The BYU softball team pulled off the unthinkable against Utah — for the second night in a row.
On Friday night, the Cougars came back from seven down in the final inning to win on a walk-off home run by Aleia Agbayani. That came after rallying from four runs down to win when they were down to their final out on Thursday night.
Friday’s final score was 10-8.
“I’ve done this a long time,” BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. “That’s probably the best win I’ve been a part of.”
After the first inning saw the Utes go up 2-1, both teams went scoreless for five straight frames and neither had an extra base hit heading into the seventh and final inning.
And then the bats let loose.
Utah scored six runs in the seventh inning, extending its lead to 8-1. The game was practically over.
”I kept expecting us to break out. The problem was (the Utes) were the ones that broke out,” Eakin said. “I looked at our team and said if they can do it, we can do it, and I’ll be darned … we just witnessed something pretty amazing.”
Keila Kamoku opened up things for the Cougars in the bottom of the seventh with a 2-RBI single and the lead was cut to five. The five-run lead became four, four became three, and seemingly out of nowhere, Agbayani stepped up to the plate with BYU trailing by one run with two runners on base and just one out.
On a full count, Agbayani more than connected with the pitch, hitting a no-doubter into center field. The last hit of the night was the only home run of the game.
“That definitely was the highlight of my softball career,” Agbayani said. “My six years of playing, that was it right there.”
When asked what the message was to the trailing Cougars before the seventh inning, Agbayani said, “(Eakin) just told us to put up a fight.
“We’re not gonna let them run all over us. We’re gonna push back and show them that we are BYU. We can win this thing.”
After the first game of the series also ended in a BYU walk-off, Cougar coaches and players noted how much this rivalry means to them.
Agbayani shared that sentiment moments after her historic homer.
“We showed (Utah) who really runs this state,” Agbayani said.
Before the seventh inning, both starting pitchers were having career games. Hailey Maestretti only gave up one run in the first six innings for Utah, and BYU’s Kate Dahle tossed 123 pitches before getting pulled in the final frame.
“(Kate) was throwing so well,” Eakin said. “There were several times where we talked about if it was time to take her out, but she was just throwing so well.”
In a game that had 18 runs, it’s strange to highlight how good both pitchers played, but the game itself was strange. If it wasn’t for the high-scoring seventh inning, both coaches would have raved about their defensive showing.
Instead, Agbayani’s homer will be all that people will remember.
BYU and Utah will play the final game of the series Saturday at 1:30 p.m MDT.