Browsing: Softball

The No. 20 Baylor Lady Bears softball team’s 14-game winning streak was snapped on Friday after a 3-0 loss to North Carolina. However, Baylor responded by winning the second game of the double-header 20-4 against North Dakota. Baylor is now 16-3 for the season and will play in another double-header on Saturday at 9:30 a.m.

The No. 20 Baylor softball team (15-2) will compete in the Wilson/Demarini Invitational from Friday to Sunday in Tempe, Ariz. Baylor will put its 14-game winning streak, which is tied for the best in program history, on the line as it faces off against North Carolina. Baylor will finish the weekend with a game against Arizona State.

On Friday, Baylor will start with a double-header against North Carolina at 10:00 a.m. and will play North Dakota at 12:30 p.m. North Carolina (11-5) is coming off of five straight wins, including the Carolina Classic. However, they have a 1-3 record against ranked teams. Lori Spingola, 2012 ACC Pitcher of the Year, is 4-3 and has 66 strikeouts in 60 innings. Spingola was also named Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday. The pitching staff collectively has an ERA of 2.24 and the Tar Heels are hitting .292 as a team.

The No. 22 Baylor Lady Bears softball team has been getting better every tournament, improving upon the little things before competition gets harder. Everyone is expected to perform at a high level, but the freshman class has surprised many people.

The upperclassmen and returning players continue to do their job.

Senior centerfielder Kathy Shelton has a .404 batting average and has 10 runs, 23 hits and nine RBIs this season.

Baylor earned a dramatic 5-4 walk-off win over Pepperdine on Tuesday at Baylor Ballpark. The win improves Baylor’s record to 3-5.

The game was scoreless through three innings with Baylor starting freshman left-handed pitcher Sterling Wynn. Then the Pepperdine offense gained momentum in the top of the fourth inning.

Pepperdine sparked the four-run inning with power hitting and speed around the bases. Baylor head coach Steve Smith was forced to go to the mound for a pitching change. Senior left-hander Max Garner walked the first batter he faced, and Pepperdine added another run to take a 4-0 lead.

The No. 23 Baylor baseball team dropped the final game of its series against No. 2 UCLA 5-4. Baylor finished the series 1-2 and is now 2-5 on the season.

“I thought we played hard and I thought we competed,” head coach Steve Smith said. “We’ve got some issues on the mound and behind the plate that got exposed. I thought we were fortunate at the end of it to be in the game with all of those things. We gave them a lot of free opportunities.”

The No. 25 Baylor softball team redeemed itself by winning the Texas Shootout after losing it last year at Getterman Stadium. Baylor defeated North Texas 9-3 on Sunday for the series sweep and tied the program’s best winning streak at 14 games.

“That’s awesome,” head coach Glenn Moore said in regards to the record. “I didn’t realize that, didn’t know that we were approaching that, but that’s nice.”

The No. 23 Baylor Bears defeated the No. 2 UCLA Bruins 5-0 in the second game of their weekend series on Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.

Junior right-handed pitcher Dillon Newman pitched five scoreless innings for the Bears. Then senior right-handed pitcher Kolt Browder started the top of the sixth and got two outs before getting into a bases-loaded jam. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan Smith came to the rescue and struck out UCLA’s second basemen Trent Chatterton to end the Bruins’ threat. Smith went the remaining three and one-third innings on the mound to lead the Bears to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Bears.

The No. 25 Baylor softball team defeated North Texas 8-3 on Saturday after Baylor responded with runs after being down 1-3. After leaving 18 runners stranded in the double-headers on Friday, Baylor started slow again leaving four stranded before showing up with their power offense.

Senior infielder Kelsi Kettler had a big day with three doubles on her first three at-bats of the season. She also had some key defensive plays in critical moments, making the most of her start. Junior catcher Clare Hosack also hit a three-run, go-ahead homer to give Baylor the lead. Center fielder Kathy Shelton hit a triple in the fifth inning to put Baylor in position to win.

The Baylor Bears lost 4-3 in the first game of a three-game weekend series to UCLA on Friday night.

Senior right-handed pitcher Max Garner started on the mound for the Bears. In the top of the first inning, Garner got off to a quick start by getting UCLA’s leadoff hitter Eric Filia to groundout to second and by striking out Kevin Kramer. UCLA utilized clutch two-out hitting to start generating offense. Shortstop Pat Valaika roped a double down the left field line. Designated hitter Cody Regis singled to center to score Valaika from second to give UCLA a 1-0 lead.

Unlike the last couple of games, the No. 25 Baylor softball team had trouble generating offense after their dominant night on Thursday. Baylor continued the Texas Shootout in a double-header beginning with Sam Houston State and finished with UT Arlington. Baylor’s defense did their job forcing back-to-back shutouts, as the pitching stayed consistent to avoid losses. Baylor started slow in both games, but managed to have key hits, allowing them to score.

Baylor baseball hosts the highly ranked UCLA Bruins in a three game series this weekend. With a 1-3 record, Baylor is hoping to find its stride against UCLA on today, Saturday and Sunday.

The Bears started the season in California with a three-game series against an experienced UC Irvine squad. The Bears dropped all three of their games to UC Irvine but bounced back by defeating Texas State 6-3 at Baylor Ballpark on Tuesday night.

The No. 25 Baylor Lady Bear Softball team had its first road test of the season as they squared off against Texas State in the Texas Shootout on Thursday in San Marcos. Baylor didn’t miss a beat as their offense displayed power and speed dominating the fourth and fifth innings to win 10-2. Baylor has now won 10 games in a row and moves to 11-2 on the season with the win.

Baylor’s offensive power was on display again this weekend. Freshman third baseman Sarah Smith and junior first baseman Holly Holl both had 2 RBI-doubles. Smith also hit a bomb for a home run, displaying the transition Baylor is trying to make from a speed team to a power team. Sophomore infielder Jordan Strickland contributed with a 2 RBI-single in the fifth inning.

The No. 25 Baylor softball team will look to improve its record on its first road test against Texas State at 7 p.m. today in San Marcos for the Texas Shootout.

Baylor started the season slowly, despite winning the Getterman Classic on Feb. 10. Their offense couldn’t get going, which put more pressure on the defense and pitching, but Baylor responded the following weekend with offensive speed and power as they got more aggressive and began hitting balls. This contributed to their 5-0 sweep of the Miken Classic, putting them at 10-2 for the season.

The Baylor Bears earned their first win of the season by defeating the Texas State Bobcats 6-3 at Baylor Ballpark Tuesday night. The Bears’ overall record is now 1-3 heading into a weekend series against UCLA at home.

The Bears came out early in the top of the first and made some uncharacteristic mistakes defensively.

GAME ONE: Loss, Baylor 4, UC Irvine 6

Baylor baseball started the season in California to take on UC Irvine in a three-game weekend series. For the first time since 2007, Baylor started the season on the road.

Baylor Softball beat Pacific 3-0 to win the Miken Classic. The Lady Bears went 5-0 in the tournament, but despite a weekend with offensive woes, Baylor got aggressive scoring 32 runs and giving up 3 in the Miken Classic.

The game was scoreless in the first inning when senior centerfielder Kathy Shelton tried to steal second, but the catcher saw it and threw it to second right before Shelton slid. Shelton is 86–of–93 in her career, making this the seventh time in her career that she got an out while stealing a base.

The Baylor softball team won both games of its doubleheader Saturday to move to 9-2 on the season and 4-0 in the Miken Classic.

The Lady Bears won the first game of the doubleheader 4-1 over the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders. Freshman right-handed pitcher Heather Stearns got the start and pitched five scoreless innings. She recorded seven strikeouts in the process.

The Lady Bears kicked off the Miken Classic with two big wins.

Head Coach Glenn Moore was upset in recent games despite their wins because the team’s offense wasn’t producing any runs. He challenged the team to be more aggressive, and it produced 26 hits and 18 runs in both games combined.

“I saw very confident hitters and you know, I thought we hit some pitchers pitches in situations that were in favor of the pitcher and we swung the bat well,” Moore said.

Baylor softball (5-2) will compete in the Miken Classic from today to Sunday after winning its seventh Getterman Classic this past weekend. The Lady Bears continue their 12-game homestand and they are 12-4 all-time in the Miken Classic.

Last season, the Baylor Bears baseball team had a 49-17 record and won the programs third Big 12 championship. With 49 wins, the 2012 squad ended just one win shy of the Baylor record. On the diamond, the Bears also won a school-record 24 games.

They also had four Louisville Slugger All-Americans and had six players selected in the 2012 MLB draft.

Baylor won both games of Tuesday’s double-header against Southern Mississippi. After a dominant first game, No. 22 Baylor (5-2) squeaked out a win after a walk off home run by freshman right-handed pitcher Heather Stearns to seal the deal.

The No. 22 Baylor softball team played a triple-header this Saturday to conclude the Getterman Classic.

Baylor won two out of three games, putting them at 3-2 for the season. Baylor ended up winning the Getterman Classic for the seventh time.

The No. 22 Baylor Softball team began its season with the 12th annual Getterman Classic on Thursday with a 5-0 win over Illinois State. Under head coach Glenn Moore, Baylor is now 11-2 in opening games and 11-0 when opening its season at home.

Junior left-handed pitcher Whitney Canion earned the win. This was her first game back from a knee injury suffered last season.

Baylor softball finished third in the Big 12 preseason poll.

This is the fourth time in program history that the Bears were chosen third, but the team has high hopes that it can finish better and play competitive ball on the road to go to another world series. Last year, Baylor softball made the post season. The team entered the NCAA regional tournament and ranked No. 23 despite losing its All-American left-handed pitcher Whitney Canion after she suffered a torn ACL. The team continued to fight though the adversity as senior right-handed pitcher Courtney Repka and junior right-handed pitcher Liz Paul filled in the role of pitching. Sophomore outfielder Kaitlyn Thumann also contributed with big hits.

Kung Fu Panda, The Freak, The Beard and all their seed-throwing buddies are on top of baseball — again.

They may be under the radar, unappreciated and unexpected. But they’re unassailable, the winner of two World Series titles in the last three years.

Their sweep of the Detroit Tigers, completed Sunday night with a 4-3, 10-inning win, was simply historic.

No National League team had swept a World Series since the 1990 Cincinnati Reds.

A 103-75 win for the No. 18 Baylor basketball team over the Abilene Christian Wildcats showed the high ceiling for the Bears.

“When you’re in practice and you go against the same guys every day, you tend to pick up their tendencies,” freshman center Isaiah Austin said. “It’s always good to get out there and find out ways to play defense other than against your teammates.”

A five-run first inning gave the National Professional Fastpitch All Star team a winning start over the Baylor softball team Tuesday at Getterman Stadium. Despite the Lady Bears’ efforts, the game ultimately resulted in a score of 8-0.

Wednesday marked a monumental day in baseball history. Miguel Cabrera, the Detroit Tigers third baseman, accomplished what baseball players only dream about. He won baseball’s coveted Triple Crown. Cabrera became the first player in forty-five years to accomplish this feat, leading the American League with 44 home runs, a .330 batting average and 139 RBIs.