Bats Come Alive in the Fifth

Las Vegas, (February 18, 2010) – Outstanding defense, excellent pitching from Paige Affleck, and an offensive explosion in the bottom of the fifth, gave BYU a 5-0 victory over Oregon.

"It was a flawless outting for Paige as she played at the level she needs to play," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "She hit both goals that we set in the beginning of the game. She walked only two batters and our goal was two or less, and she threw 112 pitches and our goal was 115. She is definitely developing into an excellent pitcher."

The game was fairly straightforward until the fifth inning. It appeared as though this game would be a defensive bout as neither team scored, or even threatened.

BYU’s right-handed Affleck seemed to be on top of her game as she cleanly retired the Oregon line, three up, three down several times. Affleck finished the night pitching seven innings, facing 26 batters, striking out eight, walking two and only giving up three hits.

After five straight innings, BYU (6-0) stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth vowing to end the scoring drought.

Amanda Kellum got the drive started by walking, followed by a J.C. Clayton well-placed bunt down the third baseline. With runners on first and second, Kristin Delahoussaye bunted, but the Oregon catcher overthrew the ball which allowed Delahoussaye to advance to second, Clayton to third and Jessica Dugas, who subbed in as a pinch runner, to score.

Tiffany Messerschmidt singled to left-centerfield, and after another Oregon error advanced to second, causing Clayton to score, bringing the tally to 2-0.

With runners on second and third, Angie Quiocho reached first thanks to an infield dropped fly ball which loaded the bases for Jessica Fitu.

Fitu stepped to the plate and hit a single to left field bringing home two runs. Andrea Ramirez followed with a sacrifice ground ball to shortstop which sent Quiocho home, and brought the score to 5-0.

Two batters later the inning, and the Cougars’ five-run scoring drive came to a halt. Oregon wasn’t able to come back and the game ended an inning and a half later.

"We played aggresively the entire game and it paid off in the end," Eakin said. "If we stick with this winning mentality we will have an excellent season."

This victory brings BYU’s current winning streak to six straight.

The Cougars will rest up and prepare themselves for their doubleheader tomorrow against the University of San Diego and Georgia Tech at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively.

Lives stats will be provided against Georgia Tech and can be found at www.cougars.com on the softball schedule page.

Oregon at BYU
02-18-10 at Las Vegas, Nev. (Eller Media Stadium)
Oregon 0 (4-3)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Pappas, S rf.............  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   1
Howard, K 2b.............  3  0  0  0   0  2  4  1   1
 Kivett, C 3b............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Bryant, N cf.............  1  0  0  0   1  1  1  0   0
Fuiava, M 1b.............  3  0  1  0   0  1  7  0   0
Chambers, K 3b/2b........  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  3   1
Burger, A lf.............  3  0  0  0   0  2  1  0   1
Re, C dh.................  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
Chambers, L ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  3   0
Kivett, A c..............  1  0  0  0   1  0  3  0   0
Skillingstad p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
 Endicott, M p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 23  0  3  0   2  8 18 10   5
BYU 5 (6-0)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DELAHOUSSAYE,Kristin 2b..  3  1  1  0   0  1  0  1   0
MESSERSCHMIDT, Tiff. lf..  3  1  2  1   1  0  1  0   2
QUICHO, Angeline 3b......  3  1  0  0   0  0  1  2   0
PURCELL-FITU, Jess. c....  3  0  1  2   0  1  8  2   2
RAMIREZ, Andrea 1b.......  3  0  0  1   0  0  8  0   0
HUDSON, Alexandra cf.....  2  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
WILLARD, Delaney rf......  2  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0
VANCE-KELLUM, Amanda dh..  0  0  0  0   3  0  0  0   0
 DUGAS, Jessica pr.......  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 THOMAS, Whitney pr......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
CLAYTON, J.C. ss.........  3  1  1  0   0  1  1  2   2
AFFLECK, Paige p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Totals................... 22  5  5  4   5  3 21  9   6
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
Oregon.............. 000 000 0 -  0  3  2
BYU................. 000 050 0 -  5  5  0
-----------------------------------------
E - Kivett, A 2. DP - Oregon 1. LOB - Oregon 5; BYU 6. 2B - MESSERSCHMID.
HBP - Bryant, N. SH - DELAHOUSSAYE; WILLARD. SB - Kivett, A; DELAHOUSSAYE.
CS - Fuiava, M.
Oregon                 IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Skillingstad........  5.0  4  5  3  4  3 18 24
Endicott, M.........  1.0  1  0  0  1  0  4  5
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
AFFLECK, Paige......  7.0  3  0  0  2  8 23 26
Win - None.  Loss - Skillingstad (1-2).  Save - None.
WP - AFFLECK. HBP - by AFFLECK (Bryant, N). PB - Kivett, A.
Umpires - HP: Dan Ringsby  1B: Dani Newman  3B: Willie Newman
Start: 5:00 pm   Time: 1:55   Attendance:
Weather: 65*, sunny and clear
Oregon 1st - Pappas, S grounded out to ss. Howard, K struck out
swinging. Bryant, N struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
BYU 1st - DELAHOUSSAYE flied out to lf. MESSERSCHMID doubled down the lf
line. QUICHO popped up to 2b. PURCELL-FITU flied out to cf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 1 LOB.
Oregon 2nd - Fuiava, M singled through the right side. Chambers, K
singled up the middle; Fuiava, M advanced to second. Burger, A struck out
swinging. Fuiava, M out at third c to 2b to 3b, caught stealing. Re, C grounded
out to p. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 2nd - RAMIREZ grounded out to 2b. HUDSON walked. WILLARD out at
first 3b to 2b, SAC, bunt; HUDSON advanced to second. VANCE-KELLUM walked.
CLAYTON struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Oregon 3rd - Chambers, L grounded out to 1b unassisted. Kivett, A fouled
out to c. Pappas, S singled up the middle. Howard, K grounded out to ss. 0
runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 3rd - DELAHOUSSAYE struck out looking. MESSERSCHMID walked.
MESSERSCHMID advanced to second on a passed ball. QUICHO grounded out to ss;
MESSERSCHMID advanced to third. PURCELL-FITU struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0
hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Oregon 4th - Bryant, N walked. Fuiava, M popped up to ss. Chambers, K
struck out swinging. Burger, A grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
BYU 4th - RAMIREZ lined out to 2b. HUDSON grounded out to ss. WILLARD
popped up to 2b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Oregon 5th - Re, C flied out to rf. Chambers, L grounded out to 3b.
Kivett, A walked. Kivett, A stole second. Pappas, S struck out looking. 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 5th - VANCE-KELLUM walked. DUGAS pinch ran for VANCE-KELLUM. CLAYTON
singled to third base, bunt; DUGAS advanced to second. DELAHOUSSAYE reached on
an error by c, SAC, bunt, advanced to second; CLAYTON advanced to third; DUGAS
scored. MESSERSCHMID singled through the left side, advanced to second on the
throw, RBI; DELAHOUSSAYE advanced to third; CLAYTON scored. QUICHO reached on a
dropped fly by c. PURCELL-FITU singled up the middle, advanced to second on the
throw, 2 RBI; QUICHO advanced to third; MESSERSCHMID scored; DELAHOUSSAYE
scored, unearned. RAMIREZ out at first p to ss to 1b, RBI; PURCELL-FITU
advanced to third; QUICHO scored, unearned. HUDSON hit into double play p to
ss; PURCELL-FITU out on the play. 5 runs, 3 hits, 2 errors, 0 LOB.
Oregon 6th - Howard, K struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b.
Bryant, N hit by pitch. Bryant, N advanced to second on a wild pitch. Fuiava, M
struck out swinging. Chambers, K flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,
1 LOB.
BYU 6th - Kivett, C to 3b for Howard, K. Chambers, K to 2b. Endicott, M
to p for Skillingstad. WILLARD grounded out to 2b. VANCE-KELLUM to dh for
DUGAS. VANCE-KELLUM walked. CLAYTON grounded out to p; VANCE-KELLUM advanced to
second. THOMAS pinch ran for VANCE-KELLUM. DELAHOUSSAYE singled through the
left side; THOMAS advanced to third. DELAHOUSSAYE stole second. MESSERSCHMID
grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Oregon 7th - Burger, A struck out swinging. Re, C grounded out to p.
Chambers, L flied out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 7th - No play. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.