No. 14 Baylor Softball Takes Down No. 7 Oklahoma State, 2-0

Sat Mar 9 18:01:53 CST 2024

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 9, 2024
No. 14 Baylor Softball Takes Down No. 7 Oklahoma State, 2-0
Bears even the series against the Cowgirls
For more information contact: Katy Gilmore, 254-252-2182, katy_gilmore at baylor.edu<mailto:katy_gilmore at baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – No. 14 Baylor Softball evened the series against No. 7 Oklahoma State, defeating the Cowgirls, 2-0, Saturday afternoon at Getterman Stadium.

The Bears have taken down Oklahoma State for the first time since 2019, when BU defeated OSU in Waco, 2-1.

THE RUNDOWN
RyLee Crandall dominated in the circle tonight, only allowing one hit and otherwise pitching a perfect game. The sophomore pitcher effectively retired the Cowgirls in order in six of their seven innings, only allowing a single up the middle in the top of the fifth.

The Bears had their first baserunner of the day in the bottom of the first when Shaylon Govan was walked for the 14th time this season, but the Bears wouldn’t have anyone come around to score.

Baylor threatened again in the second, when Ana Watson led off the inning getting hit by a pitch, followed by Abi Flores being issued a four-pitch walk, but after moving into scoring position on a groundout, the Cowgirls worked out of the threat.

Sydney Collazos was walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth, but Baylor wouldn’t find its first hit of the day until Presleigh Pilon singled up the middle in the bottom of the fifth and stole second to add a little spark to the Baylor offense.

BU started off strong in the bottom of the fifth when Govan drew a leadoff walk and pinch-runner Caroline Rowatt moved to third on a bad-hop single to shortstop off the bat of Watson. With runners on the corners, Watson stole second before Flores reached on a fielder’s choice which allowed the runner to slide into home safely. With one run across and a runner on third, a sacrifice fly from Kaci West plated the Bears’ second run and gave BU the 2-0 advantage.

Doing what they did all game, the Baylor defense was on-lock in the bottom of the seventh, forcing three straight groundouts to secure the series-tying victory.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   RyLee Crandall one-hit the Cowgirls, only striking out two in her nearly perfect game
  *   Ana Watson and Presleigh Pilon recorded the Bears’ only two hits
  *   Caroline Rowatt and Watson each recorded a run
  *   The Bears drew four walks on the day
  *   This is the Bears first win over Oklahoma State since March 23, 2019, when the Bears won 2-1 in Waco
  *   Watson and Pilon each recorded a stolen base
  *   The Bears and Cowgirls evened the series at 1-1

QUOTABLE
Ana Watson on winning today…
“It feels amazing. It feels like all our hard work is starting to show. Every moment that we have we’re taking advantage of it. So, we have to keep pushing forward.”

RyLee Crandall on the team support …
“Our whole staff really supports each other. When Aliyah (Binford) goes in, we’re all behind her. When I go in, they’re all behind me. It makes it so much easier when you have a defense. We just put in the work and God’s got it. He blesses us with the talent to do it.”

Head Coach Glenn Moore on the game …
“Took advantage of the opportunities. And I think (in the) last few years we've not done a great job of timely hitting or executing. I was disappointed in our bunting game, that was one of our goals at the beginning of the year, was (to) be a good bunting team and they've worked extra on it, but not enough. We got to get back in there and make sure that's an important part of what we're doing, and we lock into it. It's hard to create a game-like atmosphere in practice, but we have to do it because (we had) three opportunities to move runners and score earlier and we failed on all three of those. So bunting is probably the biggest negative, but the rest of the game I was pretty happy with.”

UP NEXT
The Bears will close out the series against No. 7 Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 10, at 1 p.m. CT at Getterman Stadium.
-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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