This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Orem • Midway through the third inning of Tuesday's intra-county college softball clash, the scoreboard operator at Wolverine Field changed the visiting team's name to Cougars, rather than BYU.
Unfortunately for the home team, he couldn't wipe away the six runs BYU scored in the first inning, all with two outs. He also couldn't erase the two runs the Cougars scored in the second inning when Utah Valley infielder Morgan Summers picked up what was meant to be Lauren Bell's sacrifice bunt and chucked the ball all the way to the center-field fence.
And he never did get a chance to put a hit, let alone a run, in UVU's column as BYU pitchers Tori Almond, McKenna Bull and Ashley Thompson combined to throw a no-hitter in the Cougars' 9-0 win that was shortened to five innings by the mercy rule.
"I do like to play more innings, but it is nice to beat a team like that," said BYU's Sydney Broderick, the reigning two-time WCC Player of the Week.
Almond worked two innings and Bull, who got the win, also held the Wolverines (11-23) hitless for two innings. Thompson, the highly touted freshman from Connell, Wash., gave up the perfect game when she walked Brittney Vansway to open the fifth inning on four straight pitches, but rebounded well and mowed down the next three hitters.
"Regardless of the complexion of the game today we had planned on using all three of them just to give them work to have them ready for the weekend," said BYU coach Gordon Eakin, whose team improved to 17-20. "We are not battling for the top-25 right now so we are trying to set up everything we do for conference play."
With UVU committing five errors, the Cougars needed just nine hits to score their nine runs in the one-hour, 37-minute game. Bell went 2-for-3 with a double and Gordy Bravo went 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI. Katie Manuma, McKenzie St. Clair and Mercedes O'Connor also drove in runs.
Twitter: @drewjay