EUGENE, Ore. — Junior Tori Almond struck out eight for the Cougars but No. 11 Oregon used a big inning to win 4-1, eliminating BYU from the NCAA tournament.
BYU finishes with a record of 45-15, tied for the second-most wins in program history, one shy of the 2010 team's 46 victories.
Pitching her second-straight complete game, Almond kept the Cougars in the game, but as was the case in the two teams' previous matchup on Friday, a single big inning for Oregon proved to be the difference.
With a runner on second and one out, Oregon's Allie Burger put down a bunt. Cougar first baseman Katie Manuma made a good throw to second baseman Stacie Toney covering the bag that looked like it was there well before the runner, but Burger was called safe.
Instead of the ensuing Duck batter's pop-up being the third out, the safe call at first gave Oregon star hitter Samantha Pappas a chance to hit and she delivered with a two-RBI double. One pitch later, two more runs came in on a home run to give the Ducks a 4-0 lead.
"The breaks just didn't go our way, and when they went Oregon's way they took advantage," said BYU coach Gordon Eakin.
BYU scored its only run in the bottom of the fifth, with Jessica Dugas scoring from second base on an RBI single by JC Clayton.
Six different Cougars tallied a hit as BYU out-hit Oregon, 6-5.
Eugene Regional All-Tournament Team
C - Kaili Smith, Mississippi State
C - Shelbi Everett, BYU
1B - Karmen Holladay, Portland State
2B - Kaylan Howard, Oregon
3B - Ashlee Brawley, BYU
OF - Jessica Dugas, BYU
OF - Samantha Pappas, Oregon
OF - Janie Takeda, Oregon
UT/DP - Christie Nieto, Oregon
P - Jessica Moore*, Oregon
P - Tori Almond, BYU
*MVP
SLCC SOFTBALL: At St. George, Chattanooga State Community College forced the if necessary game for the NJCAA national championship with an 8-7 win over the Bruins and then won the title with a 4-1 victory.
All-tourney team
INFIELD — Lacye Walker, Chattanooga State Community College; Michal Robertson, Wallace State Community College; Alicia Eger, Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Brooke Budge, Salt Lake Community College; OUTFIELD — Tanisha Anderson, Salt Lake Community College; Whitney Brown, Wallace State Community College; Andrea Dalton, Chattanooga State Community College; BATTERY — Ariel Zimmerman, Salt Lake Community College; Heather Parker, Wallace State Community College; Paige Mathews, State College of Florida; Paige Rowland, Wallace State Community College; UTILITY/DP — Beth Breeden, Chattanooga State Community College
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
Savanah Webster, Salt Lake Community College
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT
Thomasina Garza, Blinn College
OUTSTANDING PITCHER OF THE TOURNAMENT
Ashlety Czechner, Chattanooga State Community College
KAREN L. SYKES OUTSTANDING COACH OF THE 2012 NJCAA TOURNAMENT
Beth Keylon-Randolph, Chattanooga State Community College
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER OF THE 2012 NJCAA TOURNAMENT
Ashley Czechner, Chattanooga State Community College (5-1, 3.31 ERA, 37 K in 32.2 IP)
UVU BASEBALL: At Orem, Utah Valley University completed an undefeated Great West Conference season at 28-0 after holding off Northern Colorado, 10-9, on Saturday in the regular season finale. UVU is now 76-4 in three Great West regular seasons.
The Wolverines move to 43-12 overall, surpassing the school record for wins in a season, which was set in 2010. UVU will open next week's GWC tournament on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MT against NYIT.
After Northern Colorado (25-31, 15-13) scored a single run in the top of the first, UVU tied it on a Billy Burgess sac-fly and then went ahead when Goose Kallunki singled home Sean Moysh. For Kallunki, it was his nation-leading 80th RBI of the season and moved him into first place on the school's all-time list with 217 for his career.
The Bears put up six runs in the second, on five hits, including two-run doubles from Derek Baum and Casey Coy.
The Wolverines answered, though, getting five in the bottom half of the frame. Jake Rickenbach was hit by a pitch with the bases full to bring home one run before Billy Burgess delivered his fifth career grand slam, tying the game at 7-7.
Jensen Park gave UNC a one-run lead with an RBI double in the fourth, but again UVU responded, getting three in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Kai Hatch singled home Burgess for the game-tying run and then Alex Exon's single back up the middle plated both Kallunki and Hatch to give Utah Valley a 10-8 lead.
Kevin Hurd's two-out base got Northern Colorado within a run in the sixth, but neither team would score after that.
Taylor Mangum threw 21/3 innings in relief and got the win, his second of the weekend, moving his season record to 6-0.
Burgess drove in five runs for Utah Valley while Exon had three hits and two RBIs. Coy led the Bears with three hits.
UTAH BASEBALL: At Salt Lake City, the Utes continued to struggle on offense, falling to 12th-ranked Stanford, 8-1.
Brett Mooneyham pitched 81/3 innings for Stanford, allowing one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts. Dean McArdle closed out the game on the mound, throwing the final 2/3 of an inning.
Joe Pond pitched four innings for the Utes, allowing six runs (four earned) on eight hits with three strikeouts. Kesley Kondo threw 41/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits with three strikeouts. Nick Green threw 2/3 of the ninth inning.
Utah (14-37, 7-22 Pac-12) had five hits on the afternoon. The Utes had three errors leading to three unearned runs for the Cardinal.
Stanford (35-14, 16-10 Pac-12) scored unearned runs in both the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead, taking advantage of a pair of Utah errors. The Cardinal pulled ahead to a 4-0 lead with a two-run fourth, with Eric Smith and Dominic Jose each hitting singles in the inning before Smith scored on a wild pitch and Jose came home on a sacrifice fly.
Stanford took a 6-0 lead on a two-run home run off the bat of Brian Ragira in the fifth inning.
Utah scored its lone run of the game in the bottom of the seventh. Shaun Cooper and Jo Jo Sharrar singled with Cooper scoring on an RBI single off the bat of Cory Hunt.
The Cardinal added two runs in the top of the ninth inning after a two-RBI single off the bat of Alex Blandino.
BYU BASEBALL: At Provo, despite coming back to tie the game twice, the Cougars fell to Santa Clara, 14-10.
Santa Clara (25-25, 4-17) broke a 10-10 tie in the top of the ninth inning with four runs off relief pitcher Daniel Welch. The Cougars (21-25, 9-12) had to use seven pitchers in the game, including regular infielder Austin Hall who made his first collegiate pitching appearance, along with playing center field in the game, as well.
Hall has now played eight of nine positions throughout his career, with catcher being the only position he has yet to play. He surrendered three runs however, but delivered at the plate, going 2 for 3 with three RBIs. Shortstop Tanner Chauncey and outfielder Kelton Caldwell each went 3 for 4 and scored two runs apiece. Caldwell also had three RBIs.
Neither team had a hit through the first three innings, but both teams combined for 24 total hits and 24 runs in a game that lasted three hours and 21 minutes.
SUU BASEBALL: At Rochester, Mich., Southern Utah dropped a 6-5 decision to Oakland in its regular season finale. The Thunderbirds trailed through most of the game but battled back to force the game into extra innings where junior outfielder David Headley's solo home run gave the team a 5-4 edge in the top of the eleventh. SUU (18-34, 12-11 Summit League) was unable to hold on to the lead however as the Golden Grizzlies (23-29, 15-6) rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to escape with the 6-5 victory.
The two sides traded runs over the first few innings until the game came to a 2-2 tie in the middle of the third. Oakland got on the board first with an RBI sac fly hit by Aaron Cieslak in the opening frame, but the Thunderbirds leveled the score on an RBI single from DJ Andrade in the second. OU retook a one-run lead in the bottom half of the inning on a Kyle Bobolts single, but SUU came back again with an RBI single driven to left field by junior Chase Rezac.
Oakland then went on to put up a pair of runs in the bottom of the third to take a 4-2 lead. Nolan Jacoby brought in both scores with an RBI single through the left side to give the Grizzlies a two-run advantage.
The T-Birds trimmed the margin to one in the following frame as catcher Taggart Lunceford drove in Brad Royer with an infield single. Oakland then held SUU scoreless over the next two innings while clinging to a 4-3 lead.
Senior outfielder Marcus Romero drew a lead-off walk in the top of the seventh to give Southern Utah a man on first with nobody out. From there, Romero stole second and later reached third on a wild pitch. Rezac then put a fly ball in deep right center allowing him to tag and score for the tying run as SUU drew the count even at four runs apiece.
The score remained at a deadlock until the eleventh inning when Thunderbird outfielder David Headley blasted a solo shot over the left field wall to put his team out in front 5-4. Oakland came back to level the game again in its turn at the plate however as Spencer Marentette drove an RBI double down the left field line, and Bobolts then came through with a walk-off sac fly to give the Grizzlies a 6-5 win.
Headley's third home run of the season was part of 2-for-4 day at the plate for the outfielder while Rezac posted two RBIs to lead the Thunderbirds. Designated hitter Nolan Jacoby was 4-of-4 on the day and drove in a pair of runs for Oakland.
Kevin Kline (0-1) took the loss in his first decision of the year and OU reliever Russell Luxton picked up the win to move to 3-4 on the season.
The Thunderbirds will open the Summit League tournament with a matchup against top-seeded Oral Roberts Thursday at 2:30 p.m. (MT)
SLCC BASEBALL: At West Jordan, the No. 2 Bruins (45-9, 31-6 SWAC) saw their season end as No. 20 Western Arizona College (46-15) stole one in the bottom of the ninth inning in NJCAA District I Western playoff action. The win was Western Nevada's fourth straight over the Bruins, with WNC taking a 9-8 victory and advancing to the NJCAA Nationals. The Bruins rallied from a 6-1 deficit with a five-run seventh inning, and held an 8-6 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.
With two outs in the bottom of frame nine, and runners on first and second, WNC sophomore outfielder Bobby Pappin smacked a grounder up the middle to score two runs and win the game for the Wildcats.
For the Bruins, freshman pitcher Michael Springer threw four innings, allowing five hits and striking out two WNC batters. Freshman Dane Fuller took the loss, missing the save with 2/3 innings of work allowing three hits and the three earned runs that doomed the Bruin season. Sophomore infielder Dalton Gust went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored, and sophomore right fielder Dominique Taylor went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
DIXIE STATE BASEBALL: At Keizer, Ore., Sam Friend chose a perfect time to throw a complete game.
Behind his five-hit effort, Dixie State College defeated Chico State 3-1 on Saturday to force the 2012 NCAA II West Regional to a decisive final game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Red Storm earned the right to a rematch with the Wildcats after defeating UC San Diego 6-4 earlier in the day.
BYU GOLF: At Palo Alto, Calif., after battling it out during the first two rounds, BYU's Zac Blair and Justin Keiley shot solid scores, but were unable to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
After finishing tied for 25th in last year's regionals, the BYU junior played great golf in his second go around, finishing sixth overall.
Blair shot two rounds of 4-under 66 and finished off his final round shooting even par, giving him an 8-under 202. After a birdie on his second hole, he would go on to birdie two more holes along with three bogeys.
The highlight of Blair's weekend was his round-two eagle on hole 16.
Keiley, only a sophomore, competed in his first NCAA Regional. A third-round 2-over 72 gave him an overall 1-over 211.
Just like Blair, Keiley found the most success during the second round of the tournament when he shot birdies back-to-back on 15 and 16.
The third round was the roughest for Keiley, who still finished in the top 30 of the tournament, just three strokes out of the top 20.
While the regional tournament concluded both golfers' collegiate year, both have qualified for the U.S. Open Sectionals on June 4.
Place Name Score
6 Zac Blair 66-66-70-202 (-8)
T27 Justin Keiley 71-68-72-211 (+1)
UVU GOLF: At Palo Alto, Calif., Mason Casper closed out the NCAA Regional tournament in a tie for 55th with a three-day total of 8-over par.
Casper, who was +4 after two rounds, was tied for 51st heading into the final day before shooting a 4-over par 74 to drop four spots.
He opened his final round with a triple bogey on the par-4 10th and then had a bogey on the par-4 12th before posting birdies on 13 and 16 to bring his score down to +2 for the round.
He closed out his first nine with a bogey on 18.
He had back-to-back bogeys on holes No. 2 and 3 before recording his last birdie of the day on the par-4 fifth before closing out the tournament with four straight pars.
For the year, Casper, who was named the 2012 America Sky Conference Player of the Year, recorded seven top-10 finishes, including a win at the Battle of the Teton where he shot a 14-under par.