Softball Makes it Eight in a Row

PROVO -- BYU (28-16, 7-2) improved to a Mountain West Conference best seven wins in league play with a 7-4 win over New Mexico (14-15, 4-2) at Gail Miller Field.

Friday's victory brings the Cougars' winning streak to eight games. The team has also won 13 of its last 15 and is 6-0 at home.

"We weren't hitting on all cylinders today," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "They fought through it, and I'm happy they battled. We did get some big hits. New Mexico's a good team. They're playing real well right now."

BYU fell behind early trailing 2-0 after the top of the first. A Cortney Nix-Clark solo home run in the bottom of the order cut the Lobos' lead in half. The Cougars threatened to at least tie with one on and two out in the bottom of the second, but Nix-Clark flied out to right field to end the inning.

The Cougars would take advantage of another opportunity in the third. Senior Jennifer Whiteley led off with a triple that took a bounce off the right field wall. Whiteley crossed home plate, tying the game, thanks to a Jodi Norton sacrifice fly. Tracee Hoch and Angeline Quiocho got the lead for good for BYU with back-to-back solo homers in the fourth inning.

Quiocho's shot came right after the freshman third baseman executed an unassisted double play in the top of the order. With one out in the top of the fourth, Lobo Erin Brandow popped one up on the foul side of the third base line. Quiocho caught the ball and threw a rocket to first base to catch Ashley Allen on the tag up.

In that same fourth inning, Whiteley smacked an RBI-triple to right-center giving BYU a 5-2 lead heading into the sixth. New Mexico cut the Cougars' lead down to one in the fifth inning, but junior Christina Gwyn came in and got Katie Gilmore to ground out to first stopping the Lobos' rally one run short of the tie.

Emi Snow went deep for the second time in as many days in the bottom of the order to give BYU the 6-4 advantage, and Andrea Ramirez drove in Jana Anderson in the sixth for the 7-4 final.

BYU and New Mexico meet again at Gail Miller Field Saturday at 2 p.m. (MST).

New Mexico vs Brigham Young Univer
                   Apr 20, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Gail Miller)
New Mexico 4 (28-16)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Samantha Hughes cf.......  1  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   1
 Sara Loeffelholz ph/cf..  0  1  0  0   2  0  0  0   0
Analise Rubalcava 3b.....  3  0  1  0   0  1  1  3   0
Amy Ray 2b...............  4  2  2  2   0  0  1  2   0
Lindsey Elcess 1b........  4  0  2  1   0  1  8  1   1
Katie Gilmore ss.........  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  2   2
Becky Dover dp...........  3  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   1
Ashley Allen lf..........  2  0  0  0   1  1  2  0   0
Erin Brandow c...........  3  0  1  0   0  1  5  0   0
Ryanne Hodgins rf........  2  0  0  0   1  1  1  0   1
Kelly Ninemire p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Caley Peterson p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 25  4  7  3   4  8 18  9   6
Brigham Young Univer 7 (14-15)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Cortney Nix-Clark c......  4  1  1  1   0  1  9  0   4
Jennifer Whiteley lf.....  4  1  2  1   0  0  1  0   0
Jodi Norton ss...........  3  0  1  1   0  2  1  0   1
 Jana Anderson pr........  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Emi Snow rf..............  2  1  1  1   2  0  0  0   0
Andrea Ramirez dp........  2  0  1  1   2  0  0  0   0
Daniela Urincho 1b.......  3  0  1  0   0  0  6  0   2
 Stephanie Platt pr......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Tracee Hoch 2b...........  3  1  1  1   0  1  2  2   2
Angeline Quiocho 3b......  2  1  2  1   1  0  1  5   0
Monica Gonzales cf.......  2  1  1  0   0  0  1  0   0
Christie Zinanti p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Christina Gwyn p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 25  7 11  7   5  4 21  7   9
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 200 020 0 -  4  7  0
Brigham Young Univer 101 311 X -  7 11  1
-----------------------------------------
E - HOCH. DP - BYU Cougars 2. LOB - NM 6; BYU Cougars 9. 2B - RAY 2; ELCESS.
3B - WHITELEY 2. HR - NIX-CLARK; SNOW; HOCH; QUIOCHO. HBP - HUGHES. SH -
RUBALCAVA; URINCHO; HOCH; GONZALES. SF - NORTON. SB - HUGHES; RAY; HODGINS;
ANDERSON.
New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Kelly Ninemire......  3.1  6  5  5  2  2 14 18
Caley Peterson......  2.2  5  2  2  3  2 11 16
Brigham Young Univer   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Christie Zinanti....  4.2  5  4  4  3  6 17 22
Christina Gwyn......  2.1  2  0  0  1  2  8  9
Win - ZINANTI (11-6).  Loss - NINEMIRE (9-9).  Save - GWYN (1).
WP - PETERSON; ZINANTI. HBP - by ZINANTI (HUGHES).
Umpires - HP: Brett Higgins  1B: Bob Marcialis  3B: Clair McBride
Start: 7:00   Time: 2.5 hrs   Attendance: 424
Game: BYU_UNM1
Play-by-Play
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 200 020 0 -  4  7  0
Brigham Young Univer 101 311 X -  7 11  1
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico starters: 4/cf HUGHES; 2/3b RUBALCAVA; 8/2b RAY; 20/1b ELCESS; 24/ss
GILMORE; 44/dp DOVER; 1/lf ALLEN; 16/c BRANDOW; 13/rf HODGINS; 9/p NINEMIRE;
Brigham Young Univer starters: 10/c NIX-CLARK; 3/lf WHITELEY; 8/ss NORTON;
18/rf SNOW; 31/dp RAMIREZ; 22/1b URINCHO; 4/2b HOCH; 33/3b QUIOCHO; 24/cf
GONZALES; 14/p ZINANTI;
New Mexico 1st - HUGHES hit by pitch. HUGHES stole second. RUBALCAVA out
at first 3b to 2b, SAC; HUGHES advanced to third. RAY doubled, RBI; HUGHES
scored. ELCESS struck out swinging. RAY stole third. RAY scored on an error by
2b. GILMORE singled. DOVER popped up to ss. 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 1st - NIX-CLARK homered, RBI. WHITELEY grounded out
to ss. NORTON struck out looking. SNOW walked. RAMIREZ walked; SNOW advanced to
second. URINCHO grounded out to ss. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
New Mexico 2nd - ALLEN struck out swinging. BRANDOW struck out swinging.
HODGINS walked. HODGINS stole second. HUGHES struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 2nd - HOCH struck out swinging. QUIOCHO singled.
GONZALES grounded out to 3b, SAC, bunt; QUIOCHO advanced to second. NIX-CLARK
flied out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 3rd - RUBALCAVA struck out looking. RAY grounded out to 3b.
ELCESS singled. GILMORE flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 3rd - WHITELEY tripled. NORTON fouled out to lf,
SAC, RBI; WHITELEY scored. SNOW flied out to lf. RAMIREZ grounded out to 2b.
1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
New Mexico 4th - DOVER struck out looking. ALLEN walked. BRANDOW fouled
into double play 3b to 1b; ALLEN out on the play. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,
0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 4th - URINCHO grounded out to 1b unassisted. HOCH
homered, RBI. QUIOCHO homered, RBI. GONZALES singled. PETERSON to p for
NINEMIRE. NIX-CLARK grounded out to 3b; GONZALES advanced to second. GONZALES
advanced to third on a wild pitch. WHITELEY tripled, RBI; GONZALES scored.
NORTON struck out swinging. 3 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 5th - HODGINS grounded out to 3b. LOEFFELHOLZ pinch hit for
HUGHES. LOEFFELHOLZ walked. RUBALCAVA flied out to lf. LOEFFELHOLZ advanced to
second on a wild pitch. RAY doubled, RBI; LOEFFELHOLZ scored. ELCESS doubled,
RBI; RAY scored. GWYN to p for ZINANTI. GILMORE grounded out to 2b. 2 runs,
2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 5th - LOEFFELHOLZ to cf. SNOW homered, RBI. RAMIREZ
walked. URINCHO singled; RAMIREZ advanced to second. PLATT pinch ran for
URINCHO. HOCH out at first 1b to 2b, SAC, bunt; PLATT advanced to second;
RAMIREZ advanced to third. QUIOCHO walked. GONZALES reached on a fielder's
choice; QUIOCHO advanced to second; PLATT advanced to third; RAMIREZ out at
home p to c. NIX-CLARK struck out swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3
LOB.
New Mexico 6th - URINCHO to 1b for PLATT. DOVER struck out swinging.
ALLEN grounded out to 3b. BRANDOW singled. HODGINS struck out swinging. 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 6th - WHITELEY grounded out to 2b. NORTON singled.
ANDERSON pinch ran for NORTON. ANDERSON stole second. SNOW walked. RAMIREZ
singled, RBI; SNOW advanced to second; ANDERSON scored. URINCHO grounded out to
3b, SAC; RAMIREZ advanced to second; SNOW advanced to third. HOCH popped up to
3b. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
New Mexico 7th - NORTON to ss for ANDERSON. LOEFFELHOLZ walked.
RUBALCAVA singled; LOEFFELHOLZ advanced to second. RAY grounded out to c
unassisted. ELCESS popped into double play 2b to 1b; RUBALCAVA out on the play.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.