Cougars Win Regular Season Conference Title

PROVO -- With 14-11 and 2-1 victories Saturday over rival Utah (35-23-1, 11-8-1) at Gail Miller Field, the BYU (32-23, 11-6) softball team captured the regular season Mountain West Conference Championship for the first time in school history in only its second year of NCAA Division I competition.

An RBI-double by Melissa Stahnke in the first inning of game one put the Utes on top early. But, the Cougars came back with five runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Oli Keohohou started the BYU rally with a double, followed by an Elizabeth Pierce-Boydston single that scored Keohohou to tie the game at 1-1. Brooke Cadiente then doubled in another run and with the bases loaded, Kari Pringle hit a double off the outfield fence that cleared the bases and put the Cougars up 5-1.

In a game that produced 25 runs and 27 hits, the next scoring came in the third inning when the Utes scored two runs on four hits, pulling them within two at 5-3. Then, in the fourth inning, Utah went ahead 7-5 with four runs on five hits, including home runs by Lyndsey Trevis and Stahnke.

BYU countered in the fourth and fifth innings, scoring a combined nine runs on four Ute errors. A two-run double by Pierce-Boydston in the fourth brought home Keohohou and Jill Roberts and a three run home-run by Cadiente in the fifth put the Cougars up 14-7. Utah countered with four runs on six hits in the seventh but it was not enough at BYU went on to win 14-11. Maryon DeWitt-Wallentine (16-14) got the win, giving up 11 runs on 17 hits. Kristin Arbogast (27-17) got the loss, giving up 14 runs on 10 hits while the Utes committed five errors.

With BYU needing a second win to capture the championship, game two remained scoreless through three innings, but in the fourth Utah scored a run on a Cougar error after back-to-back walks to go up 1-0. In the fifth, BYU took a 2-1 advantage when Keohohou hit her 20th home run of the season and Cadiente drove in Smith on a sacrifice fly. Meghann Pricer (12-6) gave up one run on six hits while striking out three en route to the decisive victory. Heather Bowlin (8-6) got the loss, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out two BYU batters.

The Cougars will next compete in the MWC Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M., Thursday through Saturday.

The Automated Scorebook
                        U of UTAH UTES at BYU COUGARS (Game 1)
                        May 05, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH (GAIL MILLER FIELD)
U of UTAH UTES 11 (35-22-1,11-7-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
McLEAN, M cf.............  5  0  1  0   0  0  1  0   1
JEPPSON, A lf............  4  3  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
TREVIS, L 3b.............  4  2  2  3   0  0  0  1   0
STAHNKE, M ss............  5  3  4  5   0  1  3  2   0
HAYHURST, N 1b...........  3  1  3  0   2  0  6  1   0
LARSEN, M 2b.............  4  0  2  1   1  1  1  2   2
PFENINGER, C c...........  5  0  0  0   0  2  5  0   3
OTA, Masie rf............  4  1  3  1   0  0  2  0   0
KENNEY, A dh/pr..........  3  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   5
CULLIGAN, B ph..........   1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
ARBOGAST, K p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
BOWLIN p................   0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 38 11 17 10   3  5 18  6  11
BYU COUGARS 14 (31-23,10-6 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
KEOHOHOU, O rf............ 4  2  1  0   1  0  0  0   2
SMITH, L lf..............  4  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
BOYDSTON 3b..............  4  2  2  3   0  0  1  2   0
HOLLAND pr..............   0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
CADIENTE, B dh...........  3  2  3  4   1  0  0  0   0
HANSON, M 1b.............  3  2  0  0   1  0  7  1   1
HODGEN-KELLY cf..........  3  2  2  0   1  0  1  0   0
PRINGLE 2b...............  4  0  1  3   0  0  4  0   1
ERICKSON, B ss...........  2  0  0  0   1  1  1  3   1
ELLIS, J ph.............   1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
CHRISTIANSEN c...........  3  1  1  0   0  1  6  1   0
ROBERTS, J pr...........   0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
DEWITT-WALLE p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
Totals................... 31 14 10 10   5  4 21  9   5
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
U of UTAH UTES.......102 400 4 - 11 17  5
BYU COUGARS......... 500 540 X - 14 10  2
-----------------------------------------
E - STAHNKE, M 2; HAYHURST, N; LARSEN, M; ARBOGAST, K; HODGEN-KELLY;
ERICKSON, B. LOB - UTES 11; COUGARS 5. 2B - STAHNKE, M 3; KEOHOHOU, O;
BOYDSTON; CADIENTE, B; PRINGLE. HR - TREVIS, L; STAHNKE, M; CADIENTE, B. HBP
- JEPPSON, A; CHRISTIANSEN. SH - TREVIS, L. SB - JEPPSON, A; HODGEN-KELLY 2.
U of UTAH UTES          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
ARBOGAST, K.........   5.0 10 14 13  5  3 28 34
BOWLIN..............   1.0  0  0  0  0  1  3  3
BYU COUGARS            IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
DEWITT-WALLE........  7.0 17 11 11  3  5 38 43
Win - DEWITT-WALLE (16-14).  Loss - ARBOGAST, K (27-17).  Save - None.
HB - ARBOGAST, K; DEWITT-WALLE.
Umpires - Home:DAVID WHITFORD  1st:CHARLIE HANSEN  3rd:TJ BREWSTER
Start: 12:05   Time: 3HR   Attendance: 478
Game: UT-BYU3
The Automated Scorebook
                U of UTAH UTES at BYU COUGARS (Game 2)
                May 05, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH (GAIL MILLER FIELD)
U of UTAH UTES 1 (35-23-1,11-8-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
McLEAN, M cf.............  3  0  2  0   0  0  1  0   0
JEPPSON, A lf............  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
TREVIS, L 3b.............  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   1
STAHNKE, M ss............  2  1  0  0   0  2  0  2   0
HAYHURST, N 1b...........  2  0  1  0   1  0  7  0   0
LARSEN, M 2b.............  3  0  0  0   0  0  3  3   0
PFENINGER, C c...........  2  0  0  0   0  0  2  1   1
KENNEY, A ph............   1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
OTA, Masie rf............  3  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   2
CULLIGAN, B dh...........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
BOWLIN p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
ARBOGAST, K p...........   0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 24  1  4  0   1  3 18  9   5
BYU COUGARS 2 (32-23,11-6-0 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
KEOHOHOU, O rf............ 2  1  1  1   1  0  1  0   0
SMITH, L lf..............  3  1  1  0   0  0  1  0   0
BOYDSTON 3b..............  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   1
FERNLEY, E pr...........   0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
CADIENTE, B dh...........  2  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
HANSON, M 1b.............  2  0  1  0   1  0  8  2   1
ROBERTS, J pr...........   0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
HODGEN-KELLY cf..........  3  0  2  0   0  0  1  0   0
PRINGLE 2b...............  2  0  1  0   0  1  3  3   0
ERICKSON, B ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  1  3  2   4
CHRISTIANSEN c...........  2  0  0  0   0  0  4  2   0
ELLIS, J ph.............   1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
PRICER, M p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 23  2  6  2   2  2 21 13   7
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
U of UTAH UTES.......000 100 0 -  1  4  1
BYU COUGARS......... 000 020 X -  2  6  1
-----------------------------------------
E - STAHNKE, M; PRINGLE. LOB - UTES 5; COUGARS 7. HR - KEOHOHOU, O. HBP -
STAHNKE, M. SH - JEPPSON, A; PRINGLE. SF - CADIENTE, B. SB - HODGEN-KELLY.
CS - OTA, Masie.
U of UTAH UTES         IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
BOWLIN..............  5.1  6  2  2  2  2 21 25
ARBOGAST, K.........  0.2  0  0  0  0  0  2  2
BYU COUGARS            IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
PRICER, M...........  7.0  4  1  1  1  3 24 27
Win - PRICER, M (12-6).  Loss - BOWLIN (8-6).  Save - None.
WP - PRICER, M. HB - PRICER, M.
Umpires - Home:CHARLIE HANSEN  1st:TJ BREWSTER  3rd:DAVID WHITFORD
Start: 3:25   Time: 1HR 50M   Attendance: 817
Game: UT-BYU4