No. 19/20 Baylor softball (30-14, 7-6 Big 12) split a midweek road doubleheader with Houston (30-18), winning game one in nine innings, 1-0, and falling short on a late-inning comeback in game two, dropping a 4-3 decision on Tuesday evening at Cougar Softball Stadium.
The Lady Bears have split the near-annual doubleheader with Houston in seven of the last eight series meetings between the programs, held off from pulling off the first doubleheader sweep in Houston for the Lady Bears.
In game one, Gia Rodoni (18-9) completely bottled up the Cougar lineup, going the first 8.0 shutout innings allowing just three hits with 10 strikeouts and two walks.
Regan Green picked up her first save of the season, closing out the final frame to give the Lady Bears the win.
A quiet start at the plate for the Lady Bears was aided by late-inning heroics from Shelby Friudenberg, with the senior slugger leading off the top of the ninth with a solo home run to left center, giving BU the 1-0 lead on a drive off the first pitch she saw.
From there, the Lady Bears held off a late push from the Cougars, advancing two into scoring position with two outs before a fly out to center ended the ballgame.
Another slow start in game two allowed Houston to jump out to an early lead, scoring two in the second and two in the fourth to get out to a 4-0 advantage.
Running out of time in the top of the sixth, Jessie Scroggins got a late rally going for the Lady Bears, legging out a single to lead off the inning.
Kyla Walker followed up with another infield single, setting up for an RBI single for Friudenberg to put the Lady Bears on a board.
Carlee Wallace and Nicky Dawson followed up with back-to-back RBI singles, bringing the Lady Bears back to within one, trailing 4-3.
BU had a shot in the top of the seventh, advancing Madi O’Neal to second on a leadoff single, but she was left stranded on three-straight ground outs to cut the comeback bid short.
