No. 14/15 Baylor softball (24-4) opened a three-game, weekend series with UCF with a bang, taking a 16-5 win over the Knights (14-11) in five innings at the UCF Softball Complex.
Kelsee Selman (12-2) continued to build on her remarkable senior campaign, picking up the win in the circle with 4.0 innings pitched. The senior allowed just four hits and two runs, both coming in the bottom of the second, while striking out three.
Shelby McGlaun closed out the final inning, allowing three unearned runs and four hits after a two-out error.
The Baylor offense had a breakthrough performance, exploding for 16 runs and 17 hits in the run rule victory for the Lady Bears.
BU struck first in the top of the second, with McGlaun leading off with a double down the left field line. After Riley Browder checked in to run for McGlaun, Lindsey Cargill moved Browder over with a sac bunt.
Selman helped her own cause, roping a single through the left side to score Browder, putting BU up 1-0.
The Knights answered in the home half of the frame, taking two runs on three doubles, working out to a 2-1 lead through two full.
The Lady Bears wasted no time responding, posting eight runs on eight hits in the third to break away with a 9-2 lead.
After a Jessie Scroggins lead-off double and Kyla Walker single, Shelby Friudenberg and McGlaun hit back-to-back RBI singles.
A bunt single by Cargill loaded the bases, with a sac fly by Maddison Kettler and a fielder’s choice RBI by Taylor Ellis driving in two more.
With two on, Sydney Christensen launched a three-run shot over the wall in dead-away center field, emptying the bases.
Caitlin Charlton stepped to the plate and launched a solo shot for back-to-back home runs, putting BU in front, 9-2.
Not letting off the pedal in the top of the fourth, singles from Cargill and Kettler led off the frame, with Ellis walking to load the bases.
BU kept chipping away, getting RBI singles from Christensen, Scroggins, and Walker, adding an RBI walk for Charlton, before the Knights could record an out.
Friudenberg would plate the fifth run with a sac fly, followed by RBI singles from McGlaun and Cargill to give the Lady Bears a 16-2 advantage through four.
In the bottom of the fifth with two outs, a rare infield error by the Lady Bear defense allowed the Knights to piece together a four hit, three unearned run rally, but BU hung on for the 16-5 run-rule victory.
