The BYU softball team travels to Las Vegas to play in their second tournament of the season, the Easton Desert Classic, starting today at 4:30 p.m. through Saturday, Feb. 16. The Cougars will take on Hawai’i, Oregon State, Louisiana Monroe, Cal State Fullerton and Portland State.
Last year the Cougars went 4-1 in the Easton Desert Classic where they beat one team in this weekend’s competition, Portland State. After only two wins and three losses last weekend in the Red Desert Classic, the Cougars are looking to add more wins to their record.
The team will play No. 23/25 Hawai’i who has lost to BYU seven of the nine games in which they have played. The BYU offense will be tested against the Western Athletic Conference 2012 Pitcher of the Year Stephanie Ricketts of UH.
Tori Almond will take over the mound for the Cougars this weekend. She had a career-high 13 strikeouts against Seattle and 23 already on the season.
“My goal is to be what my team needs me to be,” Almond said. “We have some tough competition, but I think we will have some good results this weekend.”
Also on their radar this weekend is Oregon State who scored 22 runs, the most recorded against BYU in history, in their season opener last year. Almond said that last year’s loss has given the returning players motivation to come back and redeem themselves.
Freshman Marissa “Gordy” Bravo is a player to look out for this weekend after a very successful college spring-season debut hitting .556 for the weekend and 1.000 in both wins against Seattle and Idaho State.
The complete BYU softball tournament schedule can be found online at the softball website.
