The BYU softball team heads back to California this weekend to play in the San Diego Classic. The Cougars will play San Diego State, Boise State, Fresno State, New Mexico and Long Beach State starting Thursday and finishing Saturday.
With four tournaments of play under their belt, the Cougars will go into the tournament with a record of 5-10. The Cougars have been hard at work this week, working on their defense and hitting in preparation for the weekend's competition. Katie Manuma said the team is making some changes at practice to help improve their record.
BYU shortstop J.C. Clayton catches a pop fly during a game against San Jose State at Miller Park. (Photo by Chris Bunker)
'Coach is switching around the lineup a bit to have us play some new positions,' Manuma said. 'Hopefully an adjustment in the lineup and filling in the holes will allow us to have a better tournament.'
Last year the Cougars left the San Diego Classic 4-1, losing only to San Diego State 1-0 in the final inning. The Aztecs are currently 8-7, with many of those losses from top 25 ranked teams.
On day two of the tournament, the Cougars will play Boise State and Fresno State. Boise state has a losing record against BYU, and lost both games played against the Cougars. Fresno State handed BYU two losses in regular season play last year before losing 8-3 to the Cougars at the WAC Tournament after a 13-game Cougar winning streak that took them to the NCAA regionals.
The last day of the tournament the team will face New Mexico, who they have not seen since 2011, and Long Beach State who they beat 2-1 last year at the tournament. The Lobos offense is led by one of their outfielders who is hitting .400 with 24 hits and two home runs so far this season. The Cougars are .500 against Long Beach State who has a winning record of 7-6 this season.
Alexandra Hudson Shamo said that as a team, they head into each tournament planning to give it their all while not focusing on one team to beat. Instead, they work on making adjustments at practice to prepare for their upcoming competition.
'I know that we'll give it everything we've got,' Shamo said. 'If we continue to give it our all, then we should end up with positive results.'
The full tournament schedule and live stat-tracker can be found online at the BYU softball page.