The Cougars lost an intense game to the Stanford Cardinal 5-3, despite some good hitting from the BYU players.
Seniors Ashlee Robinson and Katie Manuma, and sophomore Gordy Bravo led BYU’s drive; each hitting .500, and all three played key roles in scoring the three runs for BYU. However, the team was unable to bring home the win.
“Overall we played a quality game,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “We just didn’t get the timely hits we needed and one inning their speed created some defensive miscues for us.”
Senior pitcher Tori Almond also played a great game, only allowing three earned runs and striking out five.
The two teams battled through two scoreless innings, but Stanford scored first in the third with a few singles and a double. The score was 2-0 in Stanford’s favor going into the fourth.
Manuma and Mckenzie St. Clair, a freshman, singled in the beginning of the fourth inning, but Stanford’s defense stopped them from making any further progress.
BYU committed two errors and threw a wild pitch to give Stanford the chance to score two more runs.
In the fifth inning, the Cougars began to close the gap. Robinson doubled, freshman Lauren Bell walked and Bravo singled to load the bases. Ashley Thompson, a freshman, walked to cross Robinson, and then Bell reached home on a wild pitch. Manuma singled to score another.
Stanford scored again in the fifth inning, making the score 5-3.
Hopes were high for BYU in the sixth inning after Robinson walked and Bravo singled, but Stanford’s defense once again closed the opportunity and won the game.
BYU will play Portland State at 10 a.m. PST and then North Dakota State at 12:15 p.m.
