Record-Breaking Win Over Utah

PROVO -- A game that started off as a pitcher's duel ended up becoming a battle of the bats, as both Jodi Norton and Dani Urincho-Snow hit late home runs to keep BYU (33-16, 10-2) alive in its eventual 4-3 win over University of Utah (22-22-1, 2-10).

The Cougars' 13th consecutive win marks a new school record, while Norton's deep ball pulls her to within one of the team's single-season home run record of 21.

"I'm very proud of our team for not giving up," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "This was an important game for us to win for the conference standings."

The Cougars struck first when Utes third baseman Tori Medina threw a routine grounder over first baseman Brandie Allen's head, scoring Jennifer Whiteley from first.

The game turned into a pitcher's duel after Whiteley's score, as both pitchers started to heat up. After giving up the game's first hit to Meghan Crouse, Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week Christina Gwyn retired the next 10 batters in a row. Her counterpart for Utah, Karina Cannon, also had a stretch between the second and sixth innings in which the senior sat down 13 consecutive Cougars.

The Utes came back in the top of the sixth with Kristie Keller and Hailey Davenport both singling on with just one out. Diana Phillips hit a single to score Keller, and one batter later Andrea Hoffman drove in pinch runner Jacqueline Decker to take the 2-1 lead.

Norton didn't allow the Cougars to be down for long. In the bottom of the sixth, the senior took a full-count pitch over the center field wall to tie the game at two apiece and end BYU's streak of 13 hitless at bats. Junior Emi Snow followed suit with a single into left field. Pinch runner Stephanie Platt stole second base, putting herself into scoring position with Andrea Ramirez at the plate. However, Ramirez would ground out to the pitcher taking a tie-game into the final inning.

Utah freshman Kara Foster quickly put an end to the suspense hitting the inning's first pitch over the fence for the one-run lead. Not to be outdone, Cougar first baseman Urincho-Snow took the first pitch she saw in the bottom of the order to once again make it a tie game.

Senior Tracee Hoch followed next with an infield blooper that the Utah shortstop couldn't quite get her glove under. Pinch runner Jana Anderson then stole second to move into scoring position with just one out. Monica Gonzales slapped Anderson to third, bringing Cortney Nix-Clark to the plate with two outs. BYU would have to settle for the tie, as Nix-Clark struck out swinging to send it into extra innings.

In the bottom of the eighth, Norton once again carried the weight of the team on her shoulders with Whiteley on first and no outs. Norton responded to the pressure with a double to left center, giving Snow two in scoring position with no outs. Snow kept the Cougars record-breaking winning streak alive with a fly ball that allowed Whiteley to score the winning run on the tag up.

"In the sixth inning," Eakin said, "I told them to dig deep, and they did because they believe in themselves."

BYU hosts Utah Valley State College on Tuesday, May 1 at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the ticket office at the entrance of Miller Park.

University of Utah at Brigham Young Univer
                Apr 28, 2007 at Provo, Utah (Gail Miller Field)
University of Utah 3 (22-22-1,2-10)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
CROUSE lf................  4  0  1  0   0  1  2  0   0
KELLER 2b................  3  1  1  0   0  0  1  0   0
DAVENPORT 3b.............  4  0  3  0   0  1  2  2   0
 DECKER pr...............  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
PHILLIPS cf..............  4  0  1  1   0  2  0  0   1
HOFFMAN c................  4  0  1  1   0  0  6  0   2
HEMINGWAY ss.............  3  0  1  0   0  0  1  4   1
FOSTER 1b................  3  1  1  1   0  1 10  0   0
MEDINA dp................  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
MATTHEWS rf..............  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
CANNON p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 31  3 10  3   0  6 22  7   5
Brigham Young Univer 4 (33-16,10-2)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Cortney Nix-Clark c......  4  0  0  0   0  2  7  1   1
Jennifer Whiteley lf.....  3  2  1  0   1  0  1  1   0
Jodi Norton ss...........  4  1  2  1   0  1  2  1   0
Emi Snow rf..............  4  0  1  1   0  0  0  0   0
 Stephanie Platt pr......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Andrea Ramirez dp........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
Daniela Urincho 1b.......  3  1  1  1   0  0  9  0   0
Tracee Hoch 2b...........  3  0  1  0   0  0  3  2   0
 Jana Anderson pr........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Angeline Quiocho 3b......  3  0  0  0   0  2  2  2   0
Monica Gonzales cf.......  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
Christina Gwyn p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 Christie Zinanti p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 30  4  6  3   1  6 24  8   5
Score by Innings                   R  H  E
------------------------------------------
University of Utah.. 000 002 10 -  3 10  2
Brigham Young Univer 100 001 11 -  4  6  0
------------------------------------------
Note: 1 out, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.
E - DAVENPORT 2. LOB - Utes 5; BYU Cougars 5. 2B - NORTON. HR - FOSTER;
NORTON; URINCHO. SH - KELLER. SB - PLATT; ANDERSON.
University of Utah     IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
CANNON..............  7.1  6  4  3  1  6 30 31
Brigham Young Univer   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Christina Gwyn......  6.0  8  3  3  0  6 24 25
Christie Zinanti....  2.0  2  0  0  0  0  7  7
Win - ZINANTI (15-6).  Loss - CANNON (6-8).  Save - None.
WP - GWYN.
Umpires - HP: Mike Brady  1B: Brett Higgins  3B: Dan Ringsby
Start: 2:00 pm   Time: 2:15   Attendance: 450
GWYN faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Game: BYU_UT4
Play-by-Play
Score by Innings                   R  H  E
------------------------------------------
University of Utah.. 000 002 10 -  3 10  2
Brigham Young Univer 100 001 11 -  4  6  0
------------------------------------------
University of Utah starters: 3/lf CROUSE; 25/2b KELLER; 14/3b DAVENPORT; 20/cf
PHILLIPS; 13/c HOFFMAN; 19/ss HEMINGWAY; 12/1b FOSTER; 9/dp MEDINA; 4/rf
MATTHEWS; 16/p CANNON;
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; 11/p GWYN;
University of Utah 1st - CROUSE singled. KELLER grounded out to p, SAC;
CROUSE advanced to second. DAVENPORT struck out swinging. PHILLIPS struck out
swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 1st - NIX-CLARK grounded out to 1b unassisted.
WHITELEY singled, bunt. NORTON struck out looking. SNOW reached on an error by
3b; WHITELEY scored, unearned. RAMIREZ popped up to 1b. 1 run, 1 hit, 1
error, 1 LOB.
University of Utah 2nd - HOFFMAN popped up to 3b. HEMINGWAY popped up to
ss. FOSTER struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 2nd - URINCHO grounded out to ss. HOCH reached on
an error by 3b. QUIOCHO struck out looking. GONZALES flied out to lf. 0
runs, 0 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
University of Utah 3rd - MEDINA flied out to lf. MATTHEWS grounded out
to ss. CROUSE struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 3rd - NIX-CLARK popped up to 3b. WHITELEY grounded
out to ss. NORTON grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
University of Utah 4th - KELLER grounded out to 1b unassisted. DAVENPORT
singled. PHILLIPS struck out looking. HOFFMAN popped up to ss. 0 runs, 1
hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 4th - SNOW grounded out to ss. RAMIREZ struck out
looking. URINCHO grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
University of Utah 5th - HEMINGWAY singled, bunt. FOSTER popped up to
1b. MEDINA struck out swinging. MATTHEWS grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit,
0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 5th - HOCH grounded out to 3b. QUIOCHO struck out
swinging. GONZALES popped up to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
University of Utah 6th - CROUSE grounded out to c. KELLER singled.
DAVENPORT singled; KELLER advanced to second. PHILLIPS singled, RBI; DAVENPORT
advanced to second; KELLER scored. DECKER pinch ran for DAVENPORT. PHILLIPS
advanced to second on a wild pitch; DECKER advanced to third on a wild pitch.
HOFFMAN singled, RBI; PHILLIPS advanced to third, out at home lf to c, picked
off; DECKER scored. HEMINGWAY popped up to 2b. 2 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 6th - DAVENPORT to 3b for DECKER. NIX-CLARK struck
out looking. WHITELEY popped up to ss. NORTON homered, RBI. SNOW singled. PLATT
pinch ran for SNOW. PLATT stole second. RAMIREZ grounded out to p. 1 run, 2
hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
University of Utah 7th - SNOW to rf for PLATT. FOSTER homered, RBI.
ZINANTI to p for GWYN. MEDINA grounded out to 3b. MATTHEWS singled. CROUSE
grounded out to 2b unassisted; MATTHEWS out at second 2b unassisted. 1 run,
2 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 7th - URINCHO homered, RBI. HOCH singled. ANDERSON
pinch ran for HOCH. QUIOCHO popped up to 1b. ANDERSON stole second. GONZALES
grounded out to 2b unassisted; ANDERSON advanced to third. NIX-CLARK struck out
swinging. 1 run, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
University of Utah 8th - HOCH to 2b for ANDERSON. KELLER grounded out to
2b. DAVENPORT singled. PHILLIPS popped up to 3b. HOFFMAN grounded out to 3b.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 8th - WHITELEY walked. NORTON doubled; WHITELEY
advanced to third. SNOW flied out to lf, RBI; NORTON advanced to third;
WHITELEY scored. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.