ST. GEORGE -- The BYU women's softball team (1-0) kicked off the season with an 11-1 victory over Idaho State (0-1). The Cougars scored in each inning, including a five-run fifth inning that put the game away for good.

"I wouldn't have expected us to play quite that well on our first day outside," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said "I was pleased. I thought we remained focused throughout the entire game and made nice adjustments."

After Cortney Nix-Clark scored the first run of the season at the top of the first, it was Clark who blasted a two-run homer over center field in the second inning. Junior pitcher Christina Gwyn, who won her BYU-debut, closed out the second inning with three consecutive strikeouts. Gwyn finished day striking out six of the 20 batters she faced and giving up only five hits.

"She really kept them off balance," Eakin said. "She did a good job of scattering her hits, and with the exception of the home run [in the fourth inning], they weren't very hard hits."

Another two-run inning in the third gave the Cougars a 5-0 lead heading into the fourth. That's when Emi Snow knocked a lead-off home run out of the park to put the Cougars ahead 6-0. The Bengals' offense seemed to finally kick into gear when Heather Dixon hit a home run of her own in the bottom of the fourth. But BYU capitalized on three fifth-inning errors to put five more runs on the board and take the win.

"Our kids had a lot of adrenaline flowing at first, and they were able to get a handle on that as the game went on," Eakin said. "I'm pleased, but we still have a lot to work on."

BYU continues play in the Red Desert Classic, as it meets Utah State at 1:30 p.m. and then Southern Utah at 4:00 p.m. Friday.

Brigham Young Univer at Idaho State
Feb 08, 2007 at St. George, Utah (The Canyons Complex)
Brigham Young Univer 11 (1-0)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
NIX-CLARK, Cortney c.....  1  2  1  4   2  0  6  0   0
HOCH, Tracee 2b..........  3  0  1  1   1  0  1  3   0
NORTON, Jodi ss..........  4  1  2  1   0  0  1  2   3
SNOW, Emi cf.............  3  2  2  1   1  0  1  0   1
URINCHO, Daniela 1b......  3  1  0  0   1  0  6  0   0
ZINANTI, Christie dh.....  3  0  2  2   0  0  0  0   0
 ANDERSON, Jana pr.......  1  1  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
PLATT, Stephanie rf......  4  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   4
WHITELEY, Jennifer lf....  2  2  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
GONZALES, Monica 3b......  2  2  1  0   1  0  0  1   0
GWYN, Christina p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 26 11 11  9   6  2 15  7   8
Idaho State 1 (0-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Shollenberge p/dh........  2  0  1  0   1  0  0  1   0
Webb 2b..................  3  0  0  0   0  2  1  0   3
Dixon 3b/p...............  2  1  2  1   0  0  1  0   0
Keeton 1b................  2  0  0  0   0  0  4  0   1
Nix lf...................  2  0  0  0   0  1  1  0   0
Jannsen ss...............  2  0  1  0   0  1  0  2   0
Bronson rf...............  2  0  0  0   0  2  2  0   0
Stachowsky c.............  2  0  0  0   0  0  2  1   0
Antonoplos cf............  2  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   0
Clesson dh/p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 19  1  5  1   1  6 15  4   4
Score by Innings               R  H  E
--------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univer 122 15 - 11 11  0
Idaho State......... 000 10 -  1  5  3
--------------------------------------
E - Dixon; Jannsen; Stachowsky. DP - BYU Cougars 1. LOB - BYU Cougars 8; ISU
Bengals 4. 2B - HOCH; Shollenberge; Antonoplos. HR - NIX-CLARK; SNOW; Dixon.
HBP - WHITELEY. SF - NIX-CLARK. SB - ANDERSON; GONZALES.
Brigham Young Univer   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
GWYN, Christina.....  5.0  5  1  1  1  6 19 20
Idaho State            IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Shollenberge........  0.0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0
Clesson.............  4.0  6  6  6  6  2 18 25
Dixon...............  1.0  5  5  1  0  0  8  9
Win - GWYN (1-0).  Loss - Clesson (0-1).  Save - None.
WP - Clesson. HBP - by Clesson (WHITELEY). PB - Stachowsky.
Umpires - HP: Ray Meilbos  1B: George Regopoulos  3B: Brett Higgins
Start: 2:00 pm   Time: 1:50   Attendance:
Brigham Young Univer starters: 10/c NIX-CLARK; 4/2b HOCH; 8/ss NORTON; 18/cf SNOW;
22/1b URINCHO; 14/dh ZINANTI; 5/rf PLATT; 3/lf WHITELEY; 24/3b GONZALES; 11/p GWYN;
Idaho State starters: 12/p Shollenberge; 16/2b Webb; 14/3b Dixon; 33/1b Keeton; 2/lf
Nix; 5/ss Jannsen; 8/rf Bronson; 10/c Stachowsky; 4/cf Antonoplos; 19/dh Clesson;
Brigham Young Univer 1st - Shollenberge to dh. Clesson to p. NIX-CLARK
walked. HOCH doubled; NIX-CLARK advanced to third. NORTON grounded out to ss, RBI;
HOCH advanced to third; NIX-CLARK scored. SNOW walked. URINCHO walked; SNOW advanced
to second. ZINANTI popped up to 3b; URINCHO no advance; SNOW no advance; HOCH no
advance. PLATT grounded out to c. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
Idaho State 1st - Shollenberge doubled. Webb struck out swinging. Dixon
singled; Shollenberge advanced to third. Keeton hit into double play ss to 2b to 1b;
Dixon out on the play. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 2nd - WHITELEY singled, bunt. GONZALES reached on a
fielder's choice; WHITELEY out at second 2b unassisted. NIX-CLARK homered, 2 RBI;
GONZALES scored. HOCH flied out to rf. NORTON singled. SNOW popped up to rf. 2
runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Idaho State 2nd - Nix struck out. Jannsen struck out looking. Bronson struck
out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 3rd - URINCHO flied out to lf. ZINANTI singled. ANDERSON
pinch ran for ZINANTI. ANDERSON stole second. PLATT struck out. WHITELEY hit by
pitch. WHITELEY advanced to second on a wild pitch; ANDERSON advanced to third.
GONZALES walked. NIX-CLARK walked, RBI; GONZALES advanced to second; WHITELEY
advanced to third; ANDERSON scored. HOCH walked, RBI; NIX-CLARK advanced to second;
GONZALES advanced to third; WHITELEY scored. NORTON flied out to cf. 2 runs, 1
hit, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
Idaho State 3rd - Stachowsky grounded out to 2b. Antonoplos flied out to cf.
Shollenberge grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 4th - SNOW homered, RBI. URINCHO grounded out to ss.
ANDERSON struck out. PLATT flied out to cf. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Idaho State 4th - Webb grounded out to p. Dixon homered, RBI. Keeton grounded
out to 1b unassisted. Nix grounded out to 3b. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univer 5th - Dixon to p. /  for Clesson. Shollenberge to 3b.
WHITELEY singled. GONZALES singled, advanced to second on an error by p; WHITELEY
advanced to third. NIX-CLARK flied out to cf, SAC, RBI; WHITELEY scored. GONZALES
stole third, scored on an error by c, unearned. HOCH flied out to cf. NORTON
singled. SNOW singled; NORTON advanced to second. URINCHO reached on an error by ss;
SNOW advanced to second; NORTON advanced to third. ZINANTI to dh for ANDERSON.
URINCHO advanced to second; SNOW advanced to third; NORTON scored on a passed ball,
unearned. ZINANTI singled, 2 RBI; URINCHO scored, unearned; SNOW scored, unearned.
PLATT grounded out to 3b. 5 runs, 5 hits, 3 errors, 1 LOB.
Idaho State 5th - Jannsen singled. Bronson struck out. Stachowsky reached on
a fielder's choice; Jannsen out at second 2b to ss. Antonoplos doubled; Stachowsky
advanced to third. Shollenberge walked. Webb struck out looking. 0 runs, 2 hits,
0 errors, 3 LOB.

PROVO -- The BYU women's softball team opens the 2007 season with the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah. The tournament, which is being co-hosted by BYU and UVSC, begins Thursday, Feb. 8, and ends Saturday, Feb. 10.

After finishing with a 43-22 record last season, the Cougars are aiming for their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. The journey begins this week, and head coach Gordon Eakin says his team is prepared.

"We're ready to play," Eakin said. "We're tired of practicing, and we're ready to get out and compete against someone other than ourselves. I think we've done everything we can to prepare, and I'm excited to see how we'll be."

BYU went 5-1 in preseason play against four of the five teams it will face this weekend. The Cougars will kick off the Classic against Idaho State on Thursday. The team will wrap up the weekend with double-headers against Utah State and Southern Utah on Friday and against UVSC and Loyola Marymount on Saturday.

To view the complete tournament schedule, click here.