April 10, 2005
Box Score
WACO, Texas --- Chelsi Lake's 13th home run of the season proved to be a memorable one as she hit a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the tenth inning to give the No. 8 Baylor softball team a 6-3 win over No. 25 Nebraska in action at Getterman Stadium. With the win, Baylor improves to 37-6 on the season, 5-3 in the Big 12 Conference as Nebraska falls to 24-14, 2-5 in conference play.
Baylor had to rally on three separate occasions during the contest as Nebraska grabbed three one-run leads during the game. The Huskers got on the board first with a run in the fifth inning as Sheena Lawrick doubled home Jessica Yoachim to give Nebraska the 1-0 lead.
The Lady Bears managed a run in the bottom of the sixth, however, to tie the score with a two-out rally. After Lake drew a walk, Kelly Osburn smashed a single to left field that rolled through Carmen Kier's legs, allowing Lake to score from first to tie the game.
After neither team was able to score in the seventh, Nebraska grabbed a 2-1 lead with a run in the top of the eighth when Lawrick led off the inning with a towering shot over the right field wall, her sixth home run of the season.
Trailing by one and down to their final out, Baylor used another key two-out hit to tie the score. With runners on first and second, Osburn smashed a double to left-center field, scoring Katie Ottens from second as the Lady Bears tied the game at 2-2.
Following a scoreless ninth, the international tiebreaker rule took effect with the start of the 10th inning as Nebraska grabbed another one-run lead when Lawrick led off the inning with a single, scoring Yoachim from second to give the Huskers a 3-2 lead.
Baylor managed one more rally, however, scoring four runs in the bottom of the inning to win the game. With a runner on second, Katie Ottens led off the inning with a bunt single, advancing Harmony Schwethelm to third as Ottens also took second base on the play. With no outs and the winning run in scoring position, the Huskers walked Tessa Lynam, setting up Lake's heroics.
On the first pitch from Nebraska starter Ashley DeBuhr, Lake blasted a towering home run over the right-center field wall, snapping the Lady Bears seven-game losing streak against the Huskers with the walk-off grand slam.
The blast was the 13th of the season for Lake, tied for the conference lead, and pushed her season RBI total to 50.
Lake's grand slam made a winner out of Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson as she improved to 14-1 on the season after allowing only two earned runs on 10 hits in the complete game victory.
DeBuhr suffered the loss for Nebraska as she fell to 14-12 on the season after allowing six runs on seven hits in nine-plus innings of work.
Osburn had three hits in the contest to lead the Lady Bears attack as Schwethelm also added two hits in the victory.
The walk-off home run victory was the second of the season for the Lady Bears as Lynam hit a three-run walk-off home run for Baylor in a 6-5 win over Louisiana-Monroe on Feb. 25.
Baylor will return to action on Wednesday, April 13, when the Lady Bears travel to Austin, Texas, to take on No. 4 Texas at 6:30 p.m.
