SAN DIEGO -- Mountain West Conference Co-Player of the Year Oli Keohohou hit her 20th home run of the season to power the Cougars past No. 6 seed UNLV in the opening game of the MWC Tournament. BYU improved to 34-15 while UNLV drops to 20-38 on the season.

Sophomore Niki Andersen (9-5) pitched a complete game shutout allowing only three hits through seven innings while striking out four Rebels. Jackie Kerrigan (15-15) picked up the loss for UNLV.

After four scoreless innings, Keohohou got things going in the bottom of the fifth inning with a blast over the left field fiend. Senior Brooke Cadiente, who was named to the All-MWC team for the first time in her career last night, reached on a walk and was later brought home by single from junior shortstop Kate Walker.

The Cougars poured in four runs in the sixth inning led by sophomore Lauren Watsons triple. Watson was also named to the All-MWC team for her first career selection. Freshman Neta Lei singled to score Watson. Lei also was named to the All-MWC team. Keohohou then drew an intentional walk. Cadiente then doubled to right center to score Lei and Gerhauser, who pinch ran for Keohohou.

BYU will play No. 2 seed Colorado State at 3 p.m. MDT today. BYU won three of four contests this season including a sweep on April 25 at home.

Mountain West Conference Softball
                                  UNLV vs BYU
                 May 08, 2003 at San Diego, Calif. (SDSU Field)
UNLV 0 (20-38)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BYRNE lf.................  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
18 ss....................  3  0  1  0   0  1  3  1   0
BOSTWICK 2b..............  2  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   0
 McRAE pr................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
MOSES rf.................  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
ELLIS 1b.................  3  0  1  0   0  0  6  0   0
KERRIGAN p...............  3  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   2
BRUECHERT dh.............  3  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   1
GLENN 3b.................  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  6   0
PETRACCO c...............  2  0  0  0   0  1  3  0   0
BAYLESS cf...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Totals................... 24  0  3  0   0  4 18  8   4
BYU 6 (34-15)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
WATSON rf................  4  1  3  0   0  0  2  0   0
OSBORN dh................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 FALLOWFIELD ph/dh.......  4  0  1  0   0  1  0  0   3
LEI 1b...................  4  0  1  1   0  0  5  0   0
 GERHAUSER pr............  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
KEOHOHOU cf..............  2  2  1  1   2  0  3  0   1
CADIENTE lf..............  3  2  1  2   1  1  2  0   3
 DODDS lf................  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
RUSSELL 3b...............  2  0  1  1   0  0  1  1   0
WALKER ss................  3  0  1  1   0  1  1  3   1
LAYNS c..................  3  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   2
 BARNES pr...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
JONES 2b.................  3  0  2  0   0  0  3  1   0
ANDERSEN p...............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  3   0
Totals................... 28  6 12  6   3  3 21  8  10
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
UNLV................ 000 000 0 -  0  3  0
BYU................. 000 024 X -  6 12  1
-----------------------------------------
E - JONES. LOB - LV 4; BY 10. 2B - CADIENTE. 3B - WATSON. HR - KEOHOHOU. HBP
- RUSSELL. SH - BOSTWICK; RUSSELL; WALKER.
UNLV                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
KERRIGAN............  6.0 12  6  6  3  3 28 34
BYU                    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
ANDERSEN............  7.0  3  0  0  0  4 24 25
Win - ANDERSEN (9-5).  Loss - KERRIGAN (15-15).  Save - None.
HBP - by KERRIGAN (RUSSELL). PB - PETRACCO.
Umpires -
Start: 9 a.m.   Time: 2:22   Attendance:
Game notes:
ID-193172
Game: LV-BY5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Play-by-Play
                       Mountain West Conference Softball
                           UNLV vs BYU - Play-by-Play
                 May 08, 2003 at San Diego, Calif. (SDSU Field)
Score by Innings                  R  H  E
-----------------------------------------
UNLV................ 000 000 0 -  0  3  0
BYU................. 000 024 X -  6 12  1
-----------------------------------------
UNLV starters: 66/lf BYRNE; 0/ss 18; 13/2b BOSTWICK; 10/rf MOSES; 9/1b ELLIS; 21/p
KERRIGAN; 23/dh BRUECHERT; 4/3b GLENN; 32/c PETRACCO; 1/cf BAYLESS;
BYU starters: 11/rf WATSON; 18/dh OSBORN; 66/1b LEI; 15/cf KEOHOHOU; 3/lf CADIENTE;
25/3b RUSSELL; 5/ss WALKER; 19/c LAYNS; 10/2b JONES; 24/p ANDERSEN;
UNLV 1st - BYRNE out at first p to 2b. 18 struck out looking. BOSTWICK flied
out to rf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 1st - WATSON flied out to lf. FALLOWFIELD pinch hit for OSBORN.
FALLOWFIELD singled to center field. LEI reached on a fielder's choice; FALLOWFIELD
out at second ss to 2b. KEOHOHOU grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1
LOB.
UNLV 2nd - MOSES grounded out to 2b. ELLIS singled to center field. KERRIGAN
reached on a fielder's choice; ELLIS out at second 3b to 2b. BRUECHERT struck out
looking. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 2nd - CADIENTE struck out looking. RUSSELL hit by pitch. WALKER out at
first 3b to 2b, SAC, bunt; RUSSELL advanced to second. LAYNS popped up to ss. 0
runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV 3rd - GLENN flied out to lf. PETRACCO struck out swinging. BYRNE
grounded out to p. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 3rd - JONES singled to center field. WATSON singled to center field;
JONES advanced to second. FALLOWFIELD to dh. FALLOWFIELD fouled out to ss. LEI flied
out to cf. KEOHOHOU intentionally walked; WATSON advanced to second; JONES advanced
to third. CADIENTE fouled out to ss. 0 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
UNLV 4th - 18 singled to center field. BOSTWICK reached on an error by 2b,
SAC, bunt; 18 advanced to second. MOSES reached on a fielder's choice; BOSTWICK
advanced to second; 18 out at third ss to 3b. McRAE pinch ran for BOSTWICK. ELLIS
fouled out to rf; McRAE advanced to third. KERRIGAN grounded out to ss. 0 runs, 1
hit, 1 error, 2 LOB.
BYU 4th - BOSTWICK to 2b for McRAE. RUSSELL grounded out to 3b. WALKER struck
out swinging. LAYNS singled to left field. JONES singled to center field; LAYNS
advanced to second. BARNES pinch ran for LAYNS. WATSON singled to shortstop; JONES
advanced to second; BARNES advanced to third. FALLOWFIELD grounded out to 3b. 0
runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 3 LOB.
UNLV 5th - LAYNS to c for BARNES. BRUECHERT flied out to cf. GLENN flied out
to cf. PETRACCO flied out to lf. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
BYU 5th - LEI grounded out to p. KEOHOHOU homered to left field, RBI.
CADIENTE walked. RUSSELL out at first 3b to 2b, SAC, bunt; CADIENTE advanced to
second. WALKER singled to center field, RBI; CADIENTE scored. LAYNS grounded out to
3b. 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV 6th - BYRNE lined out to ss. 18 grounded out to p. BOSTWICK singled down
the lf line. MOSES reached on a fielder's choice; BOSTWICK out at second ss to 2b.
0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
BYU 6th - JONES popped up to 2b. WATSON tripled to left field. FALLOWFIELD
struck out swinging. LEI singled to left field, RBI; WATSON scored. LEI advanced to
second on a passed ball. KEOHOHOU intentionally walked. GERHAUSER pinch ran for LEI.
CADIENTE doubled to right center, 2 RBI; KEOHOHOU scored; GERHAUSER scored. LEI to
1b for GERHAUSER. RUSSELL singled to left field, RBI; CADIENTE scored. WALKER fouled
out to 1b. 4 runs, 4 hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.
UNLV 7th - DODDS to lf for CADIENTE. ELLIS lined out to cf. KERRIGAN popped
up to 1b. BRUECHERT struck out swinging. 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

PROVO -- The BYU women's softball team (33-15, 10-7) finished the regular season as the No. 3 seed for the Mountain West Conference Tournament this weekend in San Diego, Calif. BYU will play against No. 6 seed UNLV (record) Thursday morning at 10 a.m. MDT. The winner of the game will face No. 2 seed Colorado State at 3 p.m. MDT Thursday afternoon.

TEAM STATS

BYU lead the Mountain West Conference in several offensive categories this season including batting average (.305), runs scored (279), doubles (58), total bases (633), walks (190), slugging percentage (.512), triples (15), on base pct. (.400), RBI (252), and home runs (56).

The Cougars are currently ranked 11th in the nation in batting average and runs per game. Updated statistics should be available at the ncaa.org web site on Wednesday.

BYU finished with its best regular season winning percentage at .688 in the four-year history of the program. The team needs only two wins to tie the school record of 35 wins, set in 2001 when the Cougars won the MWC crown and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

KEY PLAYERS

Senior Brooke Cadiente is known to come alive in the MWC Tournament. The 2001 Tournament MVP was also named to the All-Tournament team last season with her grand slam she hit against No. 1 seed San Diego State. Cadiente leads the conference in triples with three and is tied for second on the team in RBI with 36 along with teammate Neta Lei, who homered three times last week.

All-American Oli Keohohou leads the conference in every batting category including batting average (.445), runs scored (55), total bases (126), slugging percentage (1.059), triples (3), walks (50), on base pct. (.610), RBI (45), and home runs (19). Over the past two season, Keohohou tends to draw a ton of walks in the MWC Tournament and looks to help her team in scoring runs and getting on base.

Sophomore catcher Lauren Watson is having a career season batting .368 with nine home runs and 57 hits in the lead off position that ties her for second in the conference. Freshman Neta Lei is just behind her with a .365 batting average and seven home runs and 50 hits.

Freshman Brooke Boyce (11-4) is leading the Cougar attack on the mound with a 2.14 ERA and 31 appearances. BYU will need the help of seniors Cynthia Fallowfield (7-4) and Mandy Flint (7-2) along with sophomore Niki Andersen (8-5) to complete a good rotation over the weekend. All three pitchers have an ERA under 3.00.

UNLV

The Cougars destroyed the Rebels in their first three meetings of the season with a sweep in Provo 9-1 (5), 8-0 (6) on a cold day that was delayed by an April snow fall. BYU dropped the first game 2-3 in Las Vegas after leading 2-1 going into the fifth but won 14-0 (5) in five innings. BYU eliminated the Rebels from the conference tournament in Provo last season.

The Rebels are led by pitcher Jackie Kerrigan (15-14) who has a 1.95 ERA and 136 strikeouts on the season. Lisa Moses leads the team with a .286 batting average with 44 hits and nine doubles.

COLORADO STATE

If BYU wins the first game against UNLV, they will face No. 2 seed Colorado State at 3 p.m. MDT on Thursday. If the Cougars were to lose, they would place the loser of Thursday nights game on Friday at 10 a.m. MDT.

The Cougars swept Colorado State at home on April 25 12-3, 6-2 behind grand slams from freshman Ashlyn Russell and senior Cynthia Fallowfield. BYU took the first game at For Collins 3-1 before falling in the second game 3-4.

The Rams were the sixth seeded team last season but were the surprise of the tournament by beating No. 2 seed Friday night to advance to a Saturday game, the first in the school's history. CSU is lead by MWC Player and Pitcher of the Week Ricki Walker and Megan Masser, both juniors.

For information about the conference tournament, refer to the Mountain West Conference Tournament Tracker

FINAL MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE STANDINGS
                        Conference             Overall
Team                   W   L  T  Pct.   GB   W   L   T  Pct.
San Diego State...... 12   3  0  .800   --  36  17   0  .679
Colorado State....... 13   7  0  .650  2.5  34  13   0  .723
BYU.................. 10   7  0  .588    3  33  15   0  .688
Utah.................  7   9  0  .438  5.5  20  25   0  .444
New Mexico...........  7  13  0  .250  7.5  24  35   1  .408
UNLV.................  4  14  0  .222  9.5  20  37   0  .351
Last updated May 5, 10 AM MT