bases before Bravo smashed a line-drive that bounced out of the reach of Houston's third baseman to score two runs. With two outs, Madisen Robb reached base on another Snyder error to score Manuma and narrow the Houston lead to four, down 7-3 after five innings of play.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars looked to rally with two outs and runners on second and third, but Robb grounded out to end the game. BYU returns to action tomorrow afternoon against Houston with game one of a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. MDT. Watch the Cougars live on BYUtv. 

PROVO, Utah--The BYU softball team will host Houston this weekend in a non-conference three-game series at Gail Miller Field on Friday at 6 p.m. MDT and Saturday starting at 1 p.m. MDT. 

BYU QUICK HITS

• BYU is currently on a five game winning streak, its highest of the season, after winning its home opener against Marist and sweeping San Diego in its conference opener last week. 
• BYU started the 2012 home season with an 8-0 record. Overall they were 17-1 at home, with the lone loss coming against No. 20 Hawai’i. This year they are 1-0. 
• Senior shortstop JC Clayton broke the all-time hit record at BYU in the team’s four-game series against USD. Clayton has 269 career hits and a team and conference-leading 44 hits this season. Clayton was named PCSC Player of the Week for the third time this year. 
• Senior Hannah Howell was named the College Sports Madness Pitcher of the Week for the PCSC. Howell went 2-0 last week alongside a 0.93 ERA and 13 strikeouts. She also got the first hit of her career against San Diego. 
• BYU has an all-time record of 1-3 against Houston and has never played them in Provo. 

OPPONENT NOTES

The Scarlet Cougars are sporting a record of 19-9 this season with an 8-1 record in the Conference USA standings. The team is led by head coach Kyla Holas who has headed the team since its inception in 1999. Since then, the team has had 11 consecutive winning seasons, five NCAA Regional appearances and two NCAA Super Regional Appearances. The Scarlet Cougars have four players who are hitting over .300 in senior Holly Anderson, freshman Katie St. Pierre, junior Haley Outon and senior Reina Gaber. With a .394 clip, Anderson leads the team in total bases with 56 and has a team-high seven stolen bases on the year. Outon brings power to the lineup with eight home runs to pad her .815 slugging percentage. Outon is also ranked 61st in the NCAA in home runs per game, fifth in walks, 16th in on base percentage and 12th in sacrifice flies. Houston has four pitchers on its staff who have made appearances this season, but are led by redshirt junior Bailey Watts. Alongside an impressive ERA of 1.66, Watts has compiled an 11-2 record this season with the help of 71 strikeouts and a .181 opponent average. Watts numbers have placed her on the NCAA watch as well, ranking 51st in shutouts, earned run average and victories. 

With the same number of games under their belts, BYU has out-hit Houston 229-200 so far this season, but the Scarlet Cougars have an advantage in extra-base hits wtih 43 doubles to BYU’s 27 and 17 home runs to BYU’s 8. BYU has an advantage at the mound with 157 strikeouts on the year to Houston’s 125 and in the field, turning nine double plays to the Scarlet Cougars' six. Houston will welcome No. 4 Alabama to its home field on Wednesday night before traveling to Provo for the three-game series on Friday and Saturday.  

THEY'RE BACK

It was a slow start to the season for the BYU pitching staff, but after going 5-0 in its home and conference debut the staff looks to be gaining confidence on the mound. 

Tori Almond earned two wins in solid performances against Marist and San Diego. She pitched 13.1 innings and gave up only one earned run on seven hits. She held San Diego hitless in her 3.1 innings of work on Saturday and ended the week with 12 strikeouts and a 0.53 ERA. 

Hannah Howell, who picked up a majority of the innings due to injuries in the preseason, also got back on track. She earned two wins against San Diego and added 13 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.93 to her weekend stats. She was also named College Sports Madness Pitcher of the Week for the PCSC. 

CONSISTENT CLAYTON

Senior shorstop JC Clayton has been as consistent as they come for BYU softball. The California native made an impact right away for the Cougars, starting in 54 games her freshman year. She had a career-high 80 hits that season alongisde a .430 batting average and a career-high 56 runs scored. Her consistency througout the season helped lead BYU to its first ever NCAA Super Regional against Arizona. 

In her sophomore and junior seasons she started in every game and continued to add to her impressive freshman stats, leading the Cougars to two more NCAA Regional appearances and two conference championships. 

In her first three years at BYU, Clayton garnered Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, Mountain West All-Conference First Team, Easton Second-Team All-American, NFCA All-Region First Team, All-WAC First Team and two BYU Offensive Player of the Year accolades. 

At the beginning of this season, she was named to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2013 USA Collegiate Softball Player of the Year. With four hits against USD on Saturday, she surpassed Angie Quiocho to hold the new all-time hit record with 269 career hits. Clayton also set a game record in game two on Saturday against the Toreros for stolen bases in a game with four.

“JC has been a cornerstone on our team for four years now,” Eakin said of her accomplishment. “She is a complete player. This record could stand for a very long time.”

Clayton is also second in career batting average with .403, fourth in career runs scored with 169, second in career triples with 9 and third in career stolen bases with 38. She has also won three of the seven PCSC Player of the Week honor’s so far this season. 

WHERE TO WATCH

Friday's game will be broadcast live on BYU Radio-Sirius XM 143, while Saturday's doubleheader will be broadcast via BYUtv.