Nebraska is Next Up

PROVO -- Two games against Nebraska is all the BYU women's softball team has on its mind this week.

The 12-10 Cougars travel to Las Vegas to face Nebraska on both Friday and Saturday at the UNLV Round Robin. Nebraska is 8-8 on the season.

"With Christina Gwyn-Trice out this weekend, we will look for a lot of leadership from our young pitchers," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "Both younger pitchers are very talented and will see a lot more time in the circle against Nebraksa."

The Cougars will be without leading hurler, senior Gwyn-Trice. She most likely will not see many innings, if any at all. She is out with a finger minor finger injury. Sophomore pitcher Christie Zinanti and freshman Paige Affleck will lead the team through the week.

Zinanti is just one of two BYU pitchers to ever record a 20-win season. She had a stand-out freshman season when she went 20-8. She has seen 42.1 innings this season and holds a 3.47 ERA. Affleck joined the Cougars and immediately made an impact. She is 3-2 on the season with 40 strike outs in 29 innings. She has recorded two shut outs so far.

The Cougars are led by sophomore third baseman Angeline Quiocho and senior first baseman Dani Snow. Quiocho leads the team with a .429 batting average and 11 home runs. Snow trails just behind Quiocho with a .381 batting average and seven home runs.

The Huskers come into the competition with a four-game winning streak, defeating Northern Colorado in two double headers. The Cougars look to end Nebraska's winning streak, and to break their own three-game losing streak.

Getting comfortable on the road, the UNLV Round Robin marks two additional road games for the Cougs. They have played 22 consecutive games on the road. This is BYU's second trip to Las Vegas for tournament play this season. They head back to UNLV on April 10 during conference play.

Live audio and livestats for both games are available at www.byucougars.com.