By Emily Werrett
The BYU softball team swept the weekend, winning four of four games on the road in New Mexico and Colorado.
The Cougars defeated the New Mexico Lobos in an offensive explosion 11-1 and 12-10 on Thursday, April 13, 2006.
Saturday, April 15, 2006, the team continued their winning streak in Fort Collins, Colo. against Colorado State, 14-10 and 16-13. “Today was one of the most impressive hitting performances I”ve seen as a coach,” head coach Gordon Eakin said after the Colorado double-header. “Even in the innings we didn”t score we had runners on base.”
The four wins propel the Cougars to an 8-2 Mountain West Conference record and a 28-14 record overall.
Summer Tobias, who has been battling injuries, fought hard in the pitcher”s circle for the wins. She is 4-0 for her last four appearances.
“We are still fighting through some injuries to our pitchers,” Eakin said. “Fortunately our offense stepped up in a big way.”
In each game, the Cougars started with substantial early leads and kept the momentum going throughout the double-header.
In New Mexico, BYU scored seven runs in the first two innings, helped along by powerhouse Ianeta Le”i who nailed her 11th of 14 homers for the season. The 14 homers are a single-season career best for Le”i who now has 38 round-trippers in her career.
In Colorado, the Cougars collected 30 runs on 31 hits in the double-header sweep.
Home runs seemed to be the trend for the Colorado twin bill as Ianeta Le”i added to her stats with three more; Jodi Norton nailed her second of the weekend and Andrea Ramirez collected a three-run homer in the fifth inning of Game 1.
Freshman shortstop, Ramirez was named the Mountain West Conference Softball Player of the Week for her performance against in-state rivals Utah and Utah State.
Ramirez, from Simi Valley, Calif., recorded two home runs, two RBI and three runs scored as BYU went 3-1 last week, including a sweep of conference rival Utah.
As the Cougars leadoff hitter, Ramirez was a perfect 6-for-6,
including three walks for a perfect 1.000 on base percentage.
The Cougars took an early 8-0 lead in Game 2, but the Rams gave BYU a scare as they hit two home runs and scored 11 consecutive runs.
Down 11-8, the Cougars answered with six consecutive runs of their own to take a 14-11 lead.
BYU didn”t relinquish the lead again and secured the 16-14 victory.
The Cougars will face off with three in-state foes when they take to the road again to play Utah State Tuesday before returning home Thursday to play Utah Valley State College at Gail Miller Field.
Saturday, April 22, 2006, the team faces Utah for a double-header in Salt Lake City.
