By Will Chamblee | Sports Writer
Baylor softball was unable to pull off a historic upset of mighty No. 1 Oklahoma during Tuesday’s makeup doubleheader, as the Bears lost to the Sooners 7-1 in game one and 11-0 in game two Tuesday at Getterman Stadium. The two teams were originally scheduled to play in early April before the series was postponed due to Big 12 conference interruption guidelines.
Oklahoma has been near unbeatable this year. The Sooners own a ridiculous 39-1 record and a perfect 14-0 record in Big 12 play. Oklahoma’s sole loss came against Georgia in extra innings earlier this April. Baylor head coach Glenn Moore put it simply.
“They’re a very good team,” Moore said.
Baylor had a promising start to the first game of the doubleheader, taking an early lead in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore left fielder Lou Gilbert opened the game with a double, and senior third baseman Taylor Ellis knocked her in with a two-out single to put the Bears up 1-0.
Gia Rodoni was also dealing early from the mound for the Bears. The senior pitcher allowed no hits through the first three innings.
“Gia pitched as well as she has all year, and that’s certainly a bright spot,” Moore said. “She looked good against a very good team.”
Things began to fall apart for Baylor in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Nicole Mendes hit a grand slam, her fourth home run of the season, giving Oklahoma a 4-0 lead.
The Sooners never looked back after the grand slam. Jocelyn Alo homered in the fifth inning, and Taire Jennings did the same in the sixth to hand Oklahoma a 7-1 win in the first game.
Despite the loss, Moore was happy with the way Baylor played against the best team in the country.
“I was really proud of the way we came out in the first game (with) lots of energy,” Moore said. “We looked like we really wanted to attack them and not just bow down to the No. 1 team in the country. … I was really proud of the way our girls played in that first game. The outcome was certainly a bigger deficit than I thought.”
While Baylor was able to keep it respectable in the first game, the Sooners displayed their full power in the second game of the doubleheader. Oklahoma scored seven runs in the first three innings to take a commanding 7-0 lead over Baylor. Instead of the home run barrage that Oklahoma launched on Baylor in the first game, the Sooners hit single after single in the first three innings to drive in their runs. The game ended 11-0 to Oklahoma.
Alo had another impressive performance for the Sooners, reaching base on three of her four at-bats. Oklahoma pitcher Shannon Saile was impeccable as she moved to 12-0 on the season, only giving up two hits in four innings of work and striking out six batters.
“We let the second one get away from us,” Moore said. “You can’t make mistakes. Even in the first one, we made mistakes that they capitalized on, and it really hurt us.”
Baylor will look to bounce back as they host Kansas this weekend. The first game of the series will be played at 6:30 p.m. on Friday at Getterman Stadium.
