TEMPE, Ariz. — BYU softball held on for a 6-5 win against Arizona State at Farrington Softball Stadium on Friday night.
The Cougars (15-5, 1-1 Big 12) took a 4-0 lead before plating a pair of insurance runs in the seventh that proved valuable as the Sun Devils fought back to draw within one in the final inning.
Player Highlights
BYU jumped on ASU to start the game with Lily Owens drawing a full-count walk, Hailey Morrow doubling to right field to score Owens and moving to third on a throwing error. Ilove’a Brittingham singled up the middle three pitches later, scoring Morrow.
Starting pitcher Kate Dahle and the Cougars worked around a two-on, two-out situation in the home half of the first, with Dahle retiring the third Sun Devil on a comebacker ground out.
Miranda Mansfield led off the second beating out an infield single, but was stranded at third after a trio of groundouts.
Bre Townsend added to BYU’s lead in the third, mashing a full-count rocket over the center field wall, the fourth homer of her freshman campaign, for a 3-0 advantage.
The Cougars added a run in the fourth as Mansfield singled on a bunt and scored on Owens’ double down the left field line for a 4-0 lead.
Arizona State put two on in its half of the fourth frame, but BYU turned a 6-4-3 double play to erase the Sun Devil runners and get out of the inning.
Stellar defense was again on display in the fifth. ASU led off with a single, but after a strikeout, the Cougars again turned two, this time a 3-6 line out to keep the Sun Devils scoreless.
Finally breaking up the shutout in the bottom of the sixth inning, Arizona State scored two on a walk, single, wild pitch, line out, BYU error and wild pitch, cutting the Cougar lead in half at 4-2.
BYU added two insurance runs in the seventh, loading the bases on singles from Brittingham and Milkowski before a Townsend walk. Maddie Udall-Woolley then singled up the middle on the first pitch she saw, scoring two and putting the Cougars in front, 6-2.
Arizona State made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh inning, stringing together two singles, a wild pitch and three-run homer to left, making it 6-5, BYU.
The Cougar defense held strong from there, inducing a pop up before a game-sealing ground out for BYU’s first Big 12 win of 2025.
On Deck
The Cougars will conclude their three-game series with the Sun Devils on Saturday, Mar. 8 at 1 p.m. MST. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.