By Max Calderone | Sports Writer
With just 10 games remaining in the 2018 regular season, a pair of Baylor softball players have a chance to cement their place in the history books.
Senior first baseman Shelby Friudenberg and senior center fielder Jessie Scroggins are closing in on two of the program’s most illustrious career records: hits and runs batted in.
Head coach Glenn Moore said with the upcoming home series against Kansas, it would be really nice to see two of his players accomplish such lofty feats this weekend.
“I like to talk about my players and they’re two special ones that have done remarkable things for a program that’s had quite a few good athletes,” Moore said. “They’re phenomenal athletes and it’s been a blessing to have them as part of this program.”
After already setting the mark for most career home runs earlier this season with 45, Friudenberg trails Chelsi Lake (2004-2007) by only five RBIs for the school record. Friudenberg hit her fifth home run of the season and 45th of her career on April 8 at Texas Tech to pass Lake, who hit 44 home runs and drove in 184 runs in her career, as the program’s all-time leader.
“I’m really excited that I finally set the home run record,” Friudenberg said. “It’s a little bit of a confidence booster and a little bit of pressure off my shoulders, so that was nice to do.”
Friudenberg hit 18 home runs as a freshman in 2015 on her way to becoming an All-American. She followed that up with back-to-back years of identical numbers of 11 homers and 51 RBI in 2016 and 2017. With the RBI record in near sight, Friudenberg said her focus is just to relax and play and let the record come if it may.
“The RBIs, hopefully it’ll come sooner than later but we’ll see and just play,” Friudenberg said.
For someone to break the RBI record, they must have runners on base and that is exactly what Scroggins has done over her career as a Lady Bear, setting the table for the power hitters in the middle of the lineup. She currently sits just one hit behind Lindsey Cargill (2014-2017), who holds the programs all-time hits record with 253.
Scroggins said she does keep the record in the back of her mind and hopes to rack up at least two hits in order to break the record this weekend at Getterman Stadium.
“A little bit, I won’t even lie,” Scroggins said of whether or not she pays attention to the record books. “I do hope to break it this weekend, that way I can do it on my home field because that’s really awesome.”
However, if records are meant to be broken then Friudenberg’s home run mark may not stand for much longer. Sophomore infielder Goose McGlaun has already hit 22 home runs in her short time as a Lady Bear and needs another 23 to catch Friudenberg. Friudenberg said she would be excited to pass the torch to McGlaun.
“I’m so proud of her, so I’d be honored for her to break it,” Friudenberg said. “She’s a great player.”
With the Jayhawks coming to town this weekend, Moore is keeping his team focused on the task at hand, which is remaining in the win column and not getting too distracted by potential accolades.
“I certainly would love to brag about them more, but our focus is really right now more collectively than individually,” Moore said.
Baylor and Kansas will begin its three-game series Friday at 6:30 p.m., with game two to follow at 2 p.m. Saturday and the finale scheduled for noon on Sunday.
