Cougars homer twice, shut out Houston to advance in Big 12 Championship

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ilove’a Brittingham and Aleia Agbayani both homered as No. 6-seed BYU softball shut out No. 11-seed Houston, 4-0 in the First Round of the Big 12 Championship at OGE Energy Field at Devon Park on Wednesday night.

BOX SCORE

Kaysen Korth and Jada Villegas combined to pitch a two-hit shutout as the Cougars (32-16, 13-11 Big 12) advanced in the conference tournament.

BYU out-hit Houston, eight to two in the contest, backed by Brittingham and Agbayani’s home runs. Brittingham hit her 20th of the year in the contest, tying a BYU freshman record for most in a season.

This is the Cougars' third shutout in a conference tournament game. BYU also shut out UNLV in both 2003 and 2005. The two hits allowed are tied for the fewest ever, last done against UNLV in 2000.

It is the Cougars' third multi-home run game in a conference tournament as well. BYU hit two homers apiece against Utah in 2001 and Colorado State in 2003.

Player Highlights

• Ilove’a Brittingham: 2-3, HR, 2 RBI
• Aleia Agbayani: 2-3, HR, 2 RBI
• Miranda Mansfield: 2-2
• Kaysen Korth (W, 16-6): 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 7 BB, 5 K
• Jada Villegas (S, 3): 2 IP, 1 IP, 0 4, 3 K

Korth worked around a pair of leadoff walks to open the game, picking up a swinging strikeout before Hailey Morrow and Lindy Milkowski sniffed out a double steal attempt, applying the tag at home to keep Houston off the board.

The Cougars got out of trouble after two more walks in the third, leaving the Houston runners stranded in scoring position after a sacrifice bunt with a line out and fly out.

BYU broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third. Miranda Mansfield led off with a bunt single before Brittingham launched a two-run shot to right field, putting the Cougars in front, 2-0.

A walk and single to right put runners on the corners for Houston in the top of the fifth inning, but Korth induced a fly out that Lily Owens corralled at the warning track to retain BYU’s two-run lead.

Houston got a runner to second once more on a walk and sacrifice bunt in the sixth, but Jada Villegas, who came on in relief, got a swinging strikeout and fly out to keep the Cougars’ 2-0 lead.

BYU plated a pair of insurance runs in the home half of the sixth. Brittingham led off with a single into left, moving to second on a Milkowski sacrifice bunt. Aleia Agbayani homered to center field a batter later, extending the Cougar advantage to 4-0.

Houston picked up a single in the seventh, but two Villegas strikeouts and and a fly out sealed BYU’s first round victory, 4-0.

On Deck
The sixth-seeded Cougars will take on No. 3-seed Iowa State in a quarterfinal matchup on Thursday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m. CDT on ESPN+.