By Daniel Wallace
Reporter
In the nightcap of a double-header on Friday night, the Lady Bears showed they could win games in more than just one way. In most of their games this year, the Lady Bears won with dominant pitching and hitting. While the pitching still remained masterful in this one, the Lady Bears found a way to score even when not hitting the ball all over the field like they have been accustomed to this season.
The box score will show you they had 4 runs on 7 hits; 7 hits is a solid number to have in a ballgame, but don’t let it fool you. All of the scoring came in the second inning of a 4-0 Lady Bears win versus the New Mexico Lobos, but it was only done with 2 hits. They found themselves with the bases loaded in the bottom half of the second inning with only one hit, versus 2 walks. Shelbi Redfearn doubled to left center in between walks by Dani Leal and Holly Holl. With the bases loaded, Sydney Wilson drove in the first run with yet another base on balls. The Lady Bears were patient at the plate and although it was only 1-0, it was paying off with the bases still loaded. The only other hit that inning came on a Kelsi Kettler double driving in 2. The final run would come on a force out to second base.
Adding to the 7 hits, the 6 walks on the night allowed the Lady Bears to have 13 base runners. Coach Glenn Moore was fairly impartial to all the walks his team had this game saying, “It’s almost walking the fence with me. I want to have aggressive hits, but they did do a good job recognizing what pitches to take.”
After the second inning, it was a pitchers’ duel and no runs would be scored the rest of the game. Sophomore Courtney Repka added to her already phenomenal statistics, giving up only 4 hits, and throwing her second complete game of the season, improving to 3-0. While it may have looked like she was in control all game, she did fall behind in the count often early in the game. After that the coaching staff “challenged her to get first pitch strikes and to keep the change-up down.” From that point on, Repka retired 18 of her final 20 batters.
Hours before the second game of the night was over, Coach Moore received his 400th win at Baylor in the first game. The winning pitcher in that game, red-shirt sophomore Whitney Canion, said about Moore, “It’s awesome to know he is a winning coach. I hope to give him the 500 W ball; we have a lot of respect for him.” Junior Megan Turk also expressed excitement on how successful Moore has been at Baylor saying, “He has done such a great job. He has elevated the play and expectations; he is a very big part of this school.” Coach Moore’s impact can be seen in the way the Lady Bears play the game-aggressive and smart; the wins seem to help also.
After Friday, the Lady Bears improved to 7-0 on the young season, and the countdown to number 500 for Moore began, with 99 more to go.
