Anonymous | Posted: 7 May 2009 | Updated: 8 Nov 2020

Purcell's Longball Powers BYU Win

PROVO -- After clinching the MWC title, the BYU softball team defeated New Mexico at Miller Park 6-3 with all six runs coming from Cougar slugger Jessica Purcell. The Cougars are now 38-15 and 11-1 in Mountain West Conference play.

“Jessica was the key to the win,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “She has been a game changer all season and she changed the game again tonight.”

BYU set the tone offensively as they came out swinging in the first, scoring off a Purcell two run homer. She punished the Lobos again at her third at-bat in the bottom of the fifth as she blasted a grand slam over the center field wall for the second time that night.

Purcell currently leads the Cougars in home runs with 17 for the season. She also has two grand slams which ties the single season record set by Ashlyn Russell in 2003.

In the end, the Cougars totaled 10 hits, six RBI’s and no errors. BYU’s center fielder Angeline Quiocho, and catcher Coreen Lopez both had two hits, and Monica Gonzales, Krista Hicks and Tiffany Messerschmidt each had one hit.

The Cougar pitching held strong throughout the night. Righthander Christie Zinnanti pitched four innings giving up 3 hits, one run and one error. Righthander Paige Affleck took over in the top of the fifth and finished the game giving up two runs on three hits.

“We planned to split the workload between the two pitchers tonight,” Eakin said. “They both pitched well and had good stuff.”

Tonight’s win adds to Zinnanti’s current season record bringing it to 20-7. This is the second time she has achieved a 20 win season and only the third time ever in BYU history.

New Mexico struggled offensively against the Cougar’s pitching as they only got six hits off 24 at-bats. Center fielder Samantha Hughes drove in two of the three Lobo runs, and second baseman Cristin Anderson got two hits and scored both times on base.

The Cougars will return tomorrow night to face Colorado State at 7 p.m. at Miller Park. They close out the 2009 regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Rams where the two Cougar seniors will be honored in the MWC Championship celebration.

Box Score                            The Automated ScoreBook
                       New Mexico at Brigham Young Univ.
                   May 07, 2009 at PROVO, Utah (Miller Park)
New Mexico 3 (12-34,3-10 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
ANDERSON 2b..............  3  2  2  0   1  0  5  0   0
RUBALCAVA 3b.............  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  3   0
HUGHES cf................  2  0  0  2   0  1  1  0   0
GILMORE 1b...............  2  0  0  1   2  1  5  0   0
GARCIA c.................  4  0  0  0   0  2  2  0   1
DUARTE dp................  2  0  1  0   1  0  0  0   0
DRESSLAR lf..............  3  0  1  0   0  2  2  0   0
GEORGE ss................  2  0  1  0   1  1  1  3   2
COX rf/pr................  2  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   5
 BRANDOW ph..............  0  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0
CASTRO p.................  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0
 HODGINS p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 24  3  6  3   6  8 18  7   8
Brigham Young Univ. 6 (38-15,11-1 MWC)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DELAHOUSSAYE, Kristi 2b..  2  1  0  0   1  0  3  1   0
MESSERSCHMIDT, Tiffa dp..  4  1  1  0   0  0  0  0   1
QUIOCHO, Angeline cf.....  3  1  2  0   0  0  0  0   0
PURCELL, Jessica c.......  3  2  2  6   0  1  8  0   1
RAMIREZ, Andrea 1b.......  3  0  0  0   0  1  5  0   0
LOPEZ, Coreen 3b.........  3  0  2  0   0  0  2  1   0
 DUGAS, Jessica pr.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
HOPKINS, Stephanie rf....  2  0  1  0   1  0  2  0   1
HICKS, Krista ss.........  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  3   1
 NIX-THOMAS, Whitney pr..  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
GONZALES, Monica lf......  2  1  1  0   0  0  1  0   1
ZINANTI, Christie p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 AFFLECK, Paige p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 25  6 10  6   2  2 21  6   5
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 001 000 2 -  3  6  1
Brigham Young Univ.. 200 040 X -  6 10  0
-----------------------------------------
E - CASTRO. DP - Lobos 2; Cougars 1. LOB - Lobos 8; Cougars 5. 2B -
ANDERSON. HR - PURCELL 2(17). SH - DELAHOUSSAYE(8); GONZALES(6). SF - HUGHES
2. SB - GILMORE.
New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
CASTRO..............  4.1  8  6  5  2  2 19 22  70
HODGINS.............  1.2  2  0  0  0  0  6  7  24
Brigham Young Univ.    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
ZINANTI, Christie...  4.0  3  1  1  3  5 14 18  67
AFFLECK, Paige......  3.0  3  2  2  3  3 10 14  60
Win - ZINANTI (20-7).  Loss - CASTRO (3-16).  Save - AFFLECK (3).
Pitches/strikes: CASTRO 70/41; HODGINS 24/15; ZINANTI 67/42; AFFLECK 60/32.
Umpires - HP: Steve McCown  1B: Brett Higgins  3B: Ray Meibos
Start: 7:05 pm   Time: 2:14   Attendance: 247
Weather: 65*, slight wind
Game: NM3
Play-by-Play
                            The Automated ScoreBook
                New Mexico at Brigham Young Univ. - Play-by-Play
                   May 07, 2009 at PROVO, Utah (Miller Park)
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 001 000 2 -  3  6  1
Brigham Young Univ.. 200 040 X -  6 10  0
-----------------------------------------
New Mexico starters: 1/2b ANDERSON; 2/3b RUBALCAVA; 4/cf HUGHES; 24/1b GILMORE;
18/c GARCIA; 22/dp DUARTE; 12/lf DRESSLAR; 7/ss GEORGE; 23/rf COX; 15/p CASTRO;
Brigham Young Univ. starters: 4/2b DELAHOUSSAYE; 20/dp MESSERSCHMID; 33/cf
QUIOCHO; 10/c PURCELL; 31/1b RAMIREZ; 7/3b LOPEZ; 5/rf HOPKINS; 22/ss HICKS;
24/lf GONZALES; 14/p ZINANTI;
New Mexico 1st - ANDERSON flied out to rf (2-1). RUBALCAVA struck out
swinging (2-2). HUGHES struck out swinging (3-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,
0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 1st - DELAHOUSSAYE walked (3-1). MESSERSCHMID popped
into double play p to 1b, bunt (1-0); DELAHOUSSAYE out on the play. QUIOCHO
singled, bunt (2-1). PURCELL homered to left center, 2 RBI (1-0); QUIOCHO
scored. RAMIREZ struck out swinging (2-2). 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0
LOB.
New Mexico 2nd - GILMORE walked (3-2). GARCIA struck out swinging (0-2).
GILMORE stole second. DUARTE walked. DRESSLAR struck out swinging (1-2). GEORGE
walked (3-1); DUARTE advanced to second; GILMORE advanced to third. COX
grounded out to ss (0-0). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 2nd - LOPEZ flied out to cf (0-1). HOPKINS walked
(3-1). HICKS fouled out to lf (2-1); HOPKINS advanced to second. GONZALES
popped up to ss (3-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 3rd - ANDERSON doubled down the lf line. RUBALCAVA out at
first ss to 2b (0-0); ANDERSON advanced to third. HUGHES flied out to lf, SF,
RBI (3-1); ANDERSON scored. GILMORE struck out swinging (1-2). 1 run, 1 hit,
0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 3rd - DELAHOUSSAYE popped up to 2b (1-2).
MESSERSCHMID flied out to lf (1-2). QUIOCHO singled up the middle (0-1).
PURCELL struck out swinging (2-2). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 4th - GARCIA grounded out to 2b (0-0). DUARTE popped up to 2b
(2-2). DRESSLAR singled to right center (1-1). GEORGE singled to right field
(0-2); DRESSLAR advanced to second. COX grounded out to 1b unassisted (2-2).
0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 4th - RAMIREZ grounded out to 3b (0-1). LOPEZ
singled to center field (0-0). HOPKINS singled through the left side (2-0);
LOPEZ advanced to second. DUGAS pinch ran for LOPEZ. HICKS grounded into double
play 3b to 1b (1-0); DUGAS out on the play. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
New Mexico 5th - LOPEZ to 3b for DUGAS. AFFLECK to p for ZINANTI.
ANDERSON singled up the middle (1-0). RUBALCAVA fouled into double play 3b to
1b (1-1); ANDERSON out on the play. HUGHES popped up to 2b (1-1). 0 runs, 1
hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 5th - GONZALES singled through the right side (0-1).
DELAHOUSSAYE reached on an error by p, SAC (2-1); GONZALES advanced to second.
MESSERSCHMID singled, bunt (0-0); DELAHOUSSAYE advanced to second; GONZALES
advanced to third. QUIOCHO fouled out to 1b (0-0). PURCELL homered, 4 RBI
(1-0); MESSERSCHMID scored; DELAHOUSSAYE scored, unearned; GONZALES scored.
HODGINS to p for CASTRO. RAMIREZ lined out to 2b (2-2). LOPEZ singled up the
middle (1-2). HOPKINS reached on a fielder's choice (0-0); LOPEZ out at second
ss to 2b. 4 runs, 4 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 6th - GILMORE walked (3-2). GARCIA struck out swinging (2-2).
DUARTE singled to left field (1-2); GILMORE advanced to second. DRESSLAR struck
out looking (3-2). GEORGE struck out swinging (1-2). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0
errors, 2 LOB.
Brigham Young Univ. 6th - HICKS singled to left center (2-2). NIX-THOMAS
pinch ran for HICKS. GONZALES out at first 3b to 2b, SAC (1-1); NIX-THOMAS
advanced to second. DELAHOUSSAYE out at first ss to 2b (1-1). MESSERSCHMID
grounded out to ss (2-0). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
New Mexico 7th - HICKS to ss for NIX-THOMAS. BRANDOW pinch hit for COX.
BRANDOW walked (3-1). COX pinch ran for BRANDOW. ANDERSON walked (3-1); COX
advanced to second. RUBALCAVA singled to left field (0-1); ANDERSON advanced to
second; COX advanced to third. HUGHES flied out to rf, SF, RBI (3-2); ANDERSON
advanced to third; COX scored. GILMORE out at first p to ss to 1b, RBI (3-1);
RUBALCAVA advanced to second; ANDERSON scored. GARCIA lined out to 3b (0-1).

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Purcell's Longball Powers BYU Win