Baylor SB Battles, but Comes up Short in Battle with No. 13 Arizona

[Roberts, Matt]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – March 28, 2026

Baylor SB Battles, but Comes up Short Against No. 13 Arizona
BU matches a season high with three homeruns on Saturday
For more information, contact: Matt Roberts, 254-227-2280, WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu<mailto:WM_Roberts at Baylor.edu>

TUCSON, Arizona – Baylor softball battled all day, before ultimately falling to No. 13 Arizona 11-7 on Saturday afternoon at Hillenbrand Stadium.

Saddled with an eight-run first inning, the Bears were fighting an up-hill climb all day, but were unrelenting, responding to each Arizona outburst. Ultimately the hole was too deep as the Wildcats clinched the series in Tucson with a second-straight win in the series.

RUNDOWN

Arizona struck quickly in the opening inning, plating eight runs on six hits to take an early 8-0 lead.



Baylor responded emphatically in the second when Leah Cran jumpstarted the rally with a solo home run before the Bears capitalized on traffic on the bases. Karynton Dawson and Brooklyn Carter each delivered RBI doubles, and Faith Piper capped the inning with her career-first homerun, a two-run shot to cut the deficit to 8-5 and swing momentum back toward the Bears.

The Wildcats added three runs in the third, including a two-run home run from Addison Duke, to push the lead to 11–5.

Baylor continued to chip away. In the fourth, Sa’Mya Jones sparked the inning with a leadoff single and later scored on an RBI base hit from Amber Toven to make it 11-6.

Cran delivered again in the fifth, launching her second home run of the game to bring Baylor within four at 11-7. The Bears threatened to close the gap further, but Arizona’s pitching staff was able to limit additional damage over the final two innings.



GAME NOTES

  *   Baylor is now 9-18 all-time against Arizona
  *   The Bears are now 7-5 in the last 12 games against the Wildcats
  *   Baylor tied a season high with three homeruns on Saturday
  *   BU is 3-4 this season in the white tops and white bottoms
  *   The Bears used a 32nd-different lineup combination this season
  *   The 18 combined runs for the Bears and the Wildcats marked Baylor’s highest-scoring game of the season and its highest-scoring game since The Bears and Houston Cougars combined for 20 in April of last season
  *   The Bears’ seven runs scored are its most runs against a top-15 team since scoring nine against No. 5 Texas on May 5, 2023
  *   BU’s nine hits were its most in a losing-effort so far this season
  *   Leah Cran hit two homeruns on Saturday, joining Amber Toven and Kaygen Marshall as the only Bears to homer twice in the same game this season
  *   Cran now has five multi-RBI games this season and eight for her career
  *   Faith Piper hit her career-first homerun on Saturday and now has hits in three of her last four games
  *   Piper carded her sixth multi-RBI game and the eighth of her career
  *   Toven reached base for a 13th-straight game, matching the longest streak of her career
  *   Karynton Dawson is just the fourth different leadoff hitter for Baylor this season
  *   Dawson tallied her team-leading 14th extra-base hit
  *
Lexie Warncke went 5.2 innings, her second-longest outing of the season


WHAT’S NEXT

The Bears will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT, looking to salvage the series against the No. 13 Wildcats.

All games for the remainder of the season will be televised on ESPN+<https://www.espn.com/search/_/q/baylor/o/watch> and heard on air and online via 101.3 COOL FM.<https://listen.streamon.fm/kbhthd2>

Follow @BaylorSoftball on X, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates.

—BaylorBears.com—

Matt Roberts | Director of Athletic Communications
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-227-2280
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