Slugger Huntyr Ava is the BYU softball team’s ray of sunshine, known for her upbeat attitude and unshakable optimism. As the Cougars gear up for their first Big 12 softball tournament, which takes place from Wednesday to Saturday in Oklahoma City, even she has to admit that their journey to victory will be a tough one.
“We will probably have to beat the three best teams in the league to win it,” she says. That would be three of the top four teams in the nation, if the USA Today/NFCA Division I poll is to be believed.
The Cougars, coming off a sweep against Kansas last week to earn the No. 6 seed in the tournament, are set to face No. 3 seed Oklahoma State in their first game on Thursday at 10 a.m. MDT. Should BYU (30-22) pull off an upset against OSU (44-9), ranked third in the country, they could face No. 4-ranked Oklahoma on Friday. The defending national champion Sooners (46-6) will play the winner of Wednesday’s Houston-Kansas game on Thursday. On the other side of the bracket looms No. 1-ranked Texas (45-6).
“Winning the tournament would honestly be the best accomplishment ever for our program,” Ava says. “But the only way we can do that is win our first game and go from there.”
That will be no easy feat. Oklahoma State recently took two of three games from Oklahoma and has won 10 of its last 11. Although BYU managed to upset OSU 11-8 in Provo back in March, the Cowgirls dominated the other two games with scores of 3-2 and 10-2.
Despite the challenges, Ava remains hopeful. “We are pretty stoked about how we are playing,” she says. “I feel like we are all clicking at the right time—our bats, our pitching, even our defense. I feel like we are all bought in after the sweep of Kansas. With the kind of lineup we have, anything is possible.”
Pitching has been a sore point for the Cougars all season due to injuries among their top arms, but the team has compensated with a potent offense. Ava leads with 12 home runs, while Violet Zavodnik has 11, and Ailana Agbayani boasts a .434 batting average.
“We are very competitive, and we never give up,” Ava says. “Even through our ups and downs, we kept competing because we are a proud BYU program with a history of success.”
Coach Gordon Eakin, who previously spoke about the team’s resilience, agrees. “We have fought tooth and nail in every game just to give ourselves a chance to win,” he said in early April.
To make it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, BYU will likely need to win the Big 12 Tournament and claim the automatic berth. With an RPI of 51, they’d need several big wins over top teams like OSU, Oklahoma, or Texas—all in the top 10—to boost their chances. Ava’s outlook, however, remains hopeful. The Cougars already stunned Oklahoma 9-4 earlier this season, showing that anything can happen.
Ava’s journey to BYU wasn’t straightforward. Despite growing up in a family of University of Utah fans and receiving a scholarship offer from the Utes, she chose BYU—a transition that was challenging for her family, especially her dad. But she’s made a name for herself with 63 home runs over five seasons, and she’s eager to continue playing after graduation.
As for her unique name, Ava’s mother originally wanted to name her Hunter but tweaked it when she learned she was having a girl. The result? Huntyr Ava—a name that suits a player who brings a little bit of magic to the field.
