Houston falls to BYU in opening round of Big 12 softball tournament
Houston’s softball team was hoping to get a new lease on life with postseason play.
However, the Cougars went down quietly in the first round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship tournament, and now their season appears to be over.
Houston, the No. 11 seed in the tournament, was held to two singles while sixth-seeded BYU needed just two two-RBI home runs to eliminate Houston with a 4-0 win Wednesday night in Oklahoma City.
What has Houston athletics achieved in the past decade that no other school has done?
With the loss, Houston dropped to 22-25 overall, having won just four conference games in the regular season.
Houston had only two base hits on the night, both singles from Isabel Cintron and Ariel Redmond.
All four BYU runs came via the long ball. In the third inning, Ilove’a Brittingham hit a two-run homer, while Aleia Agbayani did the same in the bottom of the sixth.
BYU pitchers Kaysen Korth and Jada Villegas combined on the two-hit shutout. Korth went the first five innings, allowing one hit and striking out five, while Villegas pitched the final two innings to get the save, allowing one hit and striking out three.
Houston had one of the youngest rosters in the nation, as the Cougars will graduate one senior. They had a combined 17 freshmen and sophomore players.
But one of the key questions now is can Houston be able to retain all of those underclassmen. That includes freshman Brooke Wells, who led the Cougars in several offensive categories. With her hit Wednesday, Cintron - another freshman - reached base in 10 straight games.
