April 8, 2004
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Baylor will look to end a two-game losing skid when the Lady Bears host Texas Tech in a Big 12 showdown at Getterman Stadium. Game one with the Red Raiders is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Friday, April 9, with the series finale scheduled for 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 10.
Following Saturday's game, children 14 and under attending the contest will have the opportunity to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt at Getterman Stadium. Members of the Baylor softball team will hide several hundred eggs just outside Getterman Stadium following the contest for kids attending the game to find.
After a pair of shutouts at the hand of No. 21 Nebraska, Baylor enters the contest with a record of 35-9 overall and currently stand in second place in the Big 12 Conference with a record of 5-2. The Lady Bears hold a 23-7 series lead against the Red Raiders, however, split the season series with Texas Tech last year. Baylor holds an 8-4 series lead over Texas Tech in Waco.
Following a sweep at the hands of the Kansas Jayhawks, Texas Tech enters the contest with a record of 19-22 overall and is currently standing in seventh place in the Big 12 with a record of 1-3 in the conference.
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. Texas Tech: Baylor leads 23-7
Waco, Texas: Baylor leads 8-4
Lubbock, Texas: Baylor leads 7-2
Neutral: Baylor leads 8-1
Streak: Texas Tech won 1
Last Meeting: Texas Tech 1, Baylor 0 (4/8/2003)
HEAD COACH Glenn Moore
Glenn Moore is in his fourth season as Baylor's head coach, coming to Waco after a stellar three-year stint at Louisiana State.
In his first season at Baylor, Moore led the Lady Bears to a 38-22 overall record and a sixth-place, 7-9 mark in the Big 12 Conference. The following season, he guided the Lady Bears to even greater successes with more than 50 team and individual, single-game and single-season school records. Baylor finished 46-18 overall and 10-8 in the Big 12 Conference, establishing school marks for victories in a season, conference victories in a season and highest conference finish (fourth).
Moore led Baylor to a third straight 30-win season in 2003, and the Lady Bears cracked the NFCA Top 25 for the third consecutive year. During the 2003 season, Moore claimed his 100th victory as Baylor's head coach with the Lady Bears 3-0 triumph against Texas Tech. He is now 150-78 (.626) in three-plus seasons at Baylor.
Moore has a career record of 289-120 (.694); he posted a 22-17 mark in his first year as a collegiate head coach at William Carey in Mississippi. Moore is 267-101 (.713) at the Division I level.
SCOUTING TEXAS TECH
Texas Tech enters the showdown with the Lady Bears with a record of 19-22 after a pair of conference losses to the Kansas Jayhawks last weekend. The Red Raiders trail the all-time series with the Lady Bears 23-7 and are 4-8 all-time while playing at Baylor.
The Red Raiders are led at the plate by Elyssa Sigala. So far this season, Sigala leads the team with a .381 batting average and has driven in 26 run. She currently ranks second in the Big 12 Conference with a .714 slugging percentage and also ranks third in the conference with eight home runs on the year.
Texas Tech also features Kelly Rhyne, who is second on the team with a batting average of .354. Rhyne has also scored 17 runs for the Red Raiders while hitting two home runs and six doubles on the season.
Erin Crawford leads the attack on the mound for Texas Tech. She currently leads the team this year with an ERA of 2.00 and has compiled a record of 9-7 on the season. In 98.0 innings of work, Crawford has struck out 84 batters and has held opponents to an average of .230. Throughout the year, Texas Tech has seen four pitchers see regular time on the mound. Julie Hauk has seen the most action in the number two spot for the Red Raiders, compiling a record of 2-7 with a 2.18 ERA in 70.2 innings of work.
As a team, Texas Tech ranks sixth in the conference with an average of .259 and is tenth in the Big 12 with a 2.43 team ERA.
LAST TIME: BAYLOR SHUTOUT TWICE BY NEBRASKA
After a 5-0 start to the Big 12 Conference season, the Lady Bears suffered their first conference losses of the season, falling to No. 21 Nebraska in a pair of games in Lincoln, Neb.
In game one against the Huskers, Nebraska scored the only runs in the game with two runs off of Baylor starter Cristin Vitek in the bottom of the first inning. Trisha Tannahill gave Nebraska the lead when she doubled to right field to score Nicole Trimboli from second to give the Huskers a 1-0 lead.
A walk with the bases loaded to Liz Lawhorn brought home the second run as Nebraska went on to claim a 2-0 victory.
The Lady Bears were unable to mount a threat throughout the game, as Nebraska starter Peaches James kept Baylor in check, tossing a complete game shutout while allowing only one hit. Following a walk to Stephanie Pomes, James retired the next 13 Baylor batters to record her 11th shutout of the season.
Kelly Levesque was the only other Baylor batter to reach base as she managed the only hit for the Lady Bears with a bloop single in the second inning.
Vitek fell to 20-4 on the season, allowing two runs on six hits while striking out three Nebraska batters.
The same formula worked for the Huskers in game two as Nebraska got on the board in the first inning to grab an early lead. Trisha Tannahill gave the Huskers a 1-0 lead when her sacrifice fly to left field scored Anne Steffan.
The score remained the same until the fifth inning when Nicole Trimboli hit a two-run homer to straightaway center field off of Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson to give Nebraska a 3-0 lead.
Nebraska's Peaches James (20-5) shut down the Lady Bears the rest of the way, tossing a complete game shutout while striking out 10 Baylor batters for her 20th victory of the season.
Carrie Leerberg and Harmony Schwethelm managed the only hits on the day for the Lady Bears, as the team was shutout in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Ferguson (14-3) took the loss for the Lady Bears and allowed three runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings of work.
VITEK NAMED FINALIST FOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Baylor's Cristin Vitek is one of 25 finalists for the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award the Amateur Softball Association and USA Softball announced today. Vitek's selection marks the first time in school history a Baylor player has been selected as a finalist for the award.
The award, which is considered the Heisman Trophy in women's collegiate softball and is the only national player of the year award, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.
The list will be reduced to ten players on April 28 and three finalists will be announced May 11. The winner of the 2004 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be announced May 26 at the opening ceremonies of the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City, Okla. The winner will be recognized and presented with the Player of the Year trophy during the ASA National Council Meeting in Mobile, Alabama, in November.
So far this season, Vitek has been named Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week three times.
FERGUSON AND VITEK SET PAIR OF MILESTONES
In the first game of a doubleheader against Houston on March 15, 2004, the Lady Bears' Cristin Vitek and Lisa Ferguson set a pair of Baylor softball milestones.
With her strike out of Houston's Kristen Glowacz in the top of the first inning, Vitek became only the second pitcher in school history to record 500 career strikeouts, joining Stacey Allison (610) as the only Lady Bears to accomplish the feat.
Lisa Ferguson then set a record of her own as she retired the Cougars in the final three innings for her sixth save of the season, establishing a new single season save record for the Lady Bears.
She passed Baylor pitcher Joni Miller, who recorded five saves in 2001 and 2002.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
Baylor remains in the national polls after entering the top 25 two weeks ago. The Lady Bears are currently ranked 20th in the latest NFCA poll and 23rd in the ESPN.com/USA Softball rankings. The No. 19 ranking earlier in the season marks the highest ranking for the Lady Bears in school history, surpassing the 2002 version of the Lady Bears, who were ranked as high as 20th during the year.
Baylor began the 2003 season as the second team out of the NFCA Preseason Coaches Poll and eventually cracked the rankings at No. 25 for two weeks in March. The Lady Bears have been ranked nationally during each of the past three seasons.
BAYLOR ESTABLISHES NEW RECORD FOR MOST CONSECUTIVE WINS
Baylor won the opening six games at the Speedline Invitational to stretch the Lady Bears winning streak to 14 games earlier this season before falling to No. 22 USF in the championship game of the tournament. The 14 game winning streak established a new school record for Baylor as the last loss the Lady Bears suffered prior to the USF game was a 9-0 defeat to No. 1 UCLA at the Palm Springs Classic.
The loss to USF also snapped an impressive four-game winning streak against ranked opponents. Along the way, Baylor defeated No. 11 Tennessee twice, No. 20 Cal-State Fullerton and No. 22 Iowa.
Baylor dominated opponents during the winning streak, allowing the opposition to score more than two runs only once while the Lady Bears scored three or more runs nine times. In all, Baylor out-scored the competition 53-13 during the historic win streak.
Cristin Vitek THROWS CONSECUTIVE NO-HITTERS
Cristin Vitek became the first pitcher in Baylor history to throw back-to-back no-hitters after she no-hit Boston and Northern Illinois at the Speedline Invitational in Tampa, Fla. After walking the first batter against Boston, the Katy, Texas, lefty sat down the next 21 batters for her first complete-game no-hitter of her career. She followed with another no-hitter against Northern Illinois, retiring the first 12 batters of the game before walking the first batter of the fifth inning.
During the victory over the Huskies, Vitek struck out 13 batters, tying a career high and ranking third on Baylor's single game strikeout list. Vitek went 4-1 on the week with a save, with her only loss coming at the hands of No. 22 South Florida in the championship game of the Speedline Classic. Before the loss to South Florida, Vitek had won nine straight decisions.
For her performance, Vitek was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher.
LADY BEARS STIR UP DUST ON THE BASE PATHS
Last season, the Lady Bears established a new single-season record for stolen bases with 119. This season, Baylor is on pace to break the mark, as the Lady Bears have swiped 105 bases through the first 44 games of the year.
At the Getterman Classic, Baylor established a new Big 12 Conference record for most steals in a game, with 11 in an 8-4 victory over Wichita State. Kelly Osburn had three, April Luce had two as six others added a steal each. The 11 steals marked the 10th highest total in NCAA history.
Carrie Leerberg currently leads the team in steals with 22 as 13 Lady Bears have stolen at least one base this season.
While Baylor has stolen 105 bases on 123 attempts this season, opponents have been much more timid. So far this season, opponents have only 12 steals on 18 attempts.
FERGUSON THROWS NO-HITTER VERSUS AUBURN
Freshman Lisa Ferguson tossed the seventh no-hitter in Baylor history with her eight-inning, complete game performance against Auburn University.
The Lady Bears won the game with two runs in the top of the eighth inning as Ferguson retired the Tigers in order in the bottom of the inning to record the first no-hitter since Cristin Vitek and Katie Decker combined to shut-down Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 22, 2002.
Kelly Levesque CLIMBING UP CAREER CHARTS
Senior center fielder Kelly Levesque continues her steady climb up the Baylor career charts. Levesque now ranks sixth in Baylor history for career hits (144), seventh in steals (40) and ranks seventh in total bases (195).
Levesque will continue to move-up in almost every major offensive category throughout the season, as she ranks near the top in every category except for sacrifice hits. She is currently Baylor's career leader in the hit by pitch category with 25.
She currently ranks sixth in career doubles (22), third in triples (7) and fifth in sacrifice flies (3). Levesque also ranks fifth in runs scored (85).
UP NEXT...
Baylor will hit the road in Big 12 Conference play when the Lady Bears travel to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M on Wednesday, April 14, before heading to Columbia, Missouri, for a weekend series with the Missouri Tigers.
