Coming off its best season ever, BYU brought high expectations and a plethora of returning talent into the 2006 softball season.
The results were positive as the Cougars picked up their second consecutive 40-win season and hosted the NCAA Regionals for the first time in the program's seven-year history.
BYU entered the season nationally ranked for the first time, putting a bull's-eye on the Cougar squad throughout the year.
"In every game we played, we saw our opponents' best," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said at the season-ending team banquet. "Each team threw their best pitcher and brought their best line up against us."
Even against their opponents' best, the Cougars finished the season with a 43-22 record and a 15-5 second-place Mountain West Conference finish. The berth to the NCAA Regionals was BYU's second straight and third overall in seven years.
Always a strength, the Cougars' offense once again carried the team throughout the season. BYU ranked 11th in the nation in team hitting with a .310 mark. The Cougars had one batter hit over .400 and eight eclipse the .300 mark for the season.
BYU made the most of the .310 batting average as it plated 5.66 runs per game, good for 10th in the nation. With sluggers like Ianeta Le`i, Jodi Norton, Andrea Ramirez and Emi Snow, the Cougars were 16th nationally in both home runs per game and slugging percentage, posting marks of .97 and .467, respectively. BYU also showed defensive prowess, turning .42 double plays per game, good for 14th in the nation.
The Cougars had several outstanding individual performances. Le`i, from Oahu, Hawai`i, led the way for BYU garnering honors at the Conference, Region, and National levels. She earned her second MWC Player of the Year award after earning the conference's triple crown. Le`i batted an impressive .540 with 11 home runs and 38 RBI in just 20 MWC games. Le`i also picked up first team Easton All-America honors, first team NFCA/Louisville Slugger All-West Region and second team NFCA/Louisville Slugger All-America honors.
"Ianeta had an outstanding year," Eakin said. "She deserves every award she receives."
Le`i broke several offensive records, both of the single season and career variety. She destroyed the single season and career RBI records. Le`i tallied 82 RBI, good for second in the nation and 22 better than Oli Keohoho's old record of 60. Le`i's 209 career RBI was 53 better than the previous BYU record. Le`i also set the single season and career records for hits and doubles.
Also honored as MWC All-Conference from BYU were senior Summer Tobias, juniors Jodi Norton and Jennifer Whiteley and freshman Andrea Ramirez.
Norton was second in the MWC with 15 home runs and 53 RBI, both career-highs from the Mesa, Ariz., native.
Ramirez had a stellar freshman season, posting the second-best batting average and tying Le`i for the school record with 15 doubles.
Whiteley, who was also named to CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine's Academic All-District team, swung a hot bat in MWC play, posting a .413 average with 16 runs and two triples.
Tobias took care of the pitching duties for the Cougars for much of the season. She recorded the decision in each of BYU's final 14 games. Overall, she posted a 12-2 mark in MWC games. Tobias' 26 wins this season beat her own record of 19 recorded last season.
"Summer was the heart and soul of our team over the last third of our season," Eakin said. "She battled injuries throughout the year and was always out there competing for us."
Tobias leaves BYU with most of its pitching records after just two seasons with the Cougars. She set records in career wins (45), innings pitched in a season (225.0 in 2006), the lowest ERA in a season (1.73 in 2005; tied with Brooke Boyce-Humbert who achieved a 1.73 in 2004) and the lowest ERA in a career (2.13).
BYU played its toughest schedule, facing off against ranked teams 10 times.
"Our conference was probably better than its ever been," Eakin said. "There was more parity this year than in past years."
The MWC sent three teams to the field of 64. Utah got an automatic bid while San Diego State and BYU picked up at-large berths.
BYU took second in the league in the regular season with a 15-5 record. The Cougars showed their perseverance when they entered the final week of the season three games behind No. 24 San Diego State with four games to play. BYU swept the Aztecs in San Diego before sweeping UNLV. SDSU beat Utah twice to wrap up the title.
Much of the Cougars' success was had despite a variety of injuries to key players.
"It's a tribute to our team of how we played despite being banged up most of the season," Eakin said. "We have an excellent training staff that had our players ready to go each day."
Despite the injuries and toughest schedule in program history, BYU came out of the 2006 campaign with a lot of success. The Cougars look to 2007 with some big shoes to fill with the graduation of five key players in Le`i, Tobias, Ashlyn Russell, Paige Paramore and Brooke Boyce-Humbert.
"This set of seniors took us to the national level in softball," Eakin said. "They'll be tough to replace, but we look forward to improving and moving to the next level."
After hosting an NCAA Regional for the first time in school history, Eakin feels the BYU softball program is on the rise.
"We hope to maintain this level of competition," he said. "Hosting the Regionals was a step in the right direction. Now we need to build upon that, and I'm confident we can do that."
To view the entire season review including a list of all awards and recognition please click on "view the pdf version."