Feb. 6, 2004
Box Score
WACO, Texas - Baylor softball combined speed with power for a pair of victories here Friday in first-day action of the third-annual Getterman Classic. The Lady Bears defeated Northwestern State 5-1 in their season opener and then downed Wichita State 8-4.
Against Wichita State, Baylor (2-0) tallied 11 stolen bases, shattering the previous school and Big 12 single-game record of eight set by Baylor last season against Louisiana Tech. That total ties for 10th in NCAA history and is the most in a Division I collegiate game since 2001. Kelly Osburn had three of the steals, April Luce had two, and Kim Wilmoth, Stephanie Pomes, Kelly Levesque, Danelle Arnold, Harmony Schwethelm and Melissa Maler had one each.
Carrie Leerberg got Baylor on the board first against Northwestern State (0-2), clearing the bases with a two-out triple in the bottom of the second. The Lady Bears added a run in the third on Luce's first career home run, and Baylor tacked on an unearned run in the fourth.
Meanwhile Cristin Vitek (1-0) cruised, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts for the complete-game victory. Vitek carried a one-hit shutout into the seventh, but back-to-back two-out doubles put the Demons on the board.
Wichita State (0-1) took advantage of a catcher's interference and a Baylor throwing error to plate two runs in the top of the first. The Lady Bears answered in the bottom of the inning, though, scoring when Levesque was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and when Chelsi Lake walked with the sacks full.
Baylor captured the lead for good in the third with four runs on four hits and a Shocker error. Lake and Osburn both had RBI singles in the inning. Levesque added a sacrifice fly in the fourth, pushing Baylor's lead to 7-2, and Arnold added an RBI single in the sixth.
Wichita State cut the lead in half in the top of the seventh, thanks to a lead off single by Tawnya Guthrie followed by a home run to center by Miranda Feldman.
Lisa Ferguson (1-0) tossed 6.0-plus innings for the Lady Bears, earning the victory in her collegiate debut. The freshman right-hander was touched for four runs, three earned, on five hits with three walks and seven strikeouts. Vitek pitched the final inning, but did not qualify for a save.
Osburn went 4-for-4 against Wichita State, the first four-hit game of her career and the 18th in Baylor history. Arnold and Maler had two hits each against the Shockers.
In other first-day action of the Getterman Classic, Auburn (4-0) defeated Northwestern State 2-0 and North Texas (0-2) 7-2. Pacific (1-0) topped North Texas 10-2 in five innings in Pacific's only game of the day. The game between Wichita State and Pacific was postponed until 11 a.m. Sunday, pushing the Wichita State-Northwestern State game back to 1 p.m. and the Baylor-North Texas game back to 3 p.m.
