BYU Uses Eight Innings to Get By UVU

OREM, Utah - BYU's JC Clayton had four hits and Tori Almond totaled nine strikeouts in a complete game as the Cougar softball team got by Utah Valley 7-4 in eight innings on Wednesday.

BYU (37-13) out-hit the Wolverines 14-4 and committed just one error to UVU's five, but 16 runners left on base helped Utah Valley scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game.

Five singles led to three runs for the Cougars to give BYU a three-run lead, then finished out the game turning a double play to sweep the three-game series.

Clayton continued her torried hitting, going 4 for 5 with two runs scored. The junior shortstop is on an eight-game hit streak and has 21 total hits during that span.

Delaney Willard hit a solo home run on the first pitch of the fifth inning, tieing the Western Athletic Conference record for most RBI in a season with 77 on the year.

Sophomore Tori Almond dominated the Wolverines early, racking up six strikeouts through the first three innings. Almond went the distance, pitching a career-high eight innings while allowing four hits, three walks and three earned runs. Her nine strikeouts were one shy of a career high.

BYU took the initial lead in the first inning when Stacie Toney drew a bases loaded walk to score Clayton. The Cougars added another run in the fourth after Ashlee Brawley hit her first-career triple, then scored after a UVU fielding error one at bat later.

Utah Valley added two runs to tie up the game, but BYU answered with two more on Willard's homer and another bases loaded walk by Jessica Dugas. Dugas walked four times against the Wolverines, becoming just the third player in BYU history to walk four or more times in a game.

Another Wolverine error and RBI singles by Alexandra Hudson and Brawley put BYU on top in the eighth, helping extend the Cougars' current win streak to a season-high eight games.

BYU finishes the regular season in Reno against Nevada in a three-game series beginning Friday, May 4, at 3 p.m. PT.