Tied at 2-2 Delaney Willard saw the first pitch of the fifth inning and scored a solo home run, which put her one run away from breaking the 14 year-old RBI record in the Western Athletic Conference en route to the Cougars’ 7-4 win over Utah Valley.
“I just wanted to come in and pump up the team a little bit,” said Willard.
Willard continually gave credit to her teammates when asked about her outstanding achievement, while coach Gordon Eakin called her achievement “tremendous.”
Although pleased with Willard’s year, Eakin did not share the same feelings for today’s game.
“Our players need to step up in these situations and get the job done when we have runners on base,” Eakin said.
The score was 1-0 for BYU when sophomore Ashlee Brawley hit her first triple of the season.
“I was trying to put the ball in play and start a rally being the first batter up,” said Brawley.
And she did start a rally. Starting pitcher Tori Almond, had six strike outs before the Wolverines rose up to the occasion and scored their first two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, which tied the game at 2-2.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Cougars had an excellent double-play. With UVU runners on first and second base the batter hit the ball to short stop JC Clayton. Clayton made a short toss to Brawley at third base, making the first out. Brawley then made a throw to Katie Manuma at first base to close the inning with an exciting second out.
A clean bottom of the seventh inning would have brought the Cougars home, but walking to first base and a hit from her teammate, UVU’s Megan Peay scored a run to tie the game 4-4.
Peay’s run demanded an extra inning, to which the Cougars confidently responded. BYU came out of the dugout ready to hit. Clayton made it to second base off of the first hit of the inning. Willard then bunted, which advanced Clayton to third base. Clayton scored on a throwing error by a UVU player, leaving the score 5-4 for the Cougars. The last two runs were scored by Carly Duckworth and Stacie Toney.
The Wolverines were unable to score any runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, leaving the final score at 7-4 for BYU.
The Cougars are preparing for a weekend series in Las Vegas with games on Friday at 3 p.m. and again on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m.
