By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Baylor softball head coach Glenn Moore admitted last year’s squad surprised a lot of people — including himself.
2024 won’t be the same, though, as the Bears retained 21 of 22 members from last year’s 40-win roster and have five ranked foes on their nonconference schedule.
Moore, who’s entering his 24th season as Baylor’s head coach, said this is one of the hardest February schedules he’s helped put together.
“Some of it’s out of design, and then some of it falls into place when tournaments [have openings] and then you fill them,” Moore said. “But nonetheless, it’s going to be a February to remember. You can play very good ball in February and not have a very good record at the end of it. So we have to keep all of that in perspective.”
#Baylor softball slotted at No. 19.
According to this poll, the Bears would have nine matches against ranked foes in nonconference play. Two more contests come against opponents receiving votes.
That doesn’t even factor in the nine games against ranked #Big12SB squads. https://t.co/7ehFASWhFd
— Michael Haag (@MichaelHaag_) January 24, 2024
The Bears enter the year ranked No. 19 and will open their campaign with a three-game set against No. 2 Tennessee Feb. 9-11 in Waco. Baylor, which is ranked as high as No. 11 in the Softball America Preseason Top 25 Poll, had a program-record six wins over top-five teams a year ago.
Preseason praise is something the Bears didn’t get last season, but senior catcher Sydney Collazos said the squad doesn’t focus on that.
“Whether we’re on the rankings or not, we know what kind of talent we have and what kind of chemistry we have,” Collazos said. “We don’t pay much mind to the media. … But it’s nice getting the recognition that this whole time we’ve known that we deserved.”
Baylor went into the fall portion with its eyes set on getting back to the Women’s College World Series. The Bears have made four trips to the WCWS, the most recent in 2017. All have come under Moore’s tutelage.
Moore said this year’s stout schedule is an opportunity to prove the Bears can get back to that stage.
“We’ve talked about that a little bit. You put a target on your back, but isn’t that where you want to be?” Moore said. “We’ve been there in this program before, … but that’s where you want to be. This team’s ready for that type of schedule.”
As historic as 2023 was for Baylor, it still suffered an early exit in the Salt Lake City Regional. The Bears were worn down with key injuries to senior right-handed pitchers Dariana Orme (thoracic outlet syndrome) and Aliyah Binford (knee) as well as junior first baseman Shaylon Govan (torn labrum).
Orme and Govan played deep into the year, with Orme having to be shut down come tournament time. They still earned All-Big 12 and All-Region recognitions, as Orme owned a team-leading 1.92 ERA with 126 strikeouts on the year and Govan went .369 at the plate with 52 hits, 54 RBIs and 11 home runs.
The injury-derailed season, capped off with a 9-2 loss to Ole Miss, is all the motivation the team needs, according to Orme.
“[That result] pushed us to say that we’re not going to let that happen again, especially if, God willing, everyone stays healthy,” Orme said. “We know where we could’ve been if we had every single player that we wanted. We know now that we have what we need, and we’re going to be able to get it done.”
Baylor will open the spring season versus Tennessee Feb. 9-11 at Getterman Stadium.
*All softball rankings are according to the ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll, which was released Tuesday morning.
