LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The BYU softball team will play in the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament after putting together a 6-4 win over No. 11 Hawai'i on Friday.

The victory is the 13th in a row for BYU, the third-longest win streak in program history, putting the second-seeded Cougars in the final with a chance to take home the title the automatic NCAA qualifying bid at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Jessica Dugas, Krista Hicks and Stacie Toney each had two hits for BYU while Hannah Howell and Tori Almond split time at pitcher almost evenly for the Cougars.

BYU scored all six of its runs in the first inning, the second game in a row Hawai'i has give up half a dozen runs in the initial inning after doing so in a 7-4 loss in Provo last month.

Down 3-0 in the first after Jessica Iwata lifted a 3-run homer in the top of the inning, the Cougars answered back against Hawai'i pitcher Kaia Parnaby, who came into the game with a 0.95 ERA. A hit by pitch, bunt single and a walk by the first three BYU batters set up the Cougars to answer back.

Sophomore Katie Manuma responded, hitting a chopper that bounced once in the infield before going into right field for a single, bringing in Dugas and Tiffany Messerschmidt.

After taking a few swings, senior Stacie Toney surprised the Rainbow Wahine with a perfect squeeze bunt that resulted in the game-tying run and left Toney safe at first.

"That was the best play of the weekend," said BYU coach Gordon Eakin. "It set the tone for the rest of the game."

Senior Krista Hicks came up next with two runners on and did not disappoint. Her 3-run home run sailed over the fence in right field and put BYU on top, 6-3, forcing Parnaby out of the game after just one out.

BYU gathered 10 hits for the game, but the next six innings were all about the Cougar defense. The Hawai'i lineup, which includes six All-WAC honorees and a lot of combined power continually hit the gaps for hits but were just as often stymied by great defensive plays.

In the third inning with runners on first and second, Leisa Li'ili'i hit a deep ball straight away to center. Dugas jumped on the fence but missed the catch as the ball bounced off the wall with Iwata rounding third. After hitting the fence, Dugas quickly grabbed the ball and fired it from center field all the way to the plate where catcher Shelbi Everett collected the ball in time to tag a sliding Iwata at home.

Hawai'i tacked on a run in the fourth, the same inning Almond came in to relieve Howell. Almond struck out four over the next two innings.

In the sixth, a single and two consecutive walks put BYU in a very precarious situation with the bases loaded, no outs, and Iwata - who had already gone 3 for 3 and was a triple short of the cycle - up at the plate. But again a great defensive play halted any run the Wahine could make when third baseman Ashlee Brawley scooped up a line drive from Iwata near third, stepping on the base for one force out before running down the Hawai'i baserunner stuck between third and home, tagging her out for the double play.

Almond's very next pitch resulted in a groundout and the Cougars were out of the inning. Almond added two more strikeouts in the top of the seventh, including the final out of the game, to give BYU the victory.

The Cougars play Fresno State on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT. Because the tournament is double elimination, BYU will have two chances if needed to win the tournament. All games will be broadcast live on BYU Radio.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The No. 2-seeded BYU softball team will compete in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament starting Thursday.

After a first-round bye, the Cougars will play the winner of Fresno State and Louisiana Tech on Thursday at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live by BYU Radio with a live stat tracker also available.

BYU has not competed in a conference tournament since the Mountain West stopped holding one following the 2006 edition, which BYU won.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Wednesday, May 9
Game 1 - #4 San Jose State vs. #5 Nevada, 4:30 p.m. MT
Game 2 - #3 Fresno State vs. #6 Louisiana Tech, 7 p.m. MT

Thursday, May 10
Game 3 - #1 Hawaii vs. SJSU/Nevada winner, 11:30 a.m. MT
Game 4 - #2 BYU vs. Fresno State/LA Tech winner, 2 p.m. MT
Game 5 - FSU/LA Tech loser vs. Game 3 loser, 4:30 p.m. MT
Game 6 - SJSU/Nevada loser vs. Game 4 loser, 7 p.m. MT

Friday, May 11
Game 7 - Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 2 p.m. MT
Game 8 - Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 4:30 p.m. MT
Game 9 - Game 8 winner vs. Game 7 loser, 7 p.m. MT

Saturday, May 12
Game 10 - Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 2 p.m. MT
Game 11 - If necessary, 5 p.m. MT

COUGAR QUICK HITS
— BYU is playing in its first-ever WAC Tournament and first conference tournament since playing in the MWC Tournament in 2006. The Cougars were the two-seed in that tournament, also.
— Senior outfielder Delaney Willard was voted the WAC Player of the Year and All-WAC First Team by league coaches. Senior Jessica Dugas and junior JC Clayton were also named to the First Team while sophomores Tori Almond and Katie Manuma were among the Second Team honorees.
— Delaney Willard currently has 83 RBI, a new WAC single-season record and seven away from the BYU record of 90 set by Angie Quiocho in 2010.
Willard has emerged as an All-America candidate and is currently ranked in the NCAA top-25 in eight different categories, including total RBI, (2nd, 83) RBI per game (2nd, 1.57), slugging percentage (6th, .904), hits (12th, 68), home runs (13th, 18), batting average (15th, .436), home runs per game (17th, 0.34) and on base percentage (24th, .521).
— Senior Stacie Toney was named Academic All-District 8 last week. One of four infielders selected to the first team, Toney is an elementary education major with a 3.77 GPA. Toney ranks in the WAC in RBI and is ranked in the top-10 in multiple categories, including batting average.
— Ranked 23rd in the nation with a .427 batting average, junior shortstop JC Clayton is on an 11-game hit streak, collecting 25 hits in the process, with five games of three hits or more.

TOURNEY RECORD
Under Coach Gordon Eakin, the Cougars are 8-5 in conference tournaments. BYU had a 12-10 record in the seven-year history of the MWC Tournament, winning in 2001 and 2005.

Finish
1st (2) - 2001, 2005
3rd (2) - 2003, 2006
4th (1) - 2002
5th (2) - 2000, 2004

FIVE COUGARS ALL-WAC, WILLARD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Brigham Young’s Delaney Willard  was named Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and five Cougars were named all-WAC as selected by the league’s head coaches the conference announced on Wednesday.

Senior centerfielder Jessica Dugas and junior shortstop JC Clayton joined Willard on the First Team while sophomore pitcher Tori Almond and sophomore first baseman Katie Manuma were selected to the Second Team.

Hawai’i swept the three other major awards, with Stephanie Ricketts as Pitcher of the Year, Leisha Li’ili’i named Freshman of the Year and Bob Coolen the Coach of the Year.

Willard, a senior rightfielder from Camarillo, Calif. (Adolfo Camarillo), earns WAC Player of the Year after leading all players in WAC games with 33 RBI, 51 total bases and a .911 slugging percentage. She also ranked second in batting average (.429), home runs (7) and on-base percentage (.514), and fourth in doubles (6). Willard also broke the WAC single-season record and currently ranks second nationally with 83 RBI.

Willard is the sixth player in BYU history to earn a conference play of the year award. A Cougar has won the league’s top honor every year but two over the last 10 seasons.

Dugas batted .349 in conference play and scored 16 runs to earn all-conference honors for the second-straight year. Clayton, an all-conference selection as a freshman in 2010, led all players with 30 hits in WAC play in addition to leading the conference in triples (3) and placing second in total runs scored (18).

Almond and Manuma each earned their first all-conference awards. Almond had the second-most wins (10) and the second-best ERA (1.31) in conference competition. Batting .352 in WAC games, Manuma had 19 hits, 18 RBI, seven runs and three homers for the Cougars.