PROVO, Utah -- An explosive sixth inning helped the BYU softball team ensure an 11-6 victory in its home opener against the Marist Red Foxes Tuesday night at Gail Miller Field.

"It's good to win and to be home," head coach Gordon Eakin said. "We've had our challenges with a lot of different things and its just good to get a win. I thought our offense did a great job. We had several kids with timely hits and we moved the ball well."

Highlights and Interviews Here. 

BYU (10-15) outhit Marist (6-8) 11-10 and had five extra-base hits on the evening. Marissa Bravo and Coryn Taualii each had three RBI on the night, with two hits apiece. Katie Manuma also drove home a couple of runs with a deep shot to left field, extending her hitting streak to tie her career-high of seven games.

Tori Almond earned the win, her fifth of the season. Almond had two strikeouts to close out the first inning and sat down three straight in the second. Another Marist batter struck out swinging to open the third inning, making it six consecutive strikeouts for Almond.

The Cougars broke the scoreboard in the bottom of the third after Carly Duckworth grounded a single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Bravo followed with a single up the middle, advancing to second as Duckworth charged home. Duckworth slipped around the tag to put the home team on the board.  

BYU loaded the bases after Manuma reached on a throwing error and Alexandra Hudson Shamo singled to the pitcher. Taualii singled to right field and advanced to third on a fielding error by the Red Foxes’ right fielder. Bravo, Manuma and Shamo scored, putting the Cougars up 4-0. Marist ended the third on the next batter with a 5-3 double play.

A three-run fifth pulled Marist within one run at 4-3. Red Fox freshman Maureen Duddy singled to right field in the three spot. Duddy advanced to second after Danielle Koltz reached on a BYU error, setting up Nicole Cheek for a three-run homer.

The home team responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Duckworth led off with a single to left field. Manuma walked in the three spot and Shamo reached on a fielder’s choice that forced Duckworth out at third. Taualii doubled to left field, driving in Manuma and Shamo to give BYU a 6-3 advantage.

In the top of the sixth, Marist’s Haley Birnbaum circled the bases after reaching on a BYU fielding error. A couple of singles put her into scoring position and Duddy’s sacrifice fly to left field brought her home, cutting BYU’s lead to two at 6-4.

BYU pushed its lead to 11-4 in the bottom of the sixth with Bravo and Manuma picking up two RBI each. With Lacey Millett, JC Clayton and Duckworth on base, Bravo drove home two runs with a double to left center. The hit brought home Millett and Clayton and put Duckworth and Bravo in scoring position. Manuma hit a deep ball into left field to bring home the two runners and put herself in scoring position at second base. Madisen Robb came up big and hit a pinch hit double to bring in Manuma for the Cougars’ final run.

Marist picked up a couple of runs in the top of the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Cougars who took the 11-6 victory in their home opener.

BYU will open conference play with a doubleheader on Friday at the University of San Diego at 4 and 6 p.m. PDT. Both games will be available via live stats.

PROVO, Utah--After a week off, the BYU softball team will play in its home opener on Tuesday against Marist College at 6 p.m. MDT and then will travel to San Diego for its conference opener in a doubleheader on Friday and Saturday. 

Marist College

Tues., March 19, 2013

6 p.m. MDT

Gail Miller Field

San Diego 

Fri.-Sat., March 22-23, 2013

4 & 6 p.m. PDT, 12 & 2 p.m. PDT

USD Softball Complex

BYU QUICK HITS

• BYU went 4-0 in its home and conference opener last season, defeating Idaho State 5-2 and New Mexico State, 3-2, 9-1 (5) and 6-3. 
• This will be just the second time that BYU has faced Marist in its history, and this will also be the Red Foxes' first visit to Gail Miller Field. 
• BYU started last home season with an 8-0 record. Overall they were 17-1 at home, with the lone loss coming against No. 20 Hawai’i.
• BYU has an overall record of 5-3 against San Diego and is 3-2 against San Diego at the Toreros' home field. San Diego was picked to finish third in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference pre-season poll. 

OPPONENT NOTES

MARIST

The Red Foxes were 6-2 heading into last weekend’s San Diego Classic II. Their four-game winning streak was cut short after going 0-5 at the Classic to fall to 6-7 on the season. In only its second matchup against BYU, Marist will travel to Provo for the first time on Tuesday and will complete its trip to Utah with a game against PCSC-rival UVU on Wednesday.  The Red Foxes are led by newcomer Nicole Cheek who is hitting a .395 clip alongside a team-leading 17 hits, 29 total bases and three home runs. Danielle Koltz provides power in the lineup, hitting .333 with 10 runs scored and a team-high 14 RBI. With nine less games under its belt than BYU, Marist has garnered 10 home runs on the season to BYU’s eight. Marist has four pitchers who have all earned a win this season, but are led by senior Emily Osterhaus who has an ERA of 1.28 with a record of 2-3 on the season. The pitching staff as a whole has held its opponents to just 19 (1.46 per game) extra-base hits to BYU’s staff, who has given up 65 (2.71 per game) extra-base hits so far this season. Defensively, the team has turned eight double plays and were ranked 1st in the NCAA with double plays per game as of March 11. 

SAN DIEGO

San Diego took a record of 10-12 into the San Diego Classic II last weekend and extended its winning streak to six games in the tournament to improve to 15-12. The Toreros faced Marist in their second game of the tournament and beat the Red Foxes 3-2 in eight innings before ending the weekend with two walk-off wins to close out the Classic. Senior outfielder Lauren Tomey leads the way offensively for the Toreros. The 2012 First Team All-PCSC member is hitting a .415 clip alongside 34 hits and 42 total bases. The team only has three home runs on the season, but make up for it in doubles with 24. USD has also out-hit its opponents 198-158 this season and outscored its opponents 81-75. Juniors Cassidy Coleman and Jenny Lahitte have seen a majority of the time on the mound this year. Lahitte has a record of 6-7 with an ERA of 1.69, while Coleman takes an 8-5 record and an ERA of 2.28 into the team’s conference opener against BYU on Friday. The two pitchers combine for 203 strikeouts and have only given up a total of seven home runs. BYU hasn’t played USD since 2010, when the Cougars defeated the Toreros 11-3 in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. The Cougars have an overall record of 5-3 against the Toreros and are 3-2 at their home stadium.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS

There are a number of BYU softball players who are currently setting all-time season and career records at BYU. Senior shorstop JC Clayton is just three hits away from tying the all-time record in career hits set by Angie Quiocho with 265 hits. She has 37 hits so far on the season. Clayton is also fourth all-time in career runs with 162 and second in career batting average at .407. She is currently ranked 60th out of 150 in the NCAA for season batting average at .430. Sophomore Lacey Millett is ranked fifth for the season record in stolen bases with 14. She currently has nine steals on the season and ranks 57th out of 150 in the NCAA. Pitchers Tori Almond and Hannah Howell are tied for fifth in season wins, each with 20 in 2012. They have also both moved up in the area of career strikeouts at BYU. Almond is fourth with 305 and Howell is not far behind in fifth with 301. 

RETURN TO THE MOUND

Due to injuries within the BYU pitching staff, former high school pitchers Katie Manuma and Carly Duckworth will each see some time on the mound this season. Both pitchers made their first appearances of the season in the San Diego Classic. Manuma pitched 3.2 innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits. Duckworth pitched one inning and held opponents to zero earned runs on two hits.

Both pitchers also saw a lot of time in the USF Under Armour Showcase. Manuma relieved Hannah Howell in the first game against Maine and earned the save after holding the Black Bears to no runs on three hits. She started the second game of the double header and held Maine to two runs on four hits.

After relieving Manuma in the bottom of the sixth against Maine, Duckworth held the lead for her first win as a Cougar pitcher. Duckworth also pitched a full seven innings against Providence College. She gave up five runs on 11 hits to fall to 1-1 on the season. 

HITTING STREAKS

Marissa Bravo hales from Upland, Calif., and is currently hitting .403 for the Cougars with 14 RBI, five doubles and 10 runs scored. Her career and season high is eight games with a hit.

Manuma has had hits in all but five games this season. Her seven-game hitting streak, which is a career high, was from Feb. 9-Feb. 21. Manuma also hit a home run in every preseason tournament, including a grand slam against UC Santa Barbara in the Mary Nutter Classic. She is currently on a six-game hitting streak.

Clayton leads the team with a 19-game hitting streak from Feb. 8-Mar 2. She is currently hitting a .430 clip with a team-high 37 hits and 16 runs scored. Her streak was cut short in the USF Showcase against Maine, but she has had a hit in every game of the season but two.

WHERE TO WATCH

Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on BYUtv and will also be available via live stats. Every game against San Diego will also be available through live stats.