LAFAYETTE, La. – The Baylor University softball team got a combined shutout in the circle from Kendall Potts and Heather Stearns on the way to a 2-0 win over Mississippi State to avoid elimination Sunday. The Bears will face Louisiana-Lafayette at 6 p.m. on ESPN2, and if the Bears win, they'll play again 30 minutes after on ESPNU.
Baylor (40-16) put up a run apiece in the first and second innings on RBI singles from Sarah Smith and Lindsey Cargill, and it would prove to be all the Bears would need to eliminate the Bulldogs (36-21) to stay alive at the NCAA Lafayette Regional.
The freshman Potts, improved to 8-3 on the season by pitching 5.2 innings, she allowed five hits, walked two and struck out five. More importantly, she spelled Stearns who Baylor will count on in one if not both of BU's games with the Ragin' Cajuns in the regional finals. Stearns did record the final four outs of the game vs. MSU to pick up her fifth save of the season; she struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Sarah Smith drove in her 13th career postseason RBI to tie for third all-time on Baylor's career list for postseason RBI with Ashley Monceaux.
• Lindsey Cargill finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, and she leads Baylor's team with four postseason hits in three games. For Cargill, it was her 19th multiple-hit game of the season and second in the tournament.
• Kendall Potts picked up her first postseason win in her first postseason start; she improved to 8-3 on the season.
• Heather Stearns picked up her first career postseason save, and her eighth career save. She tied Stacy Allison (8, 1996-99) for fifth all-time on the BU career saves list.
• Since 2004, the season Baylor first went to the NCAA Tournament, the Bears are 24-16 (.600) vs. SEC opponents and 8-6 vs. SEC opponents in the postseason.
• Baylor last beat Louisiana May 17, 2009 6-1 in the NCAA Tournament; the Bears beat the Ragin' Cajuns in back-to-back games in that regional, hosted in Waco. Since then UL-Lafayette has taken six straight from Baylor, and all those meetings have come in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
STAT OF THE GAME I
5 – In 21 postseason at bats in 2015, Baylor has only failed to have a player reach base in five of those innings.
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor has reached the NCAA Lafayette Regional final, and must defeat the hosts, Louisiana-Lafayette in back-to-back contests Sunday night to advance to the program's sixth NCAA Super Regional.
