Canion three outs from no-hitter
By Krista Pirtle
Sports Writer
The No. 17 Lady Bears softball team swept the Texas Tech Lady Raiders in a double header Wednesday, 5-1 and 10-3.
Bats were swinging and pitches were flying for Baylor (30-6, 4-2), who recorded 23 hits on the day, six in the first and 17 in the second.
Limiting the Texas Tech (36-6, 1-5) offense, sophomore Whitney Canion pitched a complete game, allowing one run off only two hits.
Canion’s effort was nearly Baylor’s first seven-inning no-hitter since Cristin Vitek accomplished the feat in 2004 against Kansas. Canion struck out 10 batters Wednesday.
In game one, the Lady Bears went up 1-0 in the first inning, off back-to-back singles by the leadoff and second hole hitters sophomore Kathy Shelton and junior Kayce Walker. Junior Megan Turk grounded out to third but advanced two runners, setting up the field for senior Dani Leal who hit Shelton home with a sacrifice fly to right field.
The score went up to 2-0 in the fourth inning as Walker led off with a walk. Turk bunted to advance Walker and got on herself due to an error on the catcher. Walker made it to third on the play and scored on a wild pitch.
Baylor doubled the score in the fourth as freshman Holly Holl led off with a walk. Senior KJ Freeland singled to the shortstop.
Then mistakes hit the Lady Raiders again as freshman Clare Hosack hit to shortstop and an error let Holl reach third base safely. Hosack brought Holl home on a sac fly to left, and Freeland scored on a Shelton sac fly to center.
The Lady Bears added an insurance run in the top as the second as Shelton led off with a single and scored as Turk singled up the middle.
Texas Tech finally scored in the bottom of the seventh with a leadoff homerun by sophomore Mikey Kenney.
In game two, Texas Tech jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning as Emily Bledsoe led off the game getting hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a single by junior Cydney Allen.
The Lady Bears tied it in the second as Leal singled to left field. Freshman Makenzie Robertson went in to run for Leal and scored off a double by Holl.
Baylor took the lead in the third as Turk got hit by a pitch and was scored by a double by Leal. Shelbi Redfearn then stepped to the plate and hit a double of her own, trading places with Leal.
Texas Tech cut the lead to one in the bottom of the third when junior Emily Bledsoe homered to right center and tied the game in the fourth as sophomore Randi Tongate singled and scored off a single to left field by junior Ashley Hamada.
The Lady Bears broke it open in the fifth, scoring four runs, three of which came from a Holl homerun to left and another from junior Sydney Wilson scoring sophomore Kelsi Kettler off a single to left. But they weren’t done yet, as they went on to score three runs in the next inning, thanks to a lead off homer by Leal to right center and a two run homer by Hosack to left field.
The team next plays a two-game series in Norman, Okla., against the No. 15 ranked Sooners with the first game at 2 p.m. Saturday. Baylor and Oklahoma are both 4-2 in conference play.