By Mindy Holmes
The BYU softball team went 3-1 this weekend, April 30 and May 1, improving its record to 31-16 and 8-7 in the Mountain West Conference.
On Friday, the Cougars played a doubleheader against the New Mexico Lobos, winning 7-4 in the first game and 4-0 in the second game. On Saturday, BYU split with the Colorado State Rams, winning the first game 4-3 and losing the second 1-0.
The first game against the Lobos was highlighted by the fifth inning when the Cougars came back and scored five runs after allowing the Lobos to score three runs in the top of the inning. The five-run inning was aided by a three-run homer by shortstop Jodi Norton, her seventh home run of the year.
Third baseman Ashlyn Russell”s home run in the bottom of the second highltighted the second game, giving her a team-high 10 home runs for the year. Also during the game, center fielder Debbie Dodds broke the BYU single-game record by registering three stolen bases. Starting pitcher Brooke Boyce also recorded a shutout for the game, her fifth of the year.
In the first game against Colorado State, the Cougars moved out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Rams pitcher Megan Masser walked BYU”s Lauren Watson, Norton and Dodds all in a row, scoring Russell, who was already on base. Masser then threw a wild pitch, scoring Watson. The Cougars went up 4-0 when Norton hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, giving her eight home runs this season. The Rams came back and scored one run in the top of the fifth and two runs in the top of the seventh, but the Cougars kept their lead.
In the second game against Colorado State, the Rams got out to an early lead in the first inning when lead-off batter Stephanie Roberts singled, was advanced to third by two ground outs and singled home by Kerry Farrell. This put the Cougars in a 1-0 deficit they never overcame.
BYU remains in third place in the Mountain West Conference behind Colorado State (12-4) and San Diego State (13-3). BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said he was “optimistically disappointed” about the results of this weekend.
“In order to have a chance to win the conference championship, we needed to beat Colorado State in both games,” he said. “[The loss] makes it considerably tougher to do. We”re going to need help from other teams and we wanted to control our own destiny. The optimistic part is that we”re playing good ball at the right time of year.”
The games this weekend were also the last home games as Cougars for seniors Kate Walker, Lindsey Gerhauser and Belinda Osborn.
“We want the seniors to know that BYU softball is better because you guys are here,” Coach Eakin said during a tribute to the seniors after Saturday”s games.
Walker, a second baseman who has played for BYU for three years since transferring from the University of Oregon, said it was hard to think about Saturday being the last time she would play at home.
“I had to keep reminding myself that I”m not done yet,” she said. “I get to keep playing because we still have two weeks left. I”ve just got to remember I”m not done.”
The BYU softball team next faces Utah State on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Logan.
