The BYU softball team won their third home game in a row Tuesday, defeating the University of Northern Colorado with a final score of 9-0.

Despite the lack of fans at Gail Miller Field, the team was unaffected as they won the game in five short innings. Once BYU was up by eight runs, the game was called on account of the "Eight Run Rule" in softball. That's all it took for the Cougars to defeat the Bears.

The Cougars scored six runs in the second inning, which was the start of their game-capturing lead.

Jessica Purcell scored the first run of the day, followed by five quick runs from Emi Snow-Willing, Stephanie Platt Hopkins, Kristin Delahoussaye, Amanda Vance, and Daniela Snow.

A key reason for Tuesday's win could be the strong pitching. Pitcher Paige Affleck clinched her 10th win of the season with seven strikeouts.

"Our pitching was very dominant, only giving up one hit in the five innings," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "It's going to have to stay dominant in order for us to win the conference."

BYU held strong at the plate as well, with solid hits off everything that came their way. Northern Colorado attempted to change pitchers to change the momentum, but to no avail as the Cougars only scored three more runs.

The Cougars have high hopes for the upcoming game versus their rivals, the University of Utah Utes in Salt Lake City this weekend.

"We're excited to play Utah this weekend," Eakin said. "If we play our game right, we'll be hard to beat."