No. 21/22 Baylor softball will host its eighth Baylor Invitational this weekend, Feb. 22-24.
• The tournament field features the Lady Bears along with North Texas, Louisiana and Kent State.
• All Baylor games will be streamed via Facebook Live (@BaylorSoftball) this weekend.
• The Baylor Invitational began in 1981 and has been played since then in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 2015 and 2017. The Lady Bears are 29-12 all-time in the tournament.
• In 1996 Baylor hosted the Baylor Spring Invitational (2-0 against Mary Hardin-Baylor and Tarleton State) and the Baylor Tournament (2-0 against Texas Lutheran and Houston Baptist.)
• North Texas was part of the first Baylor Invitational and has participated in four overall including the 2019 tournament.
• Baylor's record is 40-26 all-time against the Baylor Invitational field.
• Baylor faced two ranked opponents in the opening weekend for the first time since the 2010 season.
• Last weekend, the Lady Bears finished third in the Getterman Classic as they beat Southern Mississippi, 4-3 on Sunday.
• Madison Lindsey [baylorbears.com] went 3-0 last week in the circle with a 0.00 ERA while Taylor Ellis [baylorbears.com] and Lou Gilbert [baylorbears.com] batted over .500 for the week. Ellis scored five runs, while Gilbert had three RBIs and went 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts.
• Taylor Ellis [baylorbears.com], Lou Gilbert [baylorbears.com] and Kassidy Krupit[baylorbears.com] were named to the Getterman Classic All-Tournament team.
• Baylor returns 13 letterwinners and seven position player starters from the 2018 squad that advanced to the program's eighth consecutive NCAA Regional.
• The Lady Bears add two transfers and a strong eight-member signing class to the 2019 roster.
• The Lady Bears have the fourth-longest tenured coaching staff in the country in head coach Glenn Moore [baylorbears.com], associate head coach Mark Lumley[baylorbears.com]and assistant coach Britni Sneed Newman.
• Baylor is 5-0 when the opponent scores two runs or less in 2019.
• Freshman Kassidy Krupit [baylorbears.com] hit the team's first home run of the season against Liberty in the top of the seventh inning on Feb. 10, helping the Lady Bears top the Flames, 6-1, in Mexico. She's hit two more (at UTSA, UTA).
QUICK HITS
• Baylor has five games on its schedule against teams ranked in the preseason Coaches Top 10 and 16 games vs. the Coaches Top 25.
• Baylor is 1-1 against ranked opponents in 2019, going 4-8 against ranked foes last season.
• Baylor will play 24 games against 12 programs that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Regionals, including WCWS participants Washington and Oklahoma.
• Baylor is 6-1 when scoring first in 2019.
• Baylor is 270-99 over the last 7 seasons, averaging over 38 wins per season since 2013.
• BU was picked 3rd in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll behind Oklahoma and Texas.
LADY BEARS AGAINST BAYLOR INVITATIONAL OPPONENTS
• Baylor is a combined 18-12 against North Texas, Louisiana and Kent State since 2011.
• The last loss to any team in this weekend's field was Feb. 19, 2017, when North Texas topped Baylor in the Getterman Classic, 3-2, in eight innings.
• Baylor topped Louisiana in the 2018 Judi Garman Classic, 1-0. Gia Rodoni[baylorbears.com] pitched a complete game shutout as none of Lousiana's eight hits went for extra bases.
• Goose McGlaun's [baylorbears.com] home run in the top of the first, her third homer of the weekend, proved to be the game winner.
• Baylor's only matchup against Kent State came in the 2017 NCAA Waco Regional when Gia Rodoni [baylorbears.com] recorded her first career no-hitter against the Golden Flashes and the program's first in an NCAA tournament game.
• Kyla Walker [baylorbears.com] scored the winning run for Baylor in the fifth inning when she scored from third base - after lacing a two-out triple to right-center field - when Kent State's second baseman's throw to third bounced into the BU dugout.
