CLEARWATER, Fla. — BYU softball dropped its pair of doubleheader games against Penn State and Missouri to wrap up the NFCA Leadoff Classic at Eddie C. Moore Complex on Saturday night.
GAME 1 BOX SCORE
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
The Cougars (1-4, 0-0 Big 12) led to start both games, but ultimately dropped the two of them down the stretch.
Game 1: Penn State 4 | BYU 3 (8)
The Cougars (1-3, 0-0 Big 12) held a 3-0 lead through five innings, but saw it wither away as the Nittany Lions scored the final four runs of the contest.
Player Highlights
- Hailey Shuler: 3-4
- Ilove’a Brittingham: 2-4, 2 RBI
- Bre Townsend: 1-4, RBI
- Kaysen Korth: 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, BB, 8 K
Both teams had opportunities through the first two innings, but the game remained scoreless.
BYU broke through in the top of the third inning, with Lily Owens beating out an infield single and advancing to third on a Hailey Morrow single to left. After Morrow stole second, Ilove’a Brittingham singled them both home on a ball through the right side for a 2-0 lead.
The Cougars added an insurance run in the fifth, doing damage with two outs. After Brittingham singled up the middle and Hailey Shuler dropped a hit to shallow center, Bre Townsend singled into right center to score Brittingham and put BYU in front, 3-0.
Penn State threatened with a two-out single in the bottom half of the inning, but starter Kaysen Korth struck out the Nittany Lion batter looking, her sixth of the game, to keep the Cougar advantage at three runs.
PSU got on the board in the sixth inning, homering to left field to make it 3-1, BYU.
After the Cougars went down in order in their half of the seventh, the Nittany Lions tied the game on a single, wild pitch, double down the left field line, fielder’s choice and BYU throwing error, with a groundout and swinging strikeout sending the game to extras.
Under international tiebreaker rules, Brittingham was placed at second base. The Cougars had two in scoring position with just one out, but consecutive strikeouts kept them from scoring.
Penn State took advantage in the bottom of the eighth, moving their runner on a sacrifice bunt before a one-out single through the left side scored the winning run, 4-3.
Game 2: Missouri 9 | BYU 6
After the Cougars (1-4, 0-0 Big 12) scored the first run of the game, the Tigers took leads of two, three and six, proving too much for BYU to come back from.
Player Highlights
- Hailey Shuler: 2-4, HR, RBI
- Rita Tavita: 1-3, HR, 3 RBI
- Ilove’a Brittingham: 1-4, RBI
The Cougars jumped out to a 1-0 lead on singles by Owens and Brittingham and an infield groundout.
BYU turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the first, but surrendered a solo home run to Mizzou in the second, tying the contest at one.
Missouri plated two runs in the third on a walk, single, stolen base, fielder’s choice and Cougar fielding error, taking a 3-1 lead.
Shuler brought BYU closer with a leadoff home run to left field in the fourth, making it 3-2, Tigers.
Mizzou blew it open with five in the fifth on three singles, a walk and double, going in front, 8-2.
The Cougars cut into the lead with four runs of its own in the sixth. After a Shuler single, Townsend ground-rule double and Rita Tavita homer to center, the first of her freshman career, BYU had made it 8-6.
The Tigers tacked on an insurance run in the bottom half of the sixth on a single, stolen base and Cougar fielding error to lead 9-6.
Going down in order in the seventh on seven pitches, BYU fell to 1-4 on the weekend with the 9-6 defeat.
On Deck
The Cougars will head to Texas next week for a single game at Incarnate Word before taking part in the Texas State State's Up Invitational.