By Zach Babajanof-Rustrian | Sports Writer
No. 19 Baylor softball lost both games of its doubleheader versus No. 2 Tennessee in on Friday at Getterman Stadium.
In the season-opener, Baylor (0-2) held a slim lead until the seventh inning when Tennessee (3-0) was able to capitalize with a two-run home run, which gave it a 3-2 win. Senior utility Emily Hott said the Lady Volunteers executed at the perfect time.
“I honestly think we beat them in every aspect, they just had a couple more timely hits,” Hott said. “That’s where the maturity comes in with having a lot of seniors on our team, to not let this let us go down too far and just grow from it. … If anyone watched that first game, they would know that they got lucky.”
Hott notched three-straight hits to open the first game, including an RBI double to left center in the third and a solo homer over the center field wall in the fifth. Hott said that she had a moment with God before stepping into the batter box for her home run.
“I was just like, ‘I’ve seen the direction here. And just on my heart, God is my shepherd,’” Hott said. “And I think it just goes to — we’ve been hitting after every single practice. It’s me, Shay [Shaylon Govan], Syd [Sydney Collazos], and Amber [Toven] — our little hitting group. And it’s just putting in that work gives you the confidence to go up against anybody.”
Sophomore right-handed pitcher RyLee Crandall took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Tennessee rallied. Crandall struck out four batters in 5 2/3 innings pitched.
While the Bears nearly pulled off the upset in the first game, they couldn’t find their footing against Tennessee in Game 2, losing 9-1 after committing five errors. Head coach Glenn Moore said that the team needs to build on the positives from the first game and learn from the negatives in the second, which ended up being a sixth-inning run-rule victory for the Lady Vols.
“I think we put a good face on it and let them [Tennessee] know that, ‘Hey, we played the same game if we had ended up winning it and we lost it,’” Moore said. “We barreled up a lot of balls, balls went to the fence all day long along for good pitching.
“On the flip side, take just as many negatives from the second game and I don’t like the way we responded after that. That’s where we have to grow. That’s the ga between us and the top-five team.”
Regarding Hott’s strong day at the plate, Moore said it’s “time for her to have a breakout year.”
“Man, she put on a show tonight,” Moore said. “She’s been knocking on the door since she’s been here, and I think she’s in a good place mentally, and this game jump starts that against great pitching. I think she’ll carry that a long ways, always being able to go back to facing this type of pitching and doing well. I think it’ll hopefully propel her into a great year.”
Baylor gets one more shot at Tennessee in the series finale at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Getterman Stadium.
