Crowne Plaza Classic Up Next for Softball
2/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 17, 2005
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#11 BAYLOR (13-1) at the CROWNE PLAZA CLASSIC
Feb. 18-20, 2005
Cougar Stadium • Houston, Texas
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. Kentucky: Baylor leads 2-0
Baylor vs. Houston: Baylor leads 4-1
Baylor vs. Texas State: Baylor leads 25-12
Baylor vs. Minnesota: Baylor leads 2-1
Baylor vs. North Carolina: Baylor leads 1-0
LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: None
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Television: None
No. 11 Baylor (13-1) returns to action when the Lady Bears travel to Houston, Texas, for the Crowne Plaza Classic this weekend. Baylor will play five games in the round-robin tournament, which begins on Friday, Feb. 18, when Baylor plays Kentucky at 3:00 p.m.
Texas State, Minnesota, North Carolina and the host school, Houston, join Baylor and Kentucky in the tournament, which runs through Sunday, Feb. 20.
The Lady Bears will face Houston at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18, before meeting Texas State and Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 19, and concluding the tournament with a meeting against North Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 20. The match-up with North Carolina marks a rematch of last season's historic NCAA Tournament contest where Baylor's Cristin Vitek established a new NCAA single-game record with 28 strikeouts against the Tar Heels in the Lady Bears' 1-0 win.
Baylor is 34-14 all-time against teams participating in this year's Crowne Plaza Classic.
SCOUTING THE CROWNE PLAZA CLASSIC FIELD
Baylor is 34-14 all-time against teams in the Crowne Plaza Classic field and was 4-1 against teams in the field last season. Baylor has never lost to North Carolina or Kentucky as the Lady Bears own a 1-0 mark against the Tar Heels and won a 2-0 series edge against the Wildcats. Baylor is 2-1 all-time against Minnesota and ha posted an all-tim record of 4-1 against Houston, with the only loss in the series coming last season. Baylor has faced Texas State the most among teams in this year's field as Baylor owns a 25-12 edge in the series
HOUSTON
Leading the Cougars is senior Kim Nesloney who is hitting .368 in 19 at-bats with seven hits, six runs, three RBI, two home runs, and a team-leading six walks. In the circle, freshman Angel Shamblin logged the lone win for Houston, while another freshman, Barbie Love, leads the team in strikeouts with nine in 10.2 innings of work.
Houston (1-6) has had to face a tough schedule early in 2005. Six of the first seven opponents the Cougars have faced were ranked in the top 12 nationally.
KENTUCKY
Kentucky has struggled early in 2005, going 1-9 in the first 10 games; but knocked off DePaul 2-1 to get on the winning track. Pitcher Samantha Allen leads the Wildcats with a 5.21 ERA as the rest of the staff has posted a 5.80 ERA. Over the course of the first ten games, the team has given up 55 runs on 82 hits, translating into nearly 5.5 runs per game.
MINNESOTA
Minnesota is coming off of its second loss of the season and stands at 4-2 on the year. Gopher pitcher Lyn Peyer leads the team with an ERA of 0.42 and has given up only eight hits while logging 25 strikeouts and is 1-1 in 2005. The only run she has given up resulted in a 1-0 loss to Tulsa.
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina comes in as the only undefeated team in the field with a record of 5-0. Infielder Jaclyn Holden leads the Tar Heels as the standout is currently hitting .583 on the season with five doubles and seven hits, seven RBI and four runs scored. Two other players, Erin Dudley and Jessica Young, are hitting above .400 as well.
TEXAS STATE
Since winning their first three games, the Bobcats have gone on a seven-game skid bringing them to 3-7 on the season. Texas State's pitching ace is Katie Ann Trahan, who has logged a 3-5 record with a 3.21 ERA and 75 strikeouts.
800th CAREER STRIKEOUT IN SIGHT FOR VITEK
Senior left-handed pitcher Cristin Vitek continues to climb up the career charts in several categories, including strikeouts where she entered the season as Baylor's career leader with 645. In fact, Vitek has a good shot at becoming Baylor's first-ever 800 strikeout performer as the lefty currently has 671 strikeouts and is now only 129 strikeouts shy of the milestone.
Last season, she became only the second player in school history to record 600 strikeouts in her career when she struck out Tina Boutelle of Texas in the sixth inning at the Big 12 Conference Tournament.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
The Lady Bears enter the season ranked in both of the national polls as Baylor is currently No. 11 in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Poll and has climbed to No. 12 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Preseason Top 25.
After posting a 5-1 record this past week, including a 3-1 record at the prestigious Louisville Slugger Classic, the Baylor softball team climbed three spots to No. 12 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25. The ranking is jump of three spots for the Lady Bears from last week's poll.
The Arizona Wildcats sit atop this week's poll at No. 1 as the Wildcats will visit Getterman Stadium the weekend of Feb. 25 for the fourth-annual Compass Bank Invitational.
Baylor is one of five Big 12 Conference teams in this week's rankings as Texas (No. 3), Oklahoma (No. 13), Nebraska (No. 23) and Texas A&M (No. 21) in this week's poll.
Baylor's No. 11 ranking in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 is the highest ranking for the Lady Bears in school history, surpassing the No. 12 ranking the Lady Bears currently hold in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll.
California, which only lost one player from last year's national runner-up team, is ranked No. 1 in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Top 25 poll released by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Texas (No. 10), Oklahoma (No. 14), Nebraska (No. 19) and Texas A&M (No. 23) join the Lady Bears in the NFCA rankings as Missouri also earned votes in this week's poll.
The USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 poll is voted on by 30 NCAA Division I coaches, representing each conference. The first regular season poll will be released on Wednesday, Feb. 16.
The ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll is voted on by NCAA Division I coaches representing 15 different ASA regions and 11 different collegiate conferences. The poll is also voted on by selected softball media members. First-place votes are in parentheses.
BAYLOR LADY BEARS IN THE CAREER CHARTS
Several Lady Bears are aiming to continue making their way up the career charts in 2005. Below is a list of Lady Bears who currently rank in the top ten in one of the career categories:
BATTING RECORDS
AT-BATS: Kim Wilmoth (10th, 526)
RUNS: Kim Wilmoth (6th, 81)
HITS: Kim Wilmoth (5th, 159)
MULTIPLE-HIT GAMES: Kim Wilmoth (4th, 43); Harmony Schwethelm (10th, 29)
DOUBLES: Kelly Osburn (7th, 22); Stephanie Pomes (10th, 19)
TRIPLES: Carrie Leerberg (t-1st, 8); Kim Wilmoth (3rd, 7); April Luce (10th, 3)
HOME RUNS: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 19); Stephanie Pomes (t-7th, 9)
TOTAL BASES: Kelly Osburn (8th, 197), Kim Wilmoth (9th, 191)
WALKS: Kelly Osburn (3rd, 54)
HIT BY PITCH: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 13), Carrie Leerberg (8th, 8)
SACRIFICE FLIES: April Luce (t-9th, 2); Erin Sheek (t-9th, 2); Kelly Osburn (t-9th; 2)
SACRIFICE HITS: Kim Wilmoth (8th, 19)
STOLEN BASES: Kim Wilmoth (1st, 72); Carrie Leerberg (2nd, 56); Harmony Schwethelm (4th, 51); Kelly Osburn (7th, 42)
STOLEN BASE ATTEMPTS: Kim Wilmoth (1st, 94); Carrie Leerberg (2nd, 67); Harmony Schwethelm (3rd, 62); Kelly Osburn (8th, 52)
PITCHING RECORDS
APPEARANCES: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 139); Lisa Ferguson (7th, 51)
GAMES STARTED: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 93); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 33)
RELIEF APPEARANCES: Cristin Vitek (1st, 46); Lisa Ferguson (8th, 18)
WINS: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 65); Lisa Ferguson (5th, 22)
LOSSES: Cristin Vitek (4th, 33); Lisa Ferguson (7th, 8)
DECISIONS: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 98); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 30)
COMPLETE GAMES: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 42); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 14)
SHUTOUTS: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 16); Lisa Ferguson (4th, 9)
SAVES: Cristin Vitek (t-2nd, 8); Lisa Ferguson (t-2nd, 8); Tessa Lynam (t-6th, 2); Nicole Jackson (t-7th, 1)
INNINGS PITCHED: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 644.1); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 225.0)
STRIKEOUTS: Cristin Vitek (1st, 671); Lisa Ferguson (7th, 133)
UP NEXT...
Baylor will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 23, when the Lady Bears travel to San Marcos, Texas, to face Texas State at 5:00 p.m.
