The BYU Women's softball team has begun their last week of regular season play with five games this week; a win against UVSC Tuesday leaves four remaining contests which will heavily impact the Cougars final position in the Mountain West Conference.

The Cougars will travel to Fort Collins, Colo. for a doubleheader, where they will face Colorado State on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Just one month ago the Rams came to Provo for a two-game series, which the Cougars dominated with final game scores of 9-2 and 6-1.

Cougars are hoping to repeat these wins in Thursday's games.

The Cougar women will then take on the Lobos at their home field in New Mexico both Friday and Saturday evening at 7:00. BYU opened their conference season with a two-game series at home against New Mexico, where they split the games between the teams. In the doubleheader, the Lobos won the first game 3-1 and the Cougars came back to win the second game 9-5.

The last time the Cougs were up against the Lobos, Analise Rubalcava was crucial to New Mexico's success in the first game with her outstanding performance at bat, including a homerun. The Cougars are heading into this series with an intense eye on Rubalcava in hopes of stopping her advances for the competition.

During the most recent Cougar-Lobos series, Kristen Delahoussaye and Amanda Vance were a strong force offensively, as both had major hits to advance runners and score runs.

Shaylyn Jenkins, Daniela Snow, Delahoussaye, and Vance all had RBI's against New Mexico during the tide-turning inning that led to the Cougars' win.

The Cougars have won their last few games in large part because of solid pitching. The Cougars' most recent game was against UVSC, and the big win came as a result of Paige Affleck's pitching, according to head coach Gordon Eakin.

"I anticipate our pitching to be very strong this year," Eakin said in the beginning of the season. "With both Gwyn Trice and Zinanti returning and Affleck coming in, we expect big things from the circle."

Eakin's prediction has proved true all year for the Cougar softball team.

BYU has also been exceptionally strong at bat in the last few games, which will result in more wins this week if the trend continues. Homeruns are not an uncommon result from a Cougar at-bat, and the most recent games have included homers from Delahoussaye, Stephanie Platt-Hopkins and Angie Quiocho. If these girls are having good games at the plate, the Cougars may regain their title as Mountain West Conference champions from the current holder, San Diego State.

The outcome of this week's games has the potential to completely shake up the current rankings, and won't be finalized until the conclusion of Saturday's game. NCAA Regionals begin in less than two weeks on May 16 -17, and the NCAA Super Regionals May 23-24. The College World Series begins play May 30 and lasts through June 4.