By Kalena Reynolds | Staff Writer
After earning its first Big 12 series win over UCF last weekend, Baylor softball is taking the momentum south for a three-game series against Houston.
The Bears (15-21, 4-8 Big 12) have found success coming together as a team and doing just enough behind senior left-handed pitcher Lillie Walker, who has established herself as an ace. Emphasizing unity as a focal point for their upcoming set of games against the Cougars (20-13, 3-7 Big 12), the green and gold are hoping to find a spark in the batter’s box.
“I think just coming together, I think bits and pieces of hitting — that’s why we were successful,” senior infielder Presleigh Pilon said. “When more people start coming together in a lineup, that’s huge for us to get hits.”
Freshman outfielder Karynton Dawson has grasped an early, up-close view this season as a consistent starter for the green and gold. Dawson said the team is on a roll right now, and she is also preparing for a matchup with personal stakes.
“This weekend is very important,” Dawson said. “I’m playing against a lot of old teammates. And where we’re standing right now, a sweep would be good for us. So, yes, this is a very important weekend.”
Head coach Glenn Moore said Dawson is a phenomenal athlete and is going through the cycle of a typical freshman year, where you have both ups and downs. But he is optimistic she will finish the season strong.
“She’s now learning to swing away,” Moore said. “She hits with big power when she does, and she can use the short game. If she needs to, she’ll go back to that. But I just think her bat has been a little bit slow versus the pitching we’re seeing, and we’re hoping that she will turn it up a little bit and start attacking those pitches.”
The last time the Bears went up against Houston, they won 6-0 with the head-to-head record (26-16) in their favor. Moore said the team has been heavily focused on improvement after their past season and has been practicing as if they are undefeated.
“I would think that they have confidence after that series because that was a good UCF team, but I’ve never seen them waver from a lack thereof anyway,” Moore said. “So practice yesterday was very business-like, and get down to business and go to work, and we had a great one of our better practices yesterday. And I hope that’ll translate over to creating more offense because that’s still baffled me a little bit over the last few weeks.”
In order to regain focus for the upcoming series, Moore said they have shifted to focusing on the pieces necessary for improvement and giving leeway to others so the players can recuperate properly.
“Tuesday was hitting only, and in three groups of hitters, where we watched some film, conditioned a little bit and just got serious about our offense because that’s the area that we feel,” Moore said. “[There’s] only so much we can do about the pitching situation, but the hitting is not performing at the level that we know it is capable of.”
While Moore has been surprised at the dominant pitches he’s seen in recent games, he continues to focus on success within practice and is prepared to bring that to their game against Houston.
“We prepared them with seeing some of the best arms in the country, and then when you get to the point where you’re not seeing the 70-mile-an-hour pitches, and maybe there’s a transition time in between that and the lower velocity pitchers,” Moore said. “But it’s time to come around and start having quality at-bats throughout the lineup, and not just three or four spots.”
The Bears will be back on the diamond, opening a three-game series against Houston beginning at 6 p.m. Friday at Cougar Softball Stadium in Houston.
