Diamond Devil Invitational Last of Road Tournaments

PROVO -- The Diamond Devil Invitational will be the last of six road tournaments the BYU softball team (15-11) has played in to begin the 2007 season.

The Cougars travel to Tempe, Arizona where they will face host school and No. 7 team in the nation Arizona State (29-5), Illinois (16-9) and Longwood (10-5). Coming off two big wins against Mercer and Santa Clara to end last week's Capital Classic in Sacramento, California, the team is looking to build on its winning streak as it looks ahead to its home and conference schedules.

"The way we won [against Santa Clara last weekend], I think, is a building block to gaining momentum towards the rest of the season," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "We showed a lot of heart. That's something that we haven't put together lately, but we're so capable of doing."

BYU meets Arizona State on Thursday at 7 p.m. (PST) in a preliminary match to the Diamond Devil Invitational. The Invitational kicks off with the Cougars going up against Illinois on Friday at 11:30 a.m. and ASU at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, BYU meets Illinois once again at 11:30 a.m. and finishes the tournament against Longwood at 2 p.m.

Every game except the last against Longwood will be available through livestats.

Also, because Arizona does not participate in daylight-saving time, all games will be an hour earlier than normal Mountain Standard Time.