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Snow, Norton Power Cougars to Double-Header Sweep BYU held San Diego State without a hit until the fourth inning.
April 6, 2007 SAN DIEGO, Calif. - BYU (20-14, 2-0 MWC) made an early statement in its Mountain West Conference season debut by sweeping a double-header against reigning MWC-champ San Diego State (23-14, 0-2), 4-0 and 4-2, on SDSU's home field. "I think teams know that we can play," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "I don't think anyone expected us to sweep, but I think we're well respected within the conference. [San Diego State] didn't play bad. We played well." The Aztecs are not only the defending conference champs; they also sport the best non-conference record so far this season. Despite that and the fact that BYU was playing on national television for the first time this season, the Cougars showed poise and determination against SDSU, especially defensively. BYU held San Diego State without a hit until Monica Alnes found the gap into right field for a single in the fourth inning. Taryin Casillas followed Alnes with a single of her own, and with two on and two outs the Aztecs were threatening. SDSU appeared to be on the brink of scoring when a Kasey Mytinger hit brought Alnes sprinting home. But junior Emi Snow threw a one-bounce strike to senior catcher Cortney Nix-Clark who got the tag-out at the plate. Still stuck in a scoreless game, Aztec shortstop Melissa Owens drew a lead-off walk in the bottom of the sixth. After Megan McDonald laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Owens to second, Alnes drew the second walk of the inning. Once again the Cougars would find a way out, as freshman pitcher Christie Zinanti got Owens on a force-out at third base and struck out Mytinger to close out the inning. "Zinanti stood up and pitched like a veteran," Eakin said, noting that he didn't see any nervousness out of his freshman pitcher or the rest of his team while playing on national TV. "She threw the heck out of the ball today." Aztec junior Christina Ross, who was named MWC Pitcher of the Week for her perfect game performance against Brown last week, had a no-hitter broken up in the seventh inning by Snow. Snow hit a lead-off single straight down the middle to kick BYU's offense into gear. Senior Jodi Norton hit one into left field, moving pinch-runner Jana Anderson to second.
Two batters later, with Anderson and pinch-runner Stephanie Platt both in scoring position, freshman Angeline Quiocho worked a full-count into a walk. However, BYU was unable to take advantage of the loaded-bases situation, as Dani Urincho lined out to Casillas, who then touched third base for the third out of the inning. Zinanti retired the bottom of the order to take the game into extra innings. That's where the Cougars finally capitalized on a rally that started with Monica Gonzales slapping her way onto first. Later, with Gonzales and Tracee Hoch both on base, Snow blasted a home run to left field. Norton stepped up to the plate next and sent an 0-1 pitch over the center field wall for the 4-0 final. BYU trailed 1-0 in the second inning of the second game when Quiocho hit an RBI-single to left field, bringing in Snow for the 1-1 tie. The teams remained deadlocked until San Diego State pinch-runner Rosario Quichocho scored an unearned run in the bottom of the third to take the 2-1 lead. The Cougars kept fighting and, in the sixth inning, evened the score. With bases loaded, Nix-Clark hit a sacrifice fly that scored Jennifer Whiteley. It was Whiteley again who had a hand in BYU's scoring when the senior from Houston, Texas put down a bunt in the seventh inning that brought Anderson across home plate. Gonzales scored the fourth and final run of the game for the Cougars. "I think we started a little too emotionally high from the first game," Eakin said. "But once we settled down we executed very well." BYU takes its five-game winning streak to Las Vegas where the team will continue conference play against UNLV at 7 p.m. (PST) on Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. |
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