By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Trailing by a run in the final frame, Baylor softball junior outfielder Ashlyn Wachtendorf led off the side with a bloop into shallow center field.
Except the ball didn’t drop for a base hit. It fell into UT Arlington’s middle infielder’s glove and popped out before nestling into the center fielder’s glove for the first out.
It was that kind of night for the Bears, and it fits the narrative of a lackluster season.
Baylor stranded two runners in the bottom of the seventh and fell to UT Arlington 4-3 on Tuesday night at Getterman Stadium.
“It’s kind of been that way most of the year for us,” Bears head coach Glenn Moore said.
Senior utility Emily Hott followed Wachtendorf’s hot-potato out with a double to center field, and junior first baseman Shaylon Govan put the winning run on first with a two-out walk. But a flyout ended the threat and gave Baylor (22-18, 5-13 Big 12) its fourth straight loss.
“To be quite honest with you, most of the season has been line drives right to people,” Moore said. “Like, we wore out their second baseman. We barreled up a lot of balls. [Wachtendorf’s bloop] wasn’t hit that hard, but it was like it could have started a big rally. Of course, it would have scored her with Emily’s double.
“And Emily’s double is out of 90% of the ballparks in America, but not Getterman. This is where we play. So that holds her at second, and we can’t get her in.”
The Bears held a 3-2 lead into the fifth, but the Mavericks (18-26, 8-8 WAC) plated a pair in the top of the fifth to give them the final edge. Baylor out-hit UTA eight to seven, marking the Bears’ seventh loss in 26 games when that happened.
“It’s just disappointing. I thought we played well offensively. The run production didn’t show it, but I thought the positive plate appearances, the quality at-bats, the barrels to [the] ball — we had just as much as we did in any game this year. And we just can’t push runs across.”
Baylor entered the midweek bout on a three-game skid after being swept by No. 1 Texas over the weekend. The Bears have now lost two of their last three nonconference contests. Going into that stretch, they had won 17 of their previous 19 nonconference games.
Sophomore right-handed ace RyLee Crandall was given the start in the circle, but she was pulled after just 2.0 innings of work. Crandall gave up two earned runs on three hits and three walks on Tuesday, and the outing came after she hurled 172 pitches across two games (8 2/3 total innings) in the Longhorns series.
Moore said the staff started her “because we needed to win the game.”
Junior right-handed pitcher Kaci West struck out five, walked four and allowed two earned runs on four hits in her 5.0 innings the rest of the way.
“[Crandall’s] our ace right now,” Moore said. “Kaci probably threw one of her better games when she went in. I was really happy with what she did overall. Although she wasn’t able to hold the lead, I thought she threw one of her better performances of the year tonight.”
UTA opened the scoring with a pair of solo homers in the top of the second. Fifth-year senior first baseman Lindsey Franklin squared up the first pitch she saw and blasted a leadoff homer over the left-field wall. Sophomore catcher Nikki Donahue, the Mavericks’ eight-hole hitter, dug in and mashed a two-out home run to left center, which gave UT Arlington an early 2-0 lead.
Baylor senior outfielder Ana Watson mirrored Franklin’s plate appearance with a first-pitch homer in the bottom of the second, this one sailing down the right-field line. Watson added her second RBI of the game in the bottom of the third when she doubled to right center, bringing home junior two-way player Aliyah Binford.
Binford was at second after doubling to left center herself, which gave the Bears another RBI, as junior pinch runner Caroline Rowatt scored.
Lee with the game-tying double!#SicEm | #andONE pic.twitter.com/w6lVyn8U0x
— Baylor Softball (@BaylorSoftball) April 17, 2024
Baylor’s 3-2 lead only lasted through four innings though, as UT Arlington scratched across two more in the top of the fifth to give the Mavericks the 4-3 victory.
Moore said this was a tough loss for the Bears to take.
“When you play a team — certainly a quality team, I’m not belittling anyone, I respect all of our competition — but when you look at where they are in the RPI, that’s a game you have to win,” Moore said. “And it really hurts you to lose that game.
“On top of that, we still need four wins to finish above .500 in the regular season, so we could’ve knocked one off tonight. None of these last 10 that we have are going to be easy. … Especially with the health of our bullpen and our pitchers not able to go the distance and not able to for a while, that’s one we could’ve put under our belt, but now we have to work a little bit harder.”
Baylor will stay put for a three-game Big 12 series with newcomer UCF. First pitch for the series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Getterman Stadium, and all contests can be watched on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ or listened to on 101.3 FM.
