PROVO — The BYU Cougars are finally coming home. After a road trip that would scare the socks off of most any team, the softball team has finally finished its 33-game, nearly two-month road trip that began on February 5 in St. George.

The Cougars just wrapped things up last weekend in Sacramento with an impressive 4-0 victory over No. 7 California an 8-0 defeat of Dartmouth, a 9-2 victory over Sacramento St. and a 1-4 setback against Cal Poly.

This Cougar team now finds itself at 19-14 After 33 games on the road, eight of which came against the nation's top 25 teams in the nation, including No. 1 Alabama.

They've won five of their last seven games heading into the friendly confines in Provo at Gail Miller Field. And they're hoping to build even further on the heals of last season's trip to the NCAA tournament and second place finish in the Mountain West Conference.

The Cougars lost three seniors from last year's squad, including the BYU strikeout record holder in Christina Gwyn-Trice, Emi Snow-Willing and Daniela Snow. But in spite of losing those three solid competitors, BYU coach Gordon Eakin is hoping to improve the team's post season showing this year.

His team is transitioning from a power squad and moving toward speed with a different team makeup this season. Eakin noted that the Cougars don't have the ability to win with the long ball this season like they did last year, and they were going to work hard on manufacturing runs with their speed. This coming on the heals of an 87-homerun season in 2007 and an 82-homerun season in 2008.

The team will count on junior Christie Zinanti from the circle, who struggled last season after a solid freshman campaign. But Zinanti added an off-speed pitch to her repertoire during the break.

Paige Affleck is coming back with her off-speed pitches along with deceptive rise and drop balls and a 1.42 ERA from last year. Both pitchers are sporting ERAs under 2 so far this season. But pitching health is key to any campaign this season.

The team brings in only two seniors this year with Monica Gonzales, who is batting .330 so far this season and Stephanie Hopkins, who brings in a .292 average.

Andrea Ramirez is making a huge comeback this year after redshirting in 2008 following knee surgery. Not only does she sport a .968 fielding percentage at short stop, but she's also leading the team in hitting with a .388 average.

Sophomore Jessica Purcell is leading the team in the long ball with eight, but she's not just a power hitter as she comes in right behind Ramirez with a .386 average coming into the home season.