By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
No. 18 Baylor softball was lucky to get through five innings on Wednesday. A severe tornado warning hit McLennan County and Waco around 5 p.m., but the Bears had completed five innings of play against Texas State University, so the game was deemed complete.
Baylor won by a score of 3-0, a lead it had in the top of the sixth inning in the midweek tilt at Getterman Stadium. The Bears (35-13, 4-8 Big 12) knocked off the Bobcats (29-20-1, 9-7-1 Sun Belt) for the second time this season, as they won in walk-off fashion on March 29 in San Marcos.
Wednesday’s game was in a weather delay for roughly 30 minutes before the contest was called. Baylor’s campus remained under a severe tornado warning until 7:03 p.m.
The meeting was originally scheduled for 6:30 p.m., but with the expected weather, the programs decided to push the start time up.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Kaci West and the defense retired the first three batters of the game to get things going. The Bears’ offense stepped up to the plate and immediately provided assistance.
Texas State was one out away from a clean bottom of the first, but sophomore infielder Shaylon Govan sent a solo shot over the wall in right-center field. It marked her 10th home run of the season and it gave Baylor a 1-0 lead.
Govan became the first Bear to reach double-digit home runs since the 2019 season. She now has 45 RBIs on the season, tied for second most in the Big 12.
The Bears were forced to escape out of some trouble in the top of the second when the Bobcats got a leadoff walk. Baylor executed a 2-4-7 sacrifice-bunt double play that erased the base runner.
Junior outfielder McKenzie Wilson was walked in the bottom of the third to give the Bears a chance at another run. Govan stepped up to the dish and drilled a double down the right-field, plating Wilson in the process.
Baylor silenced another threatening opportunity in the top of the fourth inning, as Texas State put its first two runners on base thanks to a single and a walk. Two-straight fielder’s choice grounders got the lead runner out at third base, and a groundout at second base erased the jam.
Junior outfielder Ana Watson led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left field and made her way to second on a wild pitch. With one out in the bottom of the fourth, senior outfielder Josie Bower reached on an error and scurried to second. Watson scored from second in the process after the ball was called dead.
The Bears sat down the Bobcats in order once again in the fifth, and Baylor had runners on the corners in the bottom side but failed to bring another run home. The Bobcats had their first batter at the plate in the top of the sixth, but Baylor’s campus tornado sirens sounded and put the game in a delay.
With the game through five innings complete, the contest was called off with a standing result, and the Bears won, 3-0. West (7-2) earned the win in the circle, as she pitched three complete innings, not allowing a single hit. Baylor also notched its 12th shutout win of the year.
The Bears now look to their conference series against Iowa State University this weekend, starting with a 4 -p.m. meeting on Friday at the Cyclone Sports Complex in Ames, Iowa.
Injury room
- Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ava Knoll made her Getterman Stadium debut on Wednesday, throwing for one inning and allowing one hit and one walk. Knoll recently recovered from a shin reaction injury.
