No. 23/24 Baylor softball (7-3) split the final day of the 2017 Getterman Classic, clinching the tournament title with a walk-off, 7-6 win over UTSA (2-5).
After dropping a 3-2 decision with North Texas (4-5) in the first game of BU’s doubleheader, the Lady Bears rebounded to take a wild win in the afternoon’s 2.5-hour game.
In the UTSA game, Gia Rodoni took the start, going 4.2 innings and allowing five earned runs, while striking out five. Shelby McGlaun (1-1) picked up her first collegiate win in the circle, working the final 2.1 innings, blanking UTSA and allowing zero hits with a strikeout.
Facing the Roadrunners, sloppy BU defense in the top half of the opening frame allowed UTSA to take advantage of three BU errors, taking an early 3-0 lead.
The Lady Bears responded, drilling three-straight singles from Jessie Scroggins, Kyla Walker, and McGlaun to load the bases.
Shelby Friudenberg drove in the first run, taking a full count walk to bring up Ari Hawkins.
After a fielding error by the UTSA third baseman, Hawkins reached safely, with McGlaun and Walker both scoring to square the game back at 3-3.
UTSA took the lead back in the top of the third, notching a solo home run to left field, pushing the Roadrunners ahead, 4-3.
BU nearly broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth, with a grand slam by McGlaun overturned in favor of a foul ball, with Baylor unable to convert the scoring opportunity into runs.
In the top of the fifth, the Lady Bears found themselves in a bases loaded jam with one out. In a wild sequence, an infield fly was hit to Lindsey Cargill at third base, but the ball was jostled loose in a collision with the UTSA base runner.
With no audible call of the infield fly, the runners advanced, with an assumed 5-2-5 double play by BU, which would have ended the inning, being overruled.
The Roadrunners plated one run in the chaos, following up with a single to score a second, pushing the UTSA lead to 6-3.
In the home half of the sixth, BU clawed its way back in, with Cargill drilling a ball into the right field grass, advancing to second on a passed ball and third on a fly out.
Taylor Ellis laid down a bunt single, advancing to second with aggressive base running to keep two in scoring position.
A double from Scroggins scored both Cargill and Ellis, bringing BU back to within one.
Walker capped off a seven-hit day at the plate, legging out an infield single and scoring Scroggins on the throw.
In the bottom of the seventh, a bunt single from Hawkins led off the frame, with a stolen base putting a runner in scoring position with no outs.
After Maddison Kettler was hit by a pitch, Cargill pulled out the late-game magic once again, drilling a single into centerfield, scoring Hawkins to clinch the walk-off win.
In the early game with North Texas, a quick start for the Mean Green plated two runs on three hits in the opening frame, snagging the quick 2-0 lead.
BU took a run back after Friudenberg drove in Scroggins on an infield ground out, keeping the score at 2-1.
The Lady Bears evened the slate late in the sixth frame, with an RBI single for Kettler scoring Riley Browder from second, forcing the game into extras.
In the top of the eighth, a sac bunt and single put NT in front, 3-2, with BU unable to answer in the home half of the frame, handing Baylor its only loss of the weekend.
Kelsee Selman (4-2) went the full distance for the Lady Bears, working a solid 8.0 innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs, while fanning nine of the Mean Green batters.
HIGHLIGHTS
Kelsee Selman, Kyla Walker, Jessie Scroggins, and Lindsey Cargill were named to the 10-member All-Tournament team, joined by GCU’s Taylor Nowlin and Shea Smith, NT’s Kellis Schkade and Lacy Gregory, Lamar’s Anissa Rodriguez, and UTSA’s Rylee Rodriguez.
Baylor claimed its 11th Getterman Classic title in the tournament’s 16 years, improving to 70-12 all-time against the field.
Kyla Walker posted a .688 average in the five tournament games, going 11-for-16 at the plate with three runs, two RBI, a double, and a triple.
Jessie Scroggins led all hitters with 7 runs scored, adding two RBI and two doubles over the weekend.
Kelsee Selman made four appearances in the circle for the Lady Bears, posting a 0.76 ERA and a 3-1 record with 18.1 innings pitched and 22 strikeouts.
Lindsey Cargill played lockdown defense in the hot corner, driving in the winning run vs. UTSA to clinch the tourney title.
TOP QUOTES
“We knew we would go through some growing pains early this season. We certainly did this weekend, but this team showed something, being able to go 4-1 with a tournament championship. We’ve got a bitter taste in our mouth that we didn’t finish the way we wanted to and play as well today, but I think we experienced some of those growing pains. I think we’ll grow up from it a little bit – I hope we do – but I know we certainly have a lot of work to do. We’ve got a good team coming in on Wednesday [McNeese State]. So we’ve got to take a day off and then regroup on Tuesday and address some of those concerns.” – Baylor head coach Glenn Moore
“We knew we could beat this team. We just had to get the timely hits together. We’re really tight-knit, so we knew when we started to get the hits rolling. We have the confidence in each other to know that we can do it when we need to.” – Baylor outfielder Kyla Walker
“It was crazy. You can blame it on this, you can blame it on that. But we have to step up, and we have to play each and every inning. We have to fight through those adversities, and that’s what we did.” – Baylor third baseman Lindsey Cargill
WHAT’S NEXT
The Lady Bears host McNeese State in a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday, Feb. 22, starting at 4 p.m.
