Feb. 28, 2004

Box Score

Waco, Texas-The Baylor Lady Bears made it seven wins in row with three wins today at the Compass Bank Invitational, including a 5-1 win over No. 11 Tennessee, to win their third consecutive Compass Bank tournament championship.

Baylor capitalized on several Tennessee errors en route to the 5-1 victory. With the win, the Lady Bears became the first team to beat Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott, who entered the contest with a record of 17-0.

For the game Abbott allowed five runs, all unearned, on hour hits while striking out nine.

The Lady Bears opened the game up in the third inning, scoring three runs to grab an early 3-0 lead. With Kelly Levesque on second and Amber Daniel on first, the crucial moment in the game came when Harmony Schwethelm came to the plate.

Schwethelm hit a slow ground ball up the third base line and was fielded by Tennessee's Kristi Durant. As Schwethelm ran to first, Durant rushed the throw as it sailed over the head of first baseman Angela Brewer. The errant throw allowed Levesque and Daniel to score easily to give Baylor a 2-0 lead.

Schwethelm made it 3-0 Baylor when she scored on a passed ball on the next pitch.

It was all Baylor needed, as single runs in the fourth and fifth put away the 11th-ranked Lady Vols.

Cristin Vitek (9-2) got the complete game win, as she allowed only one run on four hits, while striking out four. The win marked her third on the weekend and her second consecutive over a ranked opponent.

The Lady Bears have now won three straight over ranked opponents, with two victories coming against Tennessee and one against No. 20 Cal State Fullerton.

Levesque led the way for the Lady Bears, as she went one for three on the game with two runs.

Baylor made it to the championship game with a 3-2 victory over Lipscomb in the first semi-final of the day.

The Bison forced the Lady Bears to come-from-behind after grabbing a 2-0 lead with two runs in the second inning. After loading the bases, back-to-back RBI singles from Alysha Forsythe and Megan Olsen gave Lipscomb a two-run lead.

Baylor rallied in the bottom of the third behind a key clutch hit from freshman Chelsi Lake. With runners at second and third and two outs, Lake drove the ball up the middle to score April Luce and Kelly Osburn to tie the score at 2-2.

The Lady Bears took the lead for good in the fourth inning, as Schwethelm singled deep into the hole at shortstop that allowed Kim Wilmoth to come on home and give Baylor a 3-2 lead.

Freshman pitcher Lisa Ferguson came into close the door for the Lady Bears, pitching three innings of relief to record her third save of the season.

Lipscomb threatened in the seventh, putting runners at first and third with only one out. However, Ferguson managed to get out of the jam when Lauren Parker hit into a double play. After grounding out to the third baseman, Lake threw behind the runner at third as Stephanie Pomes applied the tag to end the scoring threat.

Vitek (8-2) picked up her eighth win of the season, allowing one earned run and five hits in four innings of work.

Schwethelm continued her hot hitting for the Lady Bears, going two for two in the game with a RBI. Kelly Levesque also added two hits for Baylor.

In Baylor's opening game of the day, the Lady Bears coasted to a 2-0 victory behind another solid pitching effort from Ferguson.

Ferguson (5-1) tossed her fourth complete-game of the season, allowing only two hits and no walks on the way to recording her second shutout of the year.

Baylor got all the scoring it needed with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth, Leerberg tripled to left field, easily scoring Luce from first to take a 1-0 lead.

The Lady Bears added an insurance run in the fifth, as Daniel crossed the plate when Schwethelm hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field.

Leerberg led the Lady Bear attack at the plate, going a perfect three for three in the game with a RBI.

The Lady Bears had five selections on the all-tournament team, as Leerberg, Osburn, Schwethelm , Ferguson and Vitek were all honored for their performances on the weekend.

Tennessee had four selections to the squad, as Abbott, Ashley Cline, Amber Rhinehart and Angela Brewer were honored.

Louisiana Tech's Marla Pinkston and Amber Miles rounded out the squad.

Baylor will return to action on Tuesday, March 2, when the Lady Bears will take on Texas-Arlington in a game rescheduled from earlier in the year. Action will begin at 6:00 p.m.