PROVO -- BYU narrowly defeated the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman College in a 5-4 decision Thursday at the Palm Springs Classic in Palm Springs, Calif.
"It was a tough win for us," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "They have great team speed and they really hit the ball well against us."
The game was scoreless for the first three innings until BYU made some adjustments in the fourth inning to go on top 2-0.
"I felt like we had to do something different to produce some runs," Eakin commented referring to the teams adjustments. "We had to manufacture runs in other ways than just sitting back and hitting the ball."
BYU continued to follow that strategy to secure the win. The Cougars managed just five hits for the game, far below their season average of 12.2 hits per game. Outfielder Jennifer Whiteley came up big for BYU with two hits to go with two RBI.
Freshman Daniella Urincho pitched against a great lineup striking out six while giving up nine hits.
"Daniella pitched an excellent game," Eakin said. "She got out of some difficult situations allowing us to stay in control of the game."
The win gives the Cougars an 8-0 record for the season with Kansas and Texas set for Feb. 25, at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. respectively.
Brigham Young vs Bethune-Cookman
Feb 24, 2005 at Cathedral City, CA (BigLgDrms/Wrigley)
Brigham Young 5 (8-0)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
Watson-Perry c 4 1 0 0 0 0 7 1 0
WHITELEY, cf 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
PARAMORE rf 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
JONES, pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
LE'I, 1b 3 0 1 0 0 0 8 2 1
CAPRA, A pr 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RUSSELL, 3b 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 3 0
URINCHO, dh 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1
NORTON, ss 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 0
DODDS, Deb 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 2
CHAMBERLAIN, lf 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
BOYCE, Br p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals...... 26 5 5 3 1 2 21 13 4
Bethune-Cookman 4 (7-8)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
Williams cf 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3
Davis dh 3 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 0
Jackson ss 4 1 2 1 0 1 3 3 0
Bowser 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 1 2
Thomas c 4 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0
Stewart 1b 3 0 1 0 0 0 11 2 2
Trimble 3b 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 4 0
McGuire rf 3 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0
Johnson lf 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
McCoy p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Totals...... 29 4 9 4 2 6 21 14 7
Score by Innings R H E
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Brigham Young....... 000 230 0 - 5 5 1
Bethune-Cookman..... 000 120 1 - 4 9 5
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E - RUSSELL; Williams; Stewart; Trimble 2; Johnson. DP - Wildcats 2. LOB -
Cougars 4; Wildcats 7. SH - PARAMORE; URINCHO; NORTON. SF - Davis. SB -
WATSON-PERRY; WHITELEY. CS - Thomas.
Brigham Young IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
BOYCE, Brooke 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
URINCHO, Daniella 7.0 9 4 3 2 6 29 32
Bethune-Cookman IP H R ER BB SO AB BF
McCoy 7.0 5 5 0 1 2 26 30
Win - URINCHO (3-0). Loss - McCoy (3-7). Save - None.
Umpires - HP: Mary Sharp 1B: Mike Bartling 3B: Steve Arnold
Start: 7:51 pm Time: 2:01 Attendance: 419
Game: BYU-BCC