By Nathan Keil | Sports Writer
No. 13 Baylor softball improved to 15-1 on the year at Getterman Stadium when it blanked Abilene Christian University 6-0 Wednesday night.
Baylor head coach Glenn Moore was pleased with the effort his team gave in front of the Baylor faithful, especially the pitching.
“We’ve been a little disappointed in how we’ve performed in front of our home crowd, and they came out to see us in big numbers tonight – it was a great midweek crowd,” Moore said. “I thought they left here happy for sure, and I’m very happy we’ve challenged the girls to show up and play that way for our crowd. We played a pretty solid ball game, overall, and we did it against a very solid ball club with good pitching. I’m very happy with the way tonight went, and it’s a great way to go into another Big 12 weekend. ”
The Lady Bears got a strong pitching performance from sophomore Gia Rodoni. Rodoni struck out six and allowed one hit in five innings of work in the circle.
Rodoni said that the Lady Bears were extremely focused tonight looking ahead to its Big 12 home opener this weekend.
“It was very big to get a win here,” Rodoni said. “With these midweek games, it can be tough since we don’t usually play ranked teams, so it’s hard to keep that focus, at times. But the girls came out tonight with that right mind set and just put everything together.”
The lone hit was a two-out single by Wildcats’ senior outfielder Taylor Brown.
McGlaun came on in the sixth and worked two shutout innings of relief.
Junior infielder Shelby Friudenberg had a big night at the plate, tallying three hits in three at bats and driving in four runs. Freshman infielder Shelby McGlaun also contributed as she launched her team-leading sixth home run of the year.
Friudenberg said after a long road schedule, it was a relief to be back in front of a home crowd.
“It feels nice coming back to our home field and being able to knock the rust off from the weekend and traveling,” Friudenberg said. “So getting a win on our home turf feels good going into the weekend preparing for Tech.”
Baylor was quick to scratch one across for Rodoni in the first. Junior outfielder Jessie Scroggins led off the inning with a single before stealing second and third base. Senior infielder Lindsey Cargill then drove her in with a single to left field.
In the third, it was Friudenberg and McGlaun who did the damage. Friudenberg delivered a two-run single to center and McGlaun followed with a solo home run to left field, giving the Lady Bears a 4-0 advantage.
Friudenberg delivered a second two-run single to center field in the sixth, scoring both Scroggins and sophomore outfielder Kyla Walker.
Abilene Christian threatened in the seventh when junior infielder Holly Neese led off the inning with a triple, but she was stranded there as McGlaun retired the next three batters to the end.
Abilene Christian falls to 18-14 on the season. The Wildcats will host a weekend series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beginning at 5 p.m. Friday.
The Lady Bears improved to 29-6 overall, 2-1 in the Big 12 play. Baylor will host a three-game weekend series with Big 12 foe Texas Tech beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The game will air on Fox Sports Southwest Plus.
