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BYU Starts Season With Wins

Cougars defeat Southern Mississippi and Loyola Marymount.

Feb. 9, 2006

Stats

HONOLULU, Hawai`i - The 2006 season got off to a good start as BYU beat Southern Mississippi, 5-4, and Loyola Marymount, 2-1 at the Paradise Classic.

The Cougars, now 2-0, got a mammoth two-run home run from Ianeta Le`i in the bottom of the sixth inning to extend the BYU lead to 5-1. The runs proved important as Southern Miss. came back with three runs in the top of the seventh inning before the Cougars could record the third out.

BYU head coach Gordon Eakin is happy with the way his team has started the season.

"We are working the kinks out early in the season," Eakin said. "This is the first time we have played outdoors and we'll be fine once we work the kinks out."

BYU scored first in the bottom of the second inning when Jennifer Whiteley walked, stole second and came around to score on an RBI single by Monica Gonzales. In the fourth, Tracee Hoch's first Division I hit landed over the left-field wall giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead.

After the Golden Eagles scored a run in the top of the fifth the Cougars responded with a run of their own courtesy of a Jodi Norton RBI single. Le`i's two-run shot came an inning later and proved to be just enough for BYU to hang on.

In the second game, hits were harder to come by for the Cougars. BYU was out hit four to one by Loyola Marymount, but the Cougars managed to put together enough runs to get the victory.

The Lions scored first in the third inning on a RBI double while the Cougars' bats remained in check throughout the night. BYU had a breakthrough inning in the sixth when it scored the decisive two runs with two outs in the inning.

After the Cougars' first two batters struck out to start the inning, Le`i started the rally by getting on base on an error. BYU then plated the two runs courtesy of four consecutive walks. Freshman Andi Ramirez showed a lot of poise to draw a walk on a full count after fouling off several pitches.

"Good teams just find a way to win these close games," Eakin. "We found a way to win against a very good Loyola Marymount team."

In both games, the Cougars got excellent pitching out of Summer Tobias and Daniella Urincho. Both pitched complete games for victories.

BYU continues play Friday when it takes on Texas State and host-school Hawai`i. Game times are 2 and 7 pm MST, respectively.