Brigham Young’s productivity with two outs powered the Cougars to a 9-1 win over the University of Hawaii softball team in the opening game of the DeMarini Desert Classic on Thursday in Las Vegas, Nev.
BYU drove in seven runs with two outs and McKenna Bull earned a complete-game victory for the Cougars (4-2) at UNLV’s Eller Media Stadium. Bull gave up seven hits, walked four, struck out nine and stranded 11 UH runners to send the Rainbow Wahine to their third straight loss.
“We did not take care of the ball with two out,” UH coach Bob Coolen said in a phone interview. “They swung the bat hard and we didn’t. We had the potential to score more runs but didn’t put it together.”
The four-day tournament continues today with UH (4-3) taking on Wichita State and Oregon State.
UH starter Brittany Hitchcock opened Thursday’s game by striking out the side in the top of the first inning and the Wahine took the lead on Nicole Lopez’s RBI double, driving in Sarah Muzik from first.
“After that it was a nightmare,” Coolen said.
BYU jumped ahead in the top of the second on Caitlyn Larsen’s two-out, two-run single.
The Cougars added single runs in the third and fourth innings and pulled away with Alexa Strid’s two-run, pinch-hit homer with two out in the sixth. Larsen, the ninth hitter in the BYU order, added a two-run shot in the seventh to cap a four-RBI day.
The UH offense created scoring opportunities, loading the bases in the fourth and fifth innings. But Bull escaped the fourth with a strikeout and a ground out and got out of the fifth with her eighth strikeout of the game. The Wahine ended up 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Hitchcock (2-2) gave up four runs on nine hits, struck out five and walked none in four innings and took the loss. Kanani Aina Cabrales surrendered two runs in two innings of relief and freshman Jennifer Iseri gave up three runs in the seventh in her pitching debut.
| At Las Vegas, Nev. |
| BYU (4-2) |
021 |
102 |
3 |
— |
9 |
13 |
1 |
| Hawaii (4-3) |
100 |
000 |
0 |
— |
1 |
7 |
1 |
McKenna Bull and Libby Sugg. Brittany Hitchcock, Kanani Aina Cabrales (5), Jennifer Iseri (7) and Rachel Lack, Heather Cameron (7). W—Bull. L—Hitchcock.
Leading hitters—BYU: Lauren Bell, 3-4; Alexa Strid, HR, 2 RBIs; Sugg, 2B, RBI; Madison Merrell, 3-4; McKenzie St. Clair, 2-4, 2B, RBI; Caitlyn Larsen, 2-3, HR, 4 RBIs. Hawaii: Nicole Lopez, 2-4, 2B, RBI; Keiki Carlos, 2B.
