May 15, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - BYU began NCAA Chapel Hill regional with a 3-0 shut out victory over No. 13 North Carolina. The Cougars advance to 43-18 and North Carolina advances to 50-11-1.

BYU battled against North Carolina and a sixth inning, three-run homer from sophomore Angeline Quiocho gave BYU the momentum and runs needed to defeat the ranked opponent. Quiocho's offensive performance was complimented by BYU hurler Christina Gwyn-Trice's complete game outing. She gave up five hits and struck out three North Carolina batters.

"We played great defense, Christina Gwyn-Trice pitched a solid game and our hitters were able to make the adjustments to Spaulding, who threw a great game," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "I knew if we kept competing we would eventually break through. Our girls did a tremendous job today."

North Carolina's southpaw, Danielle Spaulding, had a strong hold of BYU's offense and allowed only four hits and struck out 14 BYU batters.

After perfect first innings from both sides, senior Daniela Snow led off the second with a free ride to first when she was hit by the pitch, giving BYU its first base runner.

Snow made the stretch from first to third when a fielding error gave Caschjen Davis two bases. With two runners in scoring position and two outs, Spaulding grabbed her fifth strike out of the afternoon to retire the side without allowing a run.

After throwing two perfect innings, Christina Gwyn-Trice allowed a leadoff single, and the runner was advanced on a sacrifice bunt.

With North Carolina's first runner in scoring position a single to centerfield and a BYU throwing error allowed the lead runner to advance toward home, but BYU recovered when Gwyn-Trice grabbed ball and flipped it to Emi Snow-Willing to make the play at home.

The score remained at a 0-0 deadlock until the top of the sixth inning. Monica Gonzales singled off of a bunt and stole second. Snow reached first on a walk to put two runners on base. Quiocho hit a bomb over the centerfield fence to score the only three runs of the game. Quiocho leads the team with 18 homers.

BYU held their lead and squashed North Carolina's scoring opportunity in the seventh inning with a double play to win the game 3-0.

The Cougars will face No. 23 Georgia on Friday at 1 p.m. at Anderson Stadium in Chapel Hill.

The winner of the double-elimination Regional will advance to the NCAA Super Regional. All of the action from the Chapel Hill Regional is available via livestats at www.byucougars.com