Comeback Cougs: BYU softball polishes off rivalry sweep with 6-inning win over Utah

PROVO — In the first weekend rivalry series since BYU and Utah were in the same conference in 2011, the Cougars learned a thing or two about comebacks.

Saturday's comeback just didn't wait until the seventh inning.

Lily Owens and Keila Kamoku both went 3-for-4 with a home run, and the Cougars swept the rivalry series with a 14-5 win over Utah in six innings Saturday afternoon in front of 1,541 fans at Gail Miller Field.

But after trailing by as many as three runs early, Tristen Turlington walked off the series sweep with a two-run shot to give BYU the mercy-rule victory.

"We've seen us being gritty and resilient all season," said Owens, who had three RBI in the leadoff spot. "But this was another stamp that we can do anything and everything. It's going to carry us through to the end of the season.

"I think at this point," the junior utility player added, "we all feel like we can run through a brick wall — and nothing is going to stop us at this point."

A brick wall, or at least a multi-run comeback, some with more time remaining than others.

The Cougars (29-12, 11-7 Big 12) rallied at the death to go up 2-0 on the Utes in the first two games of the week, overturning a four-run deficit with two outs Thursday to win in an eighth frame and firing off nine uncontested runs in the bottom of the seventh Friday to turn an 8-1 deficit into a 10-8 win on Ailana Agbayani's three-run shot.

Saturday was more of the same, just a little earlier.

"We've faced adversity before this series. We've had a lot of nagging and even some pretty serious injuries that we've just had to play through," BYU coach Gordon Eakin said. "We've been slapped in the face before, and came back and just fought.

"This is just Big 12 softball; I think our team has learned to be resilient last year and this year. Right now, it's showing."

Still, in the third game of a series where Utah dropped two on back-to-back late rallies, don't say the Utes (12-34, 4-14 Big 12) showed a little resilience of their own.

Emily Capobianco broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the third with a three-run shot over the left-field fence to give Utah a 4-1 lead.

"I told them I was just going to have the grounds crew bury me at second base," Eakin deadpanned, "if they don't improve the way they're playing early in the game."

And again, an answer.

Owens pulled one back for BYU with a single to right field in the bottom of the inning, scoring Miranda Mansfield from first with help from a fielding error. The former Lehigh transfer then came home on a wild pitch, and Kamoku cleared the bases with a three-run homer to help the Cougars turn that 4-1 deficit into a 10-4 lead in the frame.

Owens added a three-run shot of her own as the Cougars batted around in the bottom of the third, scoring eight of their nine runs off Utah middle-innings reliever Brooklyn Carreon to take a 10-4 lead and never let up.

Kaylah Nelsen, who went 3-for-4 with a double, pulled one back for the Utes in the fifth, scoring on a failed pickoff attempt with the bases loaded in the fifth.

But Kaysen Korth scattered seven hits with four earned runs allowed and five strikeouts in five innings to earn her 15th win of the year for the Cougars, who will take a three-day trip to Baylor before closing the regular season at home against No. 14 Texas Tech beginning May 1.

"Utah deserves credit," said Eakin, after calling the rivalry sweep "awesome." "They came out to play and they gave us everything that we could handle. But it also gives us great momentum going forward into our last two series."

No. 22 Arizona baseball pulls past BYU 7-5 to take series

Mason White went 3-of-5 with a pair of RBI, and No. 22 Arizona plated six runs in the sixth and seven innings to pull away from BYU and clinch the three-game series, 7-5 Saturday afternoon at Larry H. Miller Park.

Aaron Walton added a 2-for-5 performance with two RBI for the Wildcats (28-11, 12-6 Big 12), who moved into a tie for second in the conference with a pair of wins after dropping the first game of the road series.

Leadoff hitter Crew McChesney was 1-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and two runs scored to lead the Cougars (19-18, 6-12 Big 12), who play at Utah Valley on Monday evening (6 p.m. MT, ESPN+) before a four-game trip to Phoenix to face Arizona State and Grand Canyon.

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