FULLERTON, Calif. - Pitcher Tori Almond collected a career-high 10 strikeouts and Stacie Toney led a strong BYU hitting performance as the Cougar softball team earned a 14-1 victory over Purdue at the San Diego Classic on Thursday.

The Cougars scored in each of the game's five innings, including a seven-run third inning, in its biggest win of the year.

After allowing a leadoff single, Almond struck out the next five Purdue batters. The sophomore's 10 Ks surpassed her previous personal best of eight set last season and pushed her record to 3-2 on the year.

Every Cougar in the starting lineup scored at least one run while combining for nine hits. Toney went 2 for 3 with two RBI and a double and freshman Anna Hudson hit her first career home run on the first hit of her BYU career.

Three of the first four Cougar batters reached base to start a four-run first inning that began the momentum for BYU.

In the second inning, Hudson scored BYU's only lone run off an illegal pitch from the Boilermaker hurler, a mistake that would continue to plague Purdue into the following inning. In the third, Katie Manuma hit a single and Toney hit a double to begin the inning before Carly Duckworth reached on ball four that was also an illegal pitch, giving the runners an extra base and scoring Manuma.

After Duckworth scored from third on another illegal pitch, Jessica Dugas, Tiffany Messerschmidt and JC Clayton all drew walks to load the bases for Delaney Willard. The senior outfielder answered, knocking a fly ball to left field. The Purdue fielder tried to make a play, but the ball squeezed out of her glove and over the fence, bringing all four Cougars in to score.

Firmly in control, Hudson connected for her home run, a two-run shot in the fourth, for the final margin.

Game Two

In the late game on Thursday, BYU again hung with a top-ranked team, this time No. 5 Arizona State, but couldn't put runs on the board, losing 3-0.

Much like the Cougars' 3-0 loss to No. 1 Florida earlier this season, BYU played with Arizona State but couldn't get runs on the board. Starting pitcher Caroline Umphlett gave up two hits and three runs in 3.2 innings before junior Hannah Howell came in and gave up no runs or walk in the last 2.1 to hold the Sun Devils - the top hitting team in the nation - to a tie for its lowest run output of the season.

BYU had two chances to bring in runs, the first coming in the third inning. Messerschmidt hit a single that put Dugas at third after the third baseman had hit a single earlier in the inning, but a ground out ended the inning.

Dugas and Messerschmidt again reached in the sixth inning, this time on walks, to load the bases with Hudson on third and two outs. The result was the same as in the third inning, with all runners stranded to end the threat.

BYU plays a single game tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. PT against UC Davis.

The BYU softball team travels to its final tournament of the season as the Cougars head to Fullerton, Calif., to play Purdue and Arizona State on Thursday, UC Davis on Friday, and Arizona and Penn State on Saturday.

Purdue
Thurs., Mar. 15
11 a.m. PT
Field 2

No. 5 Arizona State
Thurs., Mar. 15
3:30 p.m. PT
Field 1

UC Davis
Fri., Mar. 16
7:30 p.m. PT
Field 2

No. 13 Arizona
Sat., Mar. 17
1 p.m. PT
Field 1

Penn State
Sat., Mar. 17
5:30 p.m. PT
Field 2


COUGAR QUICK HITS
— The Cougars did not play last week after its lone game of the week at Utah was called off.
— BYU would like to get some monkeys off its back at the Garman Classic. The Cougars have a combined 0-12 record against Arizona and Arizona State and are looking for their first win against either school. In addition, last time the Cougars played Penn State the Nittany Lions won, 17-4, the second-worst loss in team history.
— Senior Delaney Willard has led the way for BYU this season and is ranked in the NCAA top-15 in four different categories, including batting average (5th, .500), slugging percentage (10th, .966), RBI per game (12th, 1.35) and on base percentage (14th, .577).
— BYU will face two ranked opponents this weekend and has a 2-3 record against top-25 teams this season. The Cougars beat No. 15 Texas A&M (3-2) and No. 11 Oregon (2-1) but have since lost to No. 21 Oklahoma State (3-2), No. 1 Florida (3-0) and No. 14 Texas A&M (14-8 in eight innings).

PURDUE
• BYU has never lost to Purdue, winning twice in both the 2005 and 2007 seasons.
• The Boilermakers won their first nine games of the year but have struggled lately as the competition has improved, losing five or their last seven games, including two to Oregon, one to Fresno State and one to Cal.
• Purdue has a balanced offensive attack led by Andie Varsho and Lindsey Rains each with a team-high 26 hits.
• Only one senior regularly contributes for Purdue which has a starting lineup of four sophomores and three juniors.

ARIZONA STATE
• The Sun Devils are arguably the best hitting team in the nation, leading the country with a .375 batting average and .646 slugging percentage. ASU is also second in the nation averaging 1.7 home runs per game third in the nation with a 8.56 runs per game average.
• Alix Johnson has a .558 batting average in 17 games played this season while Katelyn Boyd is one of seven players currently batting above .400 with a .493 average.
• ASU has 46 home runs compared to 13 for their opponents but the biggest margin may be in the stolen base category - the Sun Devils have totaled 41 while allowing just five in 10 attempts.

UC DAVIS
• UC Davis has an overall record of 9-17 after getting three wins in its latest series against Idaho State.
• Pitcher Justine Vela has a 7-8 record but has racked up 122 strikeouts on opponents.
• Megan Guzman has a .319 average to lead UC Davis.

ARIZONA
• The last two meetings between these two teams in well-remembered, as Arizona knocked BYU out of the NCAA Tournament in 2010 in the Cougars’ first-ever Super Regional apperance.
• After losing three of their first five, the Wildcats have won 14 of their last 15 games.
• Kenzie Fowler returns as the ace for Arizona, coming in with a 1.55 ERA and 7-0 record. At the plate, Brigette Del Ponte has a .455 average with 25 hits, seven doubles and five home runs.

PENN STATE
• Both PSU pitchers have an ERA above 4.00 with Marissa Diescher at 4.16 and Lisa Akamine at 4.24.
• Alyssa Renwick is the Lions on base machine with a team-high 22 hits, all of which are singles. Penn State has just four home runs and no triples on the season.

SHE’S BACK
After a slow start, sophomore pitcher Tori Almond picked up two complete-game wins at the San Diego Classic. Almond went a full seven innings, allowing no walks and one run with seven Ks for the victory. The next day vs. Charlotte, Almond again had seven strikeouts, this time allowing just one hit, no runs
and two walks. The sophomore is second in the WAC averaging 8.58 strikeouts per game.

UNSUNG SENIOR
Senior Stacie Toney has quietly put up big numbers for the Cougars this year at the plate. Toney leads BYU with nine multi-hit games, including four such games at the Desert Classic and two in her last two games against Long Beach State and Charlotte. She is currently on a career-high seven-game hitting
streak.
Toney, who is one of two players on the roster to get married this past summer, is second on the team with a .434 batting average and is second on the team with five doubles, 15 RBI and 36 total bases with a .679 slugging percentage.