April 21, 2008

Salt Lake City, UT (UWIRE) -- The U softball team exhibited some real gumption against its archrivals last weekend.

On Friday, BYU gave the Utes one of their most lopsided losses of the season -- an 8-0 shutout behind Cougar pitcher Christina Gwyn Trice's two-hitter.

Rather than roll over the next day, though, the Utes punched back by doing BYU one better -- handing the Cougars a heart-breaking 6-4 loss on their own field.

BYU unleashed its bats Friday for 11 hits and eight runs in three straight innings. The game was called by the bottom of the fifth inning because of the eight-run rule.

"It was just one of those days," said Utah pitcher Ashley Smuda, who watched Friday's game from the bench while fellow pitcher Brittany Parker took the mound. "We just didn't catch any breaks with our hits, and eventually we were just playing not to lose."

Despite holding the Utes to just two hits, Gwyn-Trice had just three strikeouts.

"We were hitting the ball," infielder Kara Foster said of Utah's continuous flow of pop flies and ground-outs. "But their batters were able to find the gaps. They just took us out of our element, our game plan."

The Utes used Friday's loss as fuel for Saturday's contest.

"We wanted to win on BYU's field for the last game in Provo," Foster said.

At first, the second game looked to be a repeat of Friday's shutout. BYU pulled out to an early 3-0 lead that was highlighted by a Kristin Delahoussaye home run in the game's first hit.

"Were were like, 'Okay, whatever,'" Foster said. "We gave them that one, but we knew we'd get them back later."

It wasn't until the fourth inning that the Utes caught fire from the plate. Kristie Keller doubled off BYU pitcher Paige Affleck with two on base. Pinch runner Tori Medina and Angie Boardman scored off the hit. Keller ran home on a fielding error from Cougar rightfielder Stephanie Platt-Hopkins to tie the game at three.

"We knew somebody would do something big," Foster said. "And Devina came through for us. She's been doing that all the time."

Quintero slammed a home run to right field to tie the game, prompting BYU coach Gordon Eakin to switch pitchers and bring in Gwyn-Trice. The change made no difference, though, as Gwyn-Trice's first batter, Foster, hit Utah's second home run to left field to take a 5-4 lead.

The Utes added another run in the seventh for good measure when Meghan Crouse scored on a sacrifice fly from Sharee Fonoti.

"We were definitely looking for revenge," said Smuda, who finished with four strikeouts Saturday. "We knew we could do it, and we got the win."

(C) 2008 Daily Utah Chronicle via UWIRE