ST. GEORGE -- During the first game of the Red Desert Classic, the BYU defeated Southern Utah 4-1, in its season opener.

Cougar senior Christina Gwyn Trice threw all seven innings and struck out 13 batters. She held the Thunderbirds scoreless until the bottom of the seventh inning.

"Christina battled well against SUU," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "It is always a challenge to come from playing inside to outside, but our team held its composure well and did what it took to win."

Freshman Jessica Purcell helped the Cougars take an early lead, when she hit a bomb over the right-field fence in the top of the first.

Emi Snow Willing came up strong from the plate with two doubles and one RBI.

Angeline Quiocho reached first base when she was hit by a pitch. She advanced to second off of a hit batter and reached third on a ground out by Amanda Vance. A wild pitch brought Quiocho home and extended the Cougar lead, 2-0.

SUU loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, but a line drive followed by two strikeouts closed the inning.

BYU furthered its lead with Snow Willing's first double, which knocked in Kristin Delahoussaye from second base. Snow Willing eventually scored off of a wild pitch to bring the lead to 4-0.

The Thunderbirds got their only run of the game in the seventh inning, when Gwyn Trice hit Stephanie DeJesus. DeJesus advanced to second on a wild pitch. She reached home on a single from Aly Daniels.

The Cougars continue play for the Red Desert Classic on Friday when they take on Northern Colorado at 1:30 p.m. and Wisconsin at 4:00 p.m.

Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                      Brigham Young Univ. at Southern Utah
                 Feb 07, 2008 at St. George, Utah (The Canyons)
Brigham Young Univ. 4 (1-0)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
GONZALES, Monica cf......  3  0  1  0   1  0  1  1   2
DELAHOUSSAYE,Kristin 2b..  2  1  1  0   1  1  4  0   0
 JENKINS, Shaylyn dp.....  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
PURCELL, Jessica ss......  4  1  1  1   0  0  2  0   2
WILLING, Emi c...........  3  1  2  1   1  0 13  2   2
 NIX, Whitney pr.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
SNOW, Daniela 1b.........  4  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
QUIOCHO, Angeline 3b.....  3  1  1  0   0  0  1  1   0
HOPKINS, Stephanie rf....  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
VANCE, Amanda dp.........  3  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   0
DAVIS, Caschjen lf.......  0  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
TRICE, Christina p.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 25  4  7  2   4  2 21  5   8
Southern Utah 1 (0-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Norian James cf..........  3  0  0  0   1  3  1  1   6
Aly Daniels ss...........  4  0  3  1   0  1  0  6   0
Rodeo Karli rf...........  4  0  0  0   0  3  1  0   0
Lindi Kennedy 3b.........  3  0  0  0   0  2  1  1   1
Natalie McBurney dp......  2  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   0
Shannon Lum 1b...........  1  0  0  0   2  0  8  0   0
 Kim Henderson pr........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Brittany Henderson c.....  3  0  1  0   0  1  4  1   0
Tish Clapham lf..........  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
Stephanie DeJesus 2b.....  0  1  0  0   1  0  6  1   0
 Karli Jenson ph.........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Kristina Brooks p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 Meghan Wilson p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 24  1  5  1   4 13 21 12   8
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 100 120 0 -  4  7  2
Southern Utah....... 000 000 1 -  1  5  0
-----------------------------------------
E - WILLING; QUIOCHO. DP - Thunderbirds 1. LOB - BY 8; Thunderbirds 8. 2B -
WILLING 2; Clapham. HR - PURCELL. HBP - QUIOCHO; HOPKINS; DAVIS; DeJesus. SH
- DAVIS. SB - PURCELL; James. CS - GONZALES; Daniels; Carli. Reached on CI -
McBurney.
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
TRICE, Christina....  7.0  5  1  1  4 13 24 30
Southern Utah          IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Kristina Brooks.....  5.1  6  4  4  3  2 20 27
Meghan Wilson.......  1.2  1  0  0  1  0  5  6
Win - TRICE (1-0).  Loss - Brooks (0-1).  Save - None.
WP - TRICE; Brooks 2. HBP - by Brooks (DAVIS); by Brooks (QUIOCHO); by Brooks
(HOPKINS); by TRICE (DeJesus). PB - WILLING. CI - WILLING.
Umpires - HP: Brett Higgins  1B: Ray Meibos  3B: George Regopoulos
Start: 3:00   Time: 2:20   Attendance: 50
Game: SUU1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Play-by-Play
                            The Automated ScoreBook
              Brigham Young Univ. at Southern Utah - Play-by-Play
                 Feb 07, 2008 at St. George, Utah (The Canyons)
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ.. 100 120 0 -  4  7  2
Southern Utah....... 000 000 1 -  1  5  0
-----------------------------------------
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 24/cf GONZALES; 4/2b DELAHOUSSAYE; 10/ss PURCELL;
18/c WILLING; 22/1b SNOW; 33/3b QUIOCHO; 5/rf HOPKINS; 6/dp VANCE; 9/lf DAVIS;
11/p TRICE;
Southern Utah starters: 14/cf James; 22/ss Daniels; 29/rf Carli; 23/3b Kennedy;
13/dp McBurney; 19/1b Lum; 18/c B. Henderson; 16/lf Clapham; 17/2b DeJesus;
15/p Brooks;
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - GONZALES singled to second base. GONZALES out
at second c to 2b, caught stealing. DELAHOUSSAYE struck out swinging. PURCELL
homered to right field, RBI. WILLING walked. SNOW grounded out to ss. 1 run,
2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Southern Utah 1st - James walked. Daniels struck out swinging. James
stole second. James advanced to third on a passed ball. Carli struck out
swinging. Kennedy struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - QUIOCHO grounded out to ss. HOPKINS flied out
to c. VANCE struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Southern Utah 2nd - McBurney struck out swinging. Lum walked. B.
Henderson struck out swinging. Clapham doubled; Lum advanced to third. DeJesus
walked. James struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - DAVIS hit by pitch. GONZALES reached on a
fielder's choice; DAVIS out at second ss to 2b. DELAHOUSSAYE singled to center
field; GONZALES advanced to second. PURCELL reached on a fielder's choice;
DELAHOUSSAYE out at second ss to 2b; GONZALES advanced to third. PURCELL stole
second. WILLING grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Southern Utah 3rd - Daniels singled to right field. Carli struck out
swinging. Kennedy flied out to ss. Daniels out at second c to 2b, caught
stealing. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - SNOW grounded out to ss. QUIOCHO hit by pitch.
HOPKINS hit by pitch; QUIOCHO advanced to second. VANCE grounded out to 2b;
HOPKINS advanced to second; QUIOCHO advanced to third. HOPKINS advanced to
third on a wild pitch; QUIOCHO scored on a wild pitch. DAVIS walked. GONZALES
flied out to c. 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Southern Utah 4th - McBurney reached on catcher's interference. Lum
reached on a fielder's choice; McBurney advanced to second on a throwing error
by 3b. B. Henderson singled; Lum advanced to second; McBurney advanced to
third. Clapham lined out to ss. Jenson pinch hit for DeJesus. Jenson struck out
swinging. James struck out swinging. 0 runs, 1 hit, 2 errors, 3 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - DeJesus to 2b for Jenson. DELAHOUSSAYE walked.
PURCELL grounded out to 3b; DELAHOUSSAYE advanced to second. WILLING doubled,
RBI; DELAHOUSSAYE scored. SNOW grounded out to 1b unassisted; WILLING advanced
to third. WILLING scored on a wild pitch. QUIOCHO singled. HOPKINS grounded out
to p. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Southern Utah 5th - Daniels singled. Carli reached on a fielder's
choice; Daniels out at second 3b to 2b. Kennedy struck out swinging; Carli out
at second c to 2b, caught stealing. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - VANCE singled to shortstop. DAVIS out at first
p to 2b, SAC; VANCE advanced to second. Wilson to p for Brooks. GONZALES
walked. JENKINS to dp for DELAHOUSSAYE. JENKINS flied out to 2b. PURCELL flied
out to rf. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Southern Utah 6th - DELAHOUSSAYE to 2b for JENKINS. McBurney struck out
swinging. Lum walked. K. Henderson pinch ran for Lum. B. Henderson flied out to
3b. Clapham flied out to cf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 7th - Lum to 1b for K. Henderson. WILLING doubled to
left field. NIX pinch ran for WILLING. SNOW lined into double play cf to 2b;
NIX out on the play. QUIOCHO flied out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
Southern Utah 7th - WILLING to c for NIX. DeJesus hit by pitch. James
struck out swinging. DeJesus advanced to second on a wild pitch. Daniels
singled, out at second cf to p to 2b, RBI; DeJesus scored. Carli struck out
swinging. 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

PLEASE NOTE THE RED DESERT CLASSIC IS BEING HELD AT THE CANYONS IN ST. GEORGE, UTAH

The BYU Women's Softball team opens the 2008 season by co-hosting the Red Desert Classic The Canyons Park in St. George, Utah.

It is the second year the Cougars have co-hosted the event with Utah Valley. This year's teams include Idaho State, Northern Colorado, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Loyola Marymount, Utah Valley, Southern Utah and BYU.

"We are eager to start our season," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "We are ready to play a real game."

Tournament play begins Thursday at 3 p.m., when the Cougars take on Southern Utah. The Cougars continue playing Friday when they play Northern Colorado at 1:30 p.m., and Wisconsin at 4:00 p.m.

On Saturday BYU faces Rhode Island at 1:30 p.m., and Loyola Marymount at 4:00 p.m.

2008 Red Desert Classic Tournament Schedule/Results
Teams:
BYU                 Utah Valley
Idaho State         Northern Colorado
Wisconsin           Rhode Island
Loyola Marymount    Southern Utah
Utah
Thursday, Feb. 7
                Field 5			
3:00 p.m.       BYU 4, SUU 1		
5:00 p.m.       LMU 3, SUU, 2 (12 innings)
Friday, Feb. 8
                Field 5         Field 1                 Field 4
11:00 a.m.      UV 4, UNC 5     URI 2, LMU 6            --
1:30 p.m.       BYU 11,UNC 1 (6)Utah 3, UW 1            SUU 6, ISU 3
4:00 p.m.       BYU 3, UW 1     UV 2, LMU 3             Utah 10, URI 3
Saturday, Feb. 9 
                Field 5         Field 1                 Field 4 
11:00 a.m.      UNC 3, UW 9     UV 11, URI 5            Utah 9, SUU 0
1:30 p.m.       BYU 9, URI 3    LMU 7, UW 5             UV 5, ISU 4
4:00 p.m.       BYU 10, LMU 0   SUU 7, UNC 5            Utah 4, ISU 1
Sunday, Feb. 10
                Field 5         Field 1                 Field 4
11:00 a.m.      UV 3, UW 4      UNC 0, Utah 6           URI 4, ISU 0