PROVO, Utah — In its inaugural campaign as members of the Big 12 Conference, BYU softball picked up a program-high three Top 10 wins and finished sixth in the league, earning a first-round bye at the Big 12 Championship.
2024 Season Summary
The Cougars began the year in Honolulu, winning the University of Hawai'i's Paradise Classic, including with a convincing win over Ole Miss and come-from-behind victory against the host Rainbow Wahine that featured a 3-run, 2-out home run by Mililani Mauka, Hawai'i native Ailana Agbayani.
BYU's second five-game win streak of the season spanned Arizona State's Littlewood Classic and the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, where the Cougars led the Palm Springs-held tournament in nine statistical categories as they outscored opponents 55-18 with three run-rule victories.
On a cool March Saturday afternoon in Provo, BYU picked up the program's first Big 12 win, beating Texas Tech 10-8, led by a sixth-inning Maddie Udall grand slam.
The Cougars snapped a five-game losing streak two weeks later with an 11-8 upset win over No. 4/6 Oklahoma State, backed by a pair of grand slams from Hailey Morrow and Huntyr Ava, as well as an Agbayani solo shot.
BYU won the first Big 12 series in program history a weekend later after walking it off against Houston in a nine-inning thriller. Another Agbayani solo homer tied the game in the seventh to force extras, and Ava delivered in the ninth with a line drive grand slam for the 17-15 game three and series win.
Facing another five-game skid, the Cougars downed No. 1/2 Oklahoma in Norman at the Sooner's newly-opened Love's Field. BYU's second Top 10 win of the season marked OU's first home Big 12 loss since 2017, and the Cougars' 11 hits were the most that the Sooners had given up since 2021. Freshmen pitchers Gianna Mares and Kate Dahle combined to pitch 6 2/3 innings in the upset victory.
BYU's first Big 12 series sweep in program history was at home against Iowa State. The Cougars received a two-homer game from Keila Kamoku in game one, while homers by Ava and Morrow and a walk-off solo shot from Maddie Bejarano in game two helped fuel the sweep.
Closing out the regular season two weeks later, BYU earned its first road Big 12 series sweep, beating Kansas in Lawrence by a combined score of 23-8. With a 3-0 shutout in the series finale, the Cougars locked up the No. 6-seed in the conference tournament and secured their 23rd 30-win season, and head coach Gordon Eakin's 21st.
BYU's third Top 10 victory, a program record, came in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal against No. 3-seed Oklahoma State where the Cougars cruised to a 7-2 win, thanks to a complete game from Chloe Temples, who struck out six Cowgirls in the contest.
National Rankings
BYU finished the season in the top-25 of a handful of national statistical rankings, both as a team and indiviudally, led by Bejarano's 0.39 sacrifice bunts per game, which ranked No. 1 in the country.
| NATIONAL Statistical RANKINGS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Statistic | Team/Player | Value |
| 7 | Scoring | BYU | 6.70 |
| 10 | On Base Percentage | BYU | .409 |
| 16 | Batting Average | BYU | .319 |
| 19 | Slugging Percentage | BYU | .514 |
| 24 | Home Runs/Game | BYU | 1.17 |
| 1 | Sacrifice Bunts/Game | Maddie Bejarano | .39 |
| 9 | RBI/Game | Huntyr Ava | 1.19 |
| 9 | On Base Percentage | Ailana Agbayani | .534 |
| 14 | Runs/Game | Ailana Agbayani | 1.09 |
| 17 | Hit Batters | Kate Dahle | 2 |
| 18 | Batting Average | Ailana Agbayani | .424 |
| 18 | RBI | Huntyr Ava | 62 |
| 21 | Walks/Game | Maddie Bejarano | .74 |
| 23 | Sacrifice Flies/Game | Maddie Bejarano | 5 |
NFCA All-Region
First baseman Ava, center fielder Violet Zavodnik and utility player Lily Owens were each named to the All-Midwest Region First Team, while shortstop/pitcher Agbayani earned Second Team honors.
Big 12 Honors
Ava and Agbayani were both named to the All-Big 12 First Team. BYU was one of six teams represented on the 18-player team, and just one of four to place mutiple student-athletes on it.
Morrow was also the lone Cougar to earn a Big 12 Player of the Week nod. The catcher/infielder represented BYU with the award after hitting .583 and slugging 1.583 during a 4-0 week against Idaho State and Iowa State.
Academic Awards
Temples highlighted a quad of student-athletes that earned CSC Academic All-District honors. Morrow, Kamoku and Agbayani joined her as student-athletes with a 3.5 GPA or higher that competed in 90 percent of the Cougars' games this season.
Looking Forward
BYU graduated six seniors after the 2024 season: Macy Simmons, Taryn Lennon, Chloe Temples, Maddie Bejarano, Violet Zavodnik and Huntyr Ava.
Despite bidding farewell to a successful senior class, the Cougars will return six players from their starting batting order, as well as young pitchers Dahle and Mares as they look to build upon year one in the Big 12 heading into 2025.