April 18, 2006
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LOGAN, Utah - - Jeanine Hernandez went 3-4 with an RBI and two doubles, but Utah State's softball team was unable to pick up a win in the doubleheader against Brigham Young here on Tuesday. The Aggies dropped to 5-32 with the losses, while the Cougars improved to 30-14 with the wins.
After playing 10 games in 18 days on the road, Utah State returned home to play in its third home game of the season where they were greeted by the hot-hitting Cougars. Brigham Young jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning of the first game and never looked back.
Brigham Young went on to add five more runs in the second inning on five hits as Jodi Norton and Cortney Nix both had two-run singles in the inning. The Cougars left the inning with a commanding 10-0 lead, where the game would eventually end in the fifth inning due to the runs rule. Brigham Young's Summer Tobias struck out seven batters and held the Aggies to just two hits as Aubrie Stroman and Hernandez both managed singles in the game.
The Cougars would pick up where they left off in the second game as Brigham Young took a 5-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Aggie bats exploded as Utah State answered with a five runs of its own. Amanda Carver started the rally with a single, and Quela Leonhardt followed with a walk. Whitnie Ray then delivered an RBI single to cut the BYU lead to 5-2. After the Aggies picked up a run on a error by the Cougars third baseman, Jami Uragami came to the plate with the bases loaded. Uragami then stroked a single to right field, scoring Amy Schaible and Ashley Bellum. Hernandez then gave the Aggies their first lead of the day when she doubled home Tara Evans, putting Utah State on top 6-5.
However, the lead would be short-lived as the Cougars added two runs in the top of the sixth, and then sealed the 9-6 win as Norton hit a two-run shot in the seventh. Norton's blast was her second home run of the game, and the fourth by the Cougars in the nightcap.
Ray, Hernandez, Carver, and Shawn Bjarnson all had multi-hit games in the second game as the Aggies pounded out nine hits, seven more than they had in the previous game. Quela Leonhardt was held hitless on the day for the first time in seven games, but she did extended her onbase streak to 19 games as she walked once in the first game, and three more times in the late game.
The Aggies will return to action as they look to pick up their first WAC win when they host San Jose State on Friday, April 21 at 3 p.m. The two teams will then play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 22 that is set to start at noon at Johnson Field.
