By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
After a productive trip to the Aggie Classic in College Station, winning three games in three days, No. 23 Baylor softball is ready to defend the den during the Getterman Classic against No. 3 Oklahoma and Hofstra this weekend at Getterman Stadium.
While the Bears (3-2) are ready for a rematch after losing a three-game series against the Sooners in 2024, head coach Glenn Moore said the team is applying lessons from the previous tournament to prepare for Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s always exciting, no matter who you’re playing, to open up, especially at home,” Moore said. “So we’re very excited about that. And hopefully, last week got the butterflies out to a large degree anyway, and we can settle down and play ball.”
The team went 18-8 at home in 2024 and has posted a winning record at Getterman Stadium in all but one full competition season since 1999, leading to an already sold-out stadium.
Originally, the tournament was supposed to include Duke and Washington, but after one team withdrew, the other followed. While Hofstra and Oklahoma remained in the tournament, this marks the first time the green and gold will face off against the Sooners in a different conference.
“We were fortunate to be able to get Hofstra to commit to coming in and save the tournament, or we’d have to cancel altogether, so excited and appreciative of them coming down and playing us,” Moore said.
Junior infielder Amber Toven, returning from injury, said that the team is in a great spot to face Oklahoma and Hofstra and feel incredibly unified after coming home from College Station.
“This past weekend was really awesome,” Toven said. “Seeing all the team chemistry kind of come together after the really good preseason was really nice. And I think, yeah, that last weekend is going to fuel us coming into this weekend. And think if we just trust our process, trust what we’ve been working on, I think we’ll be okay.”
Baylor is 1-1 all-time against Hofstra, who it will face at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday, after competing against them for the first time in 2007 and again in 2008. As for the Sooners, they lead the Bears 76-14 all-time and the teams will face off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
“I think obviously, you can’t really focus on the past too much just because we’re with the whole new team and whatnot,” Toven said. “But definitely exciting. I think there’s going to be a lot of energy again. I think that also fuels our team as well. Just having the crowd just back us up, whether that’s them going for the opposing team or whether that’s them going for Baylor.”
Senior left-handed pitcher Lillie Walker, who is in her first season at Baylor after transferring from Duke, said she’s enthusiastic about representing the Bears and continuing the tradition of strong pitching in Waco.
“I’m really excited,” Walker said. “Coming from Duke, it was a brand-new program, and so now coming to Baylor, which obviously has a history of really awesome softball and a great stadium to back it up.”
The green and gold will play its first home game at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Getterman Stadium against Hofstra.
