Baylor Softball Bows Out of the NCAA Super Regional with 5-3 Loss Against No. 4 Florida

Sun May 26 17:14:47 CDT 2024

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – May 26, 2024
Baylor Softball Bows Out of the NCAA Super Regional with 5-3 Loss Against No. 4 Florida
For more information contact: Katy Gilmore, 254-252-2182, katy_gilmore at baylor.edu<mailto:katy_gilmore at baylor.edu>

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Baylor softball pushed No. 4 Florida to the brink in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the Super Regionals, but ultimately fell 5-3 to the Gators on Sunday at Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla.

THE RUNDOWN
Baylor fell behind early as UF put up two runs in each of the first two innings and took a 4-0 lead into the third.

Shaylon Govan singled in the first inning and Abi Flores drew a walk in the second to account for the Bears’ only baserunners through two complete.

Presleigh Pilon singled in the top of the third inning before Aliyah Binford and the Baylor defense worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half of the inning to keep the Gators off the board.

Binford got the Baylor offense going in the in the top of the fourth when she led off with a single down the left-field line and advanced to second on an error. Sydney Collazos then singled off the wall in left field to score Binford from second, putting the Bears on the board at 4-1.

After retiring the Gators in order in the bottom of the fourth, Taylor Strain got the Bears going again in the fifth with a leadoff single to put a runner on for Emily Hott. The fifth-year senior then launched her 11th homer of the season over the wall in left field to make it a 4-3 ballgame.

The Gators answered with another run off of a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, though Baylor was able to limit the damage to just one across.

Ana Watson singled in the top of the sixth before another three-up, three-down inning by the Baylor defense, sending the Bears to the plate in the seventh trailing by two runs.

Strain singled to the shortstop to start the inning and Hott walked to put two on with no one out. However, the Bears weren’t able to capitalize after two pop-ups sandwiched Govan’s deep line drive that was caught at the warning track.

HIGHLIGHTS

  *   The Bears totaled eight hits off the bats of seven different players
  *   Taylor Strain had the only multi-hit performance of the day
  *   Emily Hott notched her 11th home run of the season
  *   RyLee Crandall finished the season with a 17-9 record
  *   Aliyah Binford capped off the season with 154 strikeouts
  *   Baylor secured its first NCAA Super Regional appearance since 2017
  *   BU finished the season with a 36-22 record

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Glenn Moore
On the sting of this loss and appreciating what the team accomplished…
“Well, the sting is going to be there for a while because it mattered. If you walk away from here without it hurting, then you’re probably not here to start with if it doesn’t matter very much. So, it’s going to hurt for a while. We already realize what they’ve done. Hardly anybody gave us a chance to win a game in this (Super Regional). And here we are, with one swing of the bat away from heading to Oklahoma City in the last inning, if we could get them out after that. And that was indicative of our whole season. I’ve appreciated what these seniors, and not just our seniors but the upperclassmen leadership have done this entire year. We went through some rocky times, it’s no secret. We some players; we’ve got a real good arm on the bench the whole year. And they kept fighting in spite of that. And could have cashed in and thrown in the towel at any time, and they chose to make the most of it and get ourselves to the NCAAs and then they’re on the brink of the big show.”

Senior Emily Hott
On the team’s resilience…
“I’ll just say one thing is we’re going to have each other’s backs. We have a great program at Baylor, we have all the support you could imagine. We know we’re going to back each other up on that through everything. We’re playing for each other. We’re not playing for ourselves, we’re playing for something greater. We’re playing for the Lord every time we go out there (starting to tear up). You see that in the fight, when the team goes out there, if one girl makes a play, we’re all out there jumping around like you would think we were the ones who just caught that. So, just having that fight and backing up every single girl on that team. I’ve never played for a team that loves each other as much as we do. There’s no bickering. We’re sisters, but we’re like the sisters that never fight, almost. Sydney’s over here, goofing up the whole game and keeping things light. It’s just great to be a part of a team like that. That’s what you see on the field is the fight because we trust every single one of those girls on there. There was no doubt in my mind until that ball was caught that we were going to make it through.”

Senior Sydney Collazos
On working out of jams and minimizing damage…
“Yeah, we were just trying to take everything pitch by pitch, playing every inning like it was a 0-0 ballgame, so every run mattered. I think making it something smaller than it is helped us stay collected and get out of those jams. Aliyah [Binford] and RyLee [Crandall] are both incredible pitchers. They bring an energy to the field that even when they’re down and getting hit hard, we know they’re going to get us out of it. So, just that belief and our trust in our pitchers and our defense, too.”

-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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