Baylor Softball Set to Open Season at Rebel Kickoff

Wed Feb 8 23:42:39 CST 2023

Baylor Softball Set to Open Season at Rebel Kickoff
Bears are set to play five games at the UNLV Tournament in Las Vegas
For more information contact: Katy Gilmore, 254-252-2182, katy_gilmore at baylor.edu<mailto:katy_gilmore at baylor.edu>

Media link for the 2023 Baylor Softball Season: https://baylorbea.rs/BaylorSB23

BAYLOR (0-0) at REBEL KICKOFF

Friday, Feb. 10 • vs. Southern Utah • Las Vegas, Nev. | Eller Media Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: YouTube Live

Friday, Feb. 10 • vs. Weber State • Las Vegas, Nev. | Eller Media Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: YouTube Live

Saturday, Feb. 11 • vs. Southern Utah • Las Vegas, Nev. | Eller Media Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: YouTube Live

Saturday, Feb. 11 • at UNLV • Las Vegas, Nev. | Eller Media Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: YouTube Live

Sunday, Feb. 12 • vs. No. 7 Arkansas • Las Vegas, Nev. | Eller Media Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: YouTube Live

Story lines

• Baylor Softball is finally ready to start its season in Las Vegas, Nev., at the Rebel Kickoff. The 2023 season will feature a 55-game slate which consists of five tournaments and 28 home games. Friday will mark the fifth consecutive season the Bears have begun their season on the road, where they hold a 3-1 record in those season opening games.

• When the season kicks off on Friday, the team comes back to the diamond young but experienced. After ending the 2022 campaign as champions at the National Invitational Softball Championship and going 4-0 during the tournament, the Bears were able to get four extra games and 10 extra practice days in. With the goal to make it back to the NCAA tournament this season, BU was grateful to end last year with a win.

• This Baylor team is still young with 14 of the 22 players on the roster being classified as under classman.

• This weekend the Bears have faced all four opponents they will take on at least once in Baylor history. Baylor has the advantage or is tied in each of the all-time records over the teams this weekend. Baylor is 3-2 all-time over Arkansas, 1-1 against Southern Utah, 3-0 against UNLV and 1-0 against Weber State.

• The Bears most recently faced off against UNLV, defeating them in the championship game of the post season NISC tournament. Baylor defeated the Rebels 4-0 only allowing two hits in the matchup, as Aliyah Binford threw seven scoreless innings, striking out nine batters.

• The Bears faced then-ranked No. 25 Arkansas to open the 2021 season, where they handed the Bears a 7-2 loss at the Cowgirl Classic in Lake Charles, La.

• Baylor is one of five Big 12 schools to face a Preseason Top-25 team during opening weekend and is one of two Big 12 schools facing a Top-10 team during the same time.

• The Bears are returning to Las Vegas for a tournament for the first time since the 2014 season. The Bears went 4-1 in the Sportco Kickoff Classic that year and defeated Arkansas in the tournament that year 5-0. BU’s only loss that weekend was to then-ranked No. 3 Washington. The Bears went on that season to the WCWS semifinals.

• With a career record of 977-467, head coach Glenn Moore is looking for his 1,000th career win this season and is only 23 wins away

   from hitting the milestone.

• McKenzie Wilson who led the Bears from the batter’s box last year, was the only Bear named to the Big 12 Preseason Team.
• Baylor is returning 13 from last season, and all of them were letterwinners for the Bears. They are also returning all three All-Big 12
selections from 2022, McKenzie Wilson (first team), Aliyah Binford (second team) and Dariana Orme (second team) and two who were placed on the All-Freshman team, Taylor Strain and Kaci West.

QUICK HITS

• Baylor will face six ESPN Preseason Top-25 teams this year, with four in the Preseason Top-10; Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arkansas and Texas. BU will play 14 total games this season against preseason top-25 teams. Baylor was receiving votes in the ESPN Preseason poll.

• Baylor welcomes back 13 returners from last year, with four freshman and five transfers.

• BU was picked 4th in the Big-12 Preseason coaches’ poll. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas had the top three spots.

• Every Baylor Softball game this season will be broadcast on the radio on 101.3 FM. Dan Ingham, in his eighth season as the voice of Baylor Softball, will call every game.

• Twenty-one of the Bears home games will be aired on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

MOORE ERA HIGHLIGHTS

• Glenn Moore is now 838-425 while coaching at Baylor and stands as the active wins leader across all sports for Baylor athletics. His .663 winning percentage is best in BU history and he’s the program’s all-time wins leader.

• Moore is searching for his 1,000th career win this season and is only 23 wins away from that landmark.

• Moore recorded his 900th win overall with a 10-2 (5) victory over Grand Canyon in Waco (2/14/20).

• Moore’s 800th career win came with a 9-3 win over McNeese State in Waco (2/22/18).

• Moore notched his 700th win at Baylor in the final game of the Tucson Super Regional, punching Baylor’s ticket into the Women’s College World Series (5/28/17).

• All but one of his 100-win milestones have come at Baylor, with his first 100th game coming during his tenure at LSU with a 6-5 win over Auburn (3/17/00).

• In Moore’s 22 seasons as Baylor head coach, BU has cracked the Top 25 polls in all but one season.

• In 2021, Moore reached 800 wins at Baylor as he led the Bears back to the postseason

  at the Gainesville Regional.

• Moore has coached 86 of Baylor’s 91 All-Big 12 selections and 12 of Baylor’s 13 All-Americans.

• Baylor has had 9 players drafted into the National Professional Fastpitch (NPF) draft.

• Baylor has placed at least six selections to the conference’s academic honors for 14 straight seasons and five or more for 19 straight years.

• Moore has a career record of 977-467 over 26 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

MEET THE (RETURNING) TEAM

• With 13 returners, you will see some familiar faces on the diamond this year as 2022 letterwinners Aliyah Binford, Josie Bower, Sydney Collazos, Emily Hott, Zadie LaValley, Emry McDonough, Dariana Orme, Caroline Rowatt, Taylor Strain, Ashlyn Wachtendorf, Ana Watson, Kaci West and McKenzie Wilson all came back.

• Of the returners, Wilson returns with the highest batting average with .424 last season, while also recording a team high in runs with 53 with 70 hits and 5 triples. She is also notched her name at the top of the Baylor record books with her .534 individual season on base percentage.

• Binford also made an impact last season as a two-way player for the Bears. She led the team in doubles with 15 and homeruns with five. She also pitched a team leading 156 strikeouts, setting a new career-high of 11 twice last season.

• Also back, is Orme who led the team in the circle with 144.2 innings pitched, games started (28), and complete games (8).

MEET THE (TRANSFER) TEAM

• BU picked up four transfers this season that will add power and dominance to the field and lineup. The Bears three Division I transfers include Amber Toven (Arizona), Presleigh Pilon (LSU) and Shaylon Govan (SFA). They also added Shannon Vivoda and Ava Knoll.

• Toven, brings experience from last year’s Women’s College World Series, as she scores Arizona’s first run of the WCWS. She appeared in 47 games and started seven at shortstop.

• Pilon, redshirted her freshman season in 2021 with LSU before appearing in nine games last season and made four starts at second base.

• Govan, comes to Baylor from SFA where she was the conference hitter of the year in 2021 and was a NFCA All-Region First Team selection in the same year. A power hitter, the sophomore had seven homeruns last season before an injury benched her after 13 starts.

• Knoll, spent her freshman season at Iowa Western CC where she appeared in 37 games and finished the season with a 19-9 record in the circle.

• Vivoda, came from Pima CC where she played in 41 games, batting 336 with nine home runs and 28 RBIs. She also scored 32 runs and produced nine doubles during her freshman campaign.

MEET THE (FRESHMAN) TEAM

• Baylor added four freshmen to their roster this season, RyLee Crandall, Abbie Flores, Jensen Vienne and Ellington Whitaker.

• Crandall comes to the Bears from New Mexico, while the remaining three all hail from Texas.

PRIVate schools in the wcws

• Baylor’s four appearances in the Women’s College World Series places the Bears tied for third all-time among private schools.

• The Bears are one of two private schools to make the WCWS since 2008, doing so three times over that period (2011, 2014, 2017).

• Since 2000, Baylor leads all private schools with four appearances, with the next closest school being Northwestern and DePaul with three each.

- BaylorBears.com -

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__________________________________

Katy Gilmore | Associate Director of Athletic Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
O: 254-710-2743 | C: 254-252-2182

[cidimage002.png at 01D79F3C.9D2300D0]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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