Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
By Krista Pirtle
Sports Writer
In only 14 innings of play, junior Whitney Canion already has 32 strikeouts.
Of those 32, 15 came in five innings against the University of Texas at Arlington on Sunday afternoon.
Of those 15, 12 came on swinging strike threes.
“I had command of all my pitches today,” Canion said. “My arm felt good, despite the cold, and everything just clicked for me.”
Only two Maverick batters stepped foot on the bases due to walks.
The No. 7 Baylor softball team run-ruled UTA in five innings 11-0.
Senior Megan Turk led the Lady Bears in the batter’s box with three hits and sophomore Holly Holl blasted a three-run double to right center in the bottom of the third.
Out in the field, however, the players behind Canion did not have much to do to keep warm as all the outs came from strikeouts.
This no-hitter is the third in her career.
“This was a complete dominant performance in all areas,” head coach Glenn Moore said. “Whitney was great and our offense was clicking on all cylinders.”
The Lady Bears split their games on Saturday afternoon, beginning the day with a loss to Arkansas 5-1 and ending the day victoriously over Belmont 10-5.
Sophomore Liz Paul started the Arkansas game in the circle, but after three runs, two hits and five walks in 3.2 innings, junior Courtney Repka came in from the bullpen with two runs, three hits and four walks.
The Lady Bears worked on their offense and smashed 14 hits against Belmont with a seven-run second inning off six hits.
Making her first career start in the circle, freshman Linsey Hays struck out two batters in the first, but four hits and three Baylor errors in the second let Belmont back in the game with five runs.
The Lady Bears closed it out in the third with an RBI groundout by Clare Hosack, and a two-run single by Holl.
Paul came in and worked 2.0 innings of relief, allowing only one hit and striking out two. Canion then came in to close, striking out five of the six batters faced.
The opening day of the tournament resulted in a sweep by Baylor, defeating Wichita State 5-1 and Iowa 4-0.
“I thought our pitchers were terrific tonight,” Moore said. “Whitney and Courtney were what we need them to be. We hit the ball hard, just right at people at times, but I liked what I saw.”
Repka recorded six strikeouts against Wichita State, holding the top four of the order hitless on the evening.
In the final game of the evening, Baylor allowed only one hit as Canion struck out 12.
Baylor will be back in action this weekend, travelling to Corpus Christi to take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a three-game series.
