Baylor Softball Records Opening Day Sweep of Southern Utah and Weber State

Fri Feb 10 19:16:44 CST 2023

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Feb. 10, 2023

Baylor Softball Records Opening Day Sweep of Southern Utah and Weber State
Bears combine for eight doubles on the day
For more information contact: Katy Gilmore; 254-252-2182, katy_gilmore at baylor.edu<mailto:katy_gilmore at baylor.edu>

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Baylor softball picks up an opening day sweep over Southern Utah and Weber State. The Bears defeated SUU, 12-2, in game one and WSU, 8-4, in game two at the UNLV Rebel Kickoff in Las Vegas, Nev.

THE RUNDOWN

Game 1: Baylor 12, Southern Utah 2

Baylor got things started early in game one after Presleigh Pilon singled in her first at-bat as a Bear, followed by a walk from Emily Hott and a double from Shaylon Govan that scored Pilon.

Govan’s double was the first of six Baylor doubles during the game, all by different Bears.

Starting pitcher, Dariana Orme only allowed one base runner in each of the first two innings.

BU exploded with five runs in the third inning off of timely hits and a home run from Aliyah Binford. Govan got on base first in the inning after a single to right field, before Ashlyn Wachtendorf came in to pinch run. After stealing second base and advancing to third on a wild pitch, Ana Watson singled and brought home Wachtendorf before advancing to second on a second wild pitch. Binford homered to center field, and two more hits from Sydney Collazos and Amber Toven drew home the last two runs of the inning.

Southern Utah got a run across in the bottom of the third but that was all before a pop-up, line-out and fly-out ended the inning.

The Bears added to their lead in the fourth inning, after Josie Bower doubled and scored Watson, making it a 7-1 game.

After Southern Utah scored their second run in the fifth inning, Baylor answered with another five spot in the sixth inning. BU’s runs were scored on a single from Bower, a wild pitch, a single from Toven and a double from Emily Hott.

Baylor’s two five run innings sealed the win for them in the season-opening game against Southern Utah.

Game 2: Baylor 8, Weber State 4

The Bears fell behind early in game two after Weber State put up three runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a few wild pitches and a home run.

Cutting into the deficit in the second inning was Watson, who singled to lead off before advancing on a passed ball and scoring when Zadie LaValley reached on an error by the second baseman.

After no damage was done by the Wildcats in the second, Baylor took the 4-3 lead in the third.

Drawing a leadoff walk, Wilson then stole second before back-to-back walks from Pilon and Hott loaded the bases. Govan followed up with a sacrifice fly to right field before Watson singled up the middle to knot the game at 3-3. A wild pitch brought Hott home for the go-ahead run.

Baylor scored again on a bases-loaded walk in the fourth, followed by scoreless frames on both sides in the fifth.

Weber State pulled within one run in the fifth, but the Bears answered with two runs of their own in the next inning.

BU added its eighth run in the seventh inning off an RBI groundout, securing the 8-4 win after retiring the Wildcats in order to close out the game.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   The Bears recorded eight doubles in both games
  *   Amber Toven, who was 5-for-7 on the day, had three doubles
  *   Ana Watson went 3-for-4 in game two, with two runs scores and two RBIs
  *   The Bears 19 hits in game one was one shy of last season’s game high
  *   Four pitchers saw the circle, Dariana Orme, Kaci West, Aliyah Binford and RyLee Crandall
  *   Four of Baylor’s five transfers saw playing time in game one
  *   Three Baylor freshman saw playing time in game one
  *   20 of Baylor’s 22 players saw playing time in either game
  *   Aliyah Binford recorded her 16th career home run
  *   The Bears combined for 30 total hits

STAT OF THE GAME

6 – Baylor recorded six doubles in a game for the first time since March 3, 2014 vs. Iowa State

QUOTABLE – Head Coach Glenn Moore

“Opening day is always exciting. We played very well in many areas but certainly not flawless. Playing back-to-back games came be grueling but the adrenaline kept us locked in. Offense and defense were both solid and we got the right number of pitches in for each pitcher. We had a good first day.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears are back in action tomorrow at the Rebel Kickoff, facing Southern Utah at 4 p.m. CT and tournament host UNLV at 9 p.m. CT.

- 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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