LAS -- BYU pitchers Paige Affleck and Hannah Howell didn't give up a run for the third-straight game to lead the Cougar softball team to a 4-0 win over Loyola Marymount on Friday.

Neither Affleck nor Howell have given up a run in the Cougars' last three games, all wins by a combined score of 22-1.

Affleck earned the her 11th win of the year, pitching 4.1 innings with four strikeouts. Howell came on in the fifth, giving up just one hit with no walks and two strikeouts to earn her first save of the year.

The Cougars took some time getting their bats warm in the first of three games in Las Vegas this weekend. Finally in the fourth, sophomore JC Clayton and senior Jessica Fitu led off the inning with base hits. Three batters later with two outs, junior Krista Hicks singled to bring in Clayton.

In the ensuing inning, BYU tacked on three more runs with the offense again starting with two singles, this time by junior Tiffany Messerschmidt and senior Kristin Delahoussaye. Clayton followed with a single up the middle to score Messerschmidt before senior Caschjen Atagi's fly ball was dropped by an LMU fielder, enabling Delahoussaye and Clayton to score.

Clayton finished with two hits, two runs and one RBI. Messerschmidt went 2-for-2 with one run and a walk for the Cougars.

BYU will play Seattle at 10 a.m. MT and Loyola Marymount for the second time at 12:15 p.m. MT on Saturday.

Loyola Marymount vs BYU
04-01-11 at Las Vegas, Nev. (Eller Media Stadium)
Loyola Marymount 0 (14-17)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
SMITH, D. cf.............  3  0  0  0   1  1  0  0   0
CHARPENTIER 2b...........  3  0  0  0   1  0  1  3   0
FISCHER, S. ss...........  3  0  0  0   0  1  1  4   2
SARGINSON, K 1b..........  3  0  1  0   0  1 14  1   2
ALVAREZ, O. c............  2  0  0  0   0  1  2  2   0
HARMAN, M. 3b............  3  0  2  0   0  1  0  2   0
AHLO, K. lf..............  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
NELSON, S. dh............  2  0  0  0   1  1  0  0   3
NAYUDU, J. rf............  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
GRADY, E. p..............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Totals................... 25  0  5  0   3  6 18 14   8
BYU 4 (18-14)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DELAHOUSSAYE, Kristi 2b..  3  1  1  0   0  0  2  2   0
DUGAS,Jessica cf.........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
CLAYTON, JC ss...........  3  2  2  1   0  1  3  4   0
FITU,Jessica c...........  3  0  1  0   0  0  7  1   0
ATAGI,Caschjen dh........  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
DUCKWORTH,Carly rf.......  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   1
HICKS, Krista 3b.........  2  0  1  1   0  0  0  3   0
 WILLARD, Delaney ph.....  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
GRAHAM, Stacie 1b........  2  0  0  0   0  0  7  0   2
 MILLETT,Lacey ph........  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
MESSERSCHMIDT, Tiffa lf..  2  1  2  0   1  0  0  0   0
 HUDSON,Alexandra lf.....  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
AFFLECK,Paige p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 HOWELL,Hannah p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 25  4  7  2   1  3 21 11   5
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
Loyola Marymount.... 000 000 0 -  0  5  2
BYU................. 000 130 X -  4  7  3
-----------------------------------------
E - FISCHER, S. 2; DELAHOUSSAYE; HICKS 2. LOB - LMU 8; BYU 5. SH - ALVAREZ,
O.; ATAGI. SB - DELAHOUSSAYE; HICKS. CS - NELSON, S.; MESSERSCHMID.
Loyola Marymount       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
GRADY, E............  6.0  7  4  2  1  3 25 27
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
AFFLECK,Paige.......  4.1  4  0  0  3  4 16 20
HOWELL,Hannah.......  2.2  1  0  0  0  2  9  9
Win - AFFLECK (11-9).  Loss - GRADY, E. (1-1).  Save - HOWELL (3).
WP - AFFLECK.
Umpires - HP: Willie Newman  1B: Dani Carson  3B: Anthony Lewis
Start: 5:15 pm   Time: 1:45   Attendance:
Weather: 87, sunny & light breeze
Loyola Marymount starters: 55/cf SMITH, D.; 21/2b CHARPENTIER; 52/ss FISCHER,
S.; 18/1b SARGINSON, K; 4/c ALVAREZ, O.; 0/3b HARMAN, M.; 25/lf AHLO, K.; 12/dh
NELSON, S.; 1/rf NAYUDU, J.; 11/p GRADY, E.;
BYU starters: 4/2b DELAHOUSSAYE; 19/cf DUGAS; 16/ss CLAYTON; 10/c FITU; 9/dh
ATAGI; 3/rf DUCKWORTH; 22/3b HICKS; 21/1b GRAHAM; 20/lf MESSERSCHMID; 12/p
AFFLECK;
Loyola Marymount 1st - SMITH, D. grounded out to 3b. CHARPENTIER out at first 3b to ss to 1b. FISCHER, S. struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 1st - DELAHOUSSAYE grounded out to ss. DUGAS grounded out to 3b. CLAYTON struck out swinging, out at first c to 1b. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Loyola Marymount 2nd - SARGINSON, K singled to third base. ALVAREZ, O. out at first p to 2b, SAC, bunt; SARGINSON, K advanced to second. HARMAN, M. struck out looking. AHLO, K. grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 2nd - FITU grounded out to 2b. ATAGI grounded out to ss. DUCKWORTH grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Loyola Marymount 3rd - NELSON, S. walked. NELSON, S. out at second c to ss, caught stealing. NAYUDU, J. singled to center field. SMITH, D. walked; NAYUDU, J. advanced to second. CHARPENTIER lined out to ss. FISCHER, S. grounded out to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 3rd - HICKS grounded out to 3b. GRAHAM grounded out to 2b. MESSERSCHMID singled to catcher. DELAHOUSSAYE reached on a throwing error by ss; MESSERSCHMID advanced to third. DELAHOUSSAYE stole second. DUGAS struck out looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.
Loyola Marymount 4th - SARGINSON, K grounded out to ss. ALVAREZ, O. struck out swinging. HARMAN, M. singled up the middle. AHLO, K. singled to left center; HARMAN, M. advanced to second. NELSON, S. struck out swinging. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 4th - CLAYTON singled to first base. FITU singled to shortstop; CLAYTON advanced to second. ATAGI out at first 1b to 2b, SAC, bunt; FITU advanced to second; CLAYTON advanced to third. DUCKWORTH fouled out to 1b. HICKS singled to shortstop, RBI; FITU advanced to third; CLAYTON scored. HICKS stole second. GRAHAM grounded out to p. 1 run, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Loyola Marymount 5th - NAYUDU, J. reached on a fielding error by 2b. NAYUDU, J. advanced to second on a wild pitch. SMITH, D. grounded out to ss. CHARPENTIER walked. HOWELL to p for AFFLECK. FISCHER, S. reached on a fielding error by 3b; CHARPENTIER advanced to second; NAYUDU, J. advanced to third, out at home ss to c. SARGINSON, K struck out looking. 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 errors, 2 LOB.
BYU 5th - MESSERSCHMID singled up the middle. DELAHOUSSAYE singled through the left side; MESSERSCHMID advanced to second. DUGAS grounded out to p; DELAHOUSSAYE advanced to second; MESSERSCHMID advanced to third. CLAYTON singled to second base, RBI; DELAHOUSSAYE advanced to third; MESSERSCHMID scored. FITU grounded out to ss; CLAYTON advanced to second. ATAGI reached on a dropped fly by ss; CLAYTON scored, unearned; DELAHOUSSAYE scored, unearned. DUCKWORTH grounded out to 1b unassisted. 3 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
Loyola Marymount 6th - ALVAREZ, O. fouled out to rf. HARMAN, M. singled to third base, advanced to second on a throwing error by 3b. AHLO, K. popped up to ss. NELSON, S. popped up to 2b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error, 1 LOB.
BYU 6th - WILLARD pinch hit for HICKS. WILLARD grounded out to 2b. MILLETT pinch hit for GRAHAM. MILLETT struck out swinging. MESSERSCHMID walked. MESSERSCHMID out at second c to ss, caught stealing. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Loyola Marymount 7th - HICKS to 3b for WILLARD. GRAHAM to 1b for MILLETT. HUDSON to lf for MESSERSCHMID. NAYUDU, J. grounded out to 2b. SMITH, D. struck out swinging. CHARPENTIER flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

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BYU softball is traveling to its final non-conference tournament, playing two games against Loyola Marymount and one game against Seattle on Apr. 1-2 in Las Vegas.

COUGAR QUICK HITS

— BYU senior catcher Jessica Fitu enters the weekend tied with current BYU assistant coach and former Cougar player Ianeta Le’i for the BYU and Mountain West Conference career RBI mark. Both players are at 211 career RBI. Fitu leads the conference this season with 39 RBI.

— Senior Kristin Delahoussaye had her second giant game of the year in BYU’s last game against Utah State, going 3-for-3 with two home runs, one triple, four RBI and three runs. It was the first multi-homer game of Delahoussaye’s career and the 11 total bases were a new career high. Earlier this year against Boise State, the senior went 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and five RBI.

— Freshman Carly Duckworth has hit a home run in each of the last two games for the Cougars and has four overall this year.

— BYU won its first two home games of the season last weekend against in-state foes Weber State and Utah State.

— BYU currently leads the MWC in runs, hits, walks, stolen bases, hits allowed, earned runs allowed, extra-base hits allowed and runners picked off.

— The Cougars have a 46 RPI in the latest poll released on Mar. 30. BYU’s two opponents this week, LMU and Seattle, have an RPI rating of 136 and 255, respectively. BYU also received three votes in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25, placing the team tied for the 31st-most votes.

OPPONENTS SERIES NOTES

Loyola Marymount travels to Las Vegas for two games against BYU with a 13-16 record. The Lions have had a similar 2011 as the Cougars, playing against tough teams early in the season before hitting their stride, winning their last five games. BYU has outscored LMU 35-0 in the teams’ last four meetings, winning all four.

Danielle Fisher is one of five players on the Loyola Marymount roster currently batting above .300 while also leading the team with 39 hits. Kelly Sarginson has seven home runs and Sam Fischer has six home runs this year, giving the Lions a solid opening lineup. Molly Medeiros has a 7-4 record for LMU in 20 appearances.

Seattle will play BYU for the second time in series history after facing the Cougars early in the 2010 season. Seattle has struggled early, coming in with a 3-19 record, including an 0-12 record on neutral playing fields.

The Redhawks are led by Hannah Klein, batting .346 with 18 hits and seven RBI. Allegra Wilde leads the team with 21 hits and 27 total bases. Seattle plays all three of its pitchers almost evenly, with Kelli Demianew leading the rotation with a 5.73 ERA and Richelle Ashburn coming into the weekend with two wins and 27 strikeouts in 14 appearances.

ROUNDING UP BASES

Senior Kristin Delahoussaye racked up 11 total bases (two home runs and a triple) versus Utah State on Mar. 29, tying for the fifth-most in a game by a Cougar in program history and equaling the most in a game for BYU since Angie Quiocho had 12 off three home runs against UNLV on May 7, 2010.

GRAND RECORD

Senior catcher Jessica Fitu hit the fourth grand slam of her career against Cal State Northridge, setting a new BYU record for most grand slams in a career and tying for third place all-time in the NCAA record books.

NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE

Senior catch Jessica Fitu became the first BYU player in history to record five hits in a game, going 5-for-5 against Cal State Northridge earlier this season. Fitu hit a grand slam and had four singles on her way to finishing with six RBI and one run.

ALL-TIME CONFERENCE WINS LEADER

Already the record holder in all BYU career pitching categories, senior Paige Affleck became the winningest pitcher in Mountain West Conference history on Mar. 19, winning the 74th game of her career over No. 9 California in the Hawaii Spring Fling Tournament championship game.

TAKING MORE

BYU has 12 players with at least one stolen base so far this year, led by freshman Lacey Millett’s eight steals. Eight players have three or more. The Cougars have 40 stolen bases overall, already ninth-most in a season by a BYU team, and had a season-high four stolen bases against Florida State and Iona.

GOTTA SCORE

BYU is 12-0 when scoring at least six runs and 14-0 when leading after five innings. In addition, 11 of BYU’s 14 losses have come by three runs or less.