Cougars pick up 5-1 win over Utes in game three

SALT LAKE CITY — BYU softball took game three at Utah, 5-3 at Dumke Stadium on Saturday night.

BOX SCORE

The Cougars (18-30, 7-14 Big 12) put up two runs in the second and three more in the fifth to salvage the series with a victory in the finale.

Starter Hailey Shuler went the distance in the win, her third complete game of the year, while also going 1-for-4 at the plate with an RBI double.

Player Highlights

• Ilove’a Brittingham: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
• Lily Owens: 2-4, 2B
• Hailey Shuler: 1-4, 2B, RBI
• Maddie Udall-Woolley: 1-3, 2B, RBI
• Rita Tavita: 1-3, 2B
• Hailey Shuler (W, 6-7): CG, 5 H, R, 4 BB, 3 K

BYU struck first, scoring two in the top of the third on consecutive base hits by Danica Acosta and Lily Owens before an Ilove’a Brittingham double to the right center gap.

The Cougars added a trio of insurance runs in the fifth, doing all of their damage with two outs. Three doubles and a single ensued, coming off the bats of Owens, Shuler, Brittingham and Maddie Udall-Woolley to give BYU a 5-0 lead.

Shuler, who allowed just two hits through four frames, worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning as Acosta doubled off the Utes, also wrapping up the inning with a groundout a pitch later.

Utah picked up a sacrifice fly to center field after a one-out triple in the bottom of the seventh and had two runners on with two outs, but grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the game, 5-1.

On Deck
The Cougars will return home to host No. 24 Arizona State in their final Big 12 series of the year. The three-game set will begin on Thursday, April 30 at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN+.