April 22, 2005
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#8 BAYLOR (41-8, 8-5) vs. #17 MISSOURI (32-8, 6-5)
April 23, 2005, 2:00 p.m. - Getterman Stadium - Waco, Texas
April 24, 2005, 1:00 p.m. - Getterman Stadium - Waco, Texas
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. Missouri: Missouri leads 17-9
Waco, Texas: Missouri leads 9-5
Columbia, Mo.: Missouri leads 5-3
Neutral: Missouri leads 3-1
Streak: Missouri won 2
Last Meeting: Missouri 4, Baylor 3 (4/18/2004)
LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: None
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Television: None
No. 8 Baylor (40-8) closes out its home portion of the regular season schedule when the Lady Bears host No. 17 Missouri (32-8, 6-5) in a key, two-game Big 12 Conference series beginning on Saturday, April 23, at 2:00 p.m. The two-game series marks the final regular season contests for six Baylor seniors: Melissa Huffhines, Carrie Leerberg, April Luce, Stephanie Pomes, Cristin Vitek and Kim Wilmoth.
The series with the Tigers is a battle for fourth-place in the Big 12 Conference as Baylor currently stands one game ahead of Missouri in the standings. Last season, Missouri swept a pair of games from Baylor in Columbia, Mo., as the Tigers own a 17-9 advantage in the series.
Missouri owns a 5-3 edge in games plays at Getterman Stadium as the Tigers are the last team to sweep the Lady Bears in a two-game series at home when MU won of pair of games at Baylor the weekend of April 18, 2003.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
No. 17 Missouri currently stands at 32-8 on the season, 6-5 in the conference, and is one game behind Baylor for fourth-place in the conference heading into the weekend series with the Lady Bears.
At the plate, the Tigers are led by Micaela Minner, who has posted an impressive average of .418 on the season and leads the team with 13 home runs and 44 RBI. Heather Kunkel has also had a strong year at the plate for the Tigers as the senior ranks second on the team with 12 home runs and 42 RBI while hitting .367 on the season.
In the circle, Missouri is led by Erica Peterson. The sophomore hurler has posted a record of 15-2 on the season and leads the team with a 1.01 ERA. In 111.1 innings of work, Peterson has struck out 114 batters and has held opponents to an average of .161 against her. Erin Kalka will also likely see time for the Tigers in the circle. Currently 4-4 on the season, Kalka leads the team with 10 appearances in conference games and tossed a one-hit shutout against the Lady Bears in a 1-0 win over Baylor last season.
QUICK NOTES
• Baylor remained No. 8 in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25. The Lady Bears are No. 12 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25.
• Baylor is 111-3 over the past four seasons when scoring at least four runs.
• Baylor is 92-8 over the past four seasons when collecting at least eight hits.
• Baylor is 136-12 over the past four seasons when out-hitting its opponent.
• Baylor is 89-23 over the past three seasons at Getterman Stadium, including a 27-4 mark at home last season.
• With its opening win of the season over Louisiana-Monroe, Baylor earned its 100th victory at Getterman Stadium. Baylor is now 119-42 all-time in games played at Getterman Stadium.
• Baylor's Chelsi Lake has established new school single-season home run and RBI marks this season. Currently, she has 14 home runs and 55 RBI this season.
• Baylor players earned the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week honor for three consecutive weeks to start the season (Chelsi Lake, Kim Wilmoth and Tessa Lynam).
• Baylor has established a new school records with 42 home runs and 309 runs scored this season.
Emily Gipe ADDED TO BAYLOR ROSTER
Emily Gipe, a senior sports sponsorship and sales major from Waco, Texas, is a late addition to the 2005 Baylor softball roster as the infielder joins the team to serve primarily as a pinch-runner in late-game situations. The senior will provide immediate help on the base-paths for the Lady Bears as she has been clocked in a time of 2.69 seconds from third-to-home, one of the fastest times on the team.
The 5-8 senior joins the Lady Bears after serving as a student intern in the Baylor Athletics marketing office for the past season. During her time as a student intern, her primary duty was to help with the marketing efforts for the Baylor softball team.
Gipe graduated in 2001 from Midway High School where she lettered in basketball for four seasons and helped lead the team to the regional semifinals her junior and senior seasons. While in high school, Gipe played for the junior varsity softball team her freshman and sophomore seasons and played summer softball with the Waco Stars, coached by her father, Jamie Gipe.
LAKE SETS PAIR OF SINGLE SEASON RECORDS
In a year that has seen a number of single season team and individual batting records fall, sophomore Chelsi Lake has provided the biggest spark for the Lady Bears at the plate. Heading into this week's action, Lake ranks near the top in three key categories as she ranks third on the Lady Bears with a .378 batting average and ranks first with 14 home runs and 55 RBI.
The designated player's 14 home runs and 55 RBI have already established new single season records at Baylor, surpassing the 11 home runs hit by Bri Chambliss in 1997 and 40 RBI by Kristin Barton in 1996.
BAYLOR PASSES HOME RUN AND RUNS MILESTONES
Forty-nine games into the 2005 season, this year's version of the Lady Bears have already established new school records for most home runs and runs scored in a season. Through 49 games this season, Baylor has blasted 42 home runs, surpassing the 27 home runs hit by the 2002 squad as the most in a single season. Chelsi Lake leads the team and is second in the conference lead with 14 home runs on the season with Stephanie Pomes second on the team with 12 home runs. Currently, Baylor is fourth in the conference in the category.
This year's version of the Lady Bears have also established a new single-season runs scored record as well. Through 49 games, Baylor has scored 309 runs, an average of 6.32 runs per game, surpassing the 1996 squad (249 runs) for the most runs in a single-season in school history.
OSBURN SETS CAREER HOME RUN MARK
While the team shattered the school single-season home run record, Kelly Osburn established a new Baylor career home run mark with the 21st home run of her career in the 18-3 win over Oklahoma Christian. On a 1-2 pitch from Lindsey Lawson to lead-off the second inning, Osburn drove the ball over the left field wall for her fifth homer run of the season and 21st of her career, surpassing Ryan Stukel, who hit 20 from 2000-03, for most career home runs.
OSBURN ALSO ESTABLISHES RUNS SCORED RECORD
With a run scored in Baylor's 2-0 win over No. 4 Texas on March 30, Kelly Osburn pushed her team-leading runs scored total to 42, establishing a new single-season school record in the category. Osburn's total, which has now reached 52 runs, eclipses the previous record of 41 runs, held by Sheeley Green, who established the mark during the 1996 season. In two-plus seasons as a Lady Bear, Osburn has scored 117 runs, 11 runs shy of the Baylor career mark of 128 held by Michelle Sorrels.
FERGUSON ONE SHY FROM CAREER SAVE MARK
After tossing 1.2 innings of relief in Baylor's 10-2 victory over Massachusetts at the Speedline Classic, Lisa Ferguson earned her second save of the season and 10th of her career, moving her into a tie for the Baylor career mark.
Former Baylor pitcher Joni Miller established the standard with 10 saves from 2000-2003. Ferguson is on pace to shatter the school record after finishing second in the NCAA with eight saves her freshman season.
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 746 strikeouts and is now only 54 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 FOURTH IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
Returning seven starters and two pitchers, the Baylor softball team has been tabbed to finish fourth in the Big 12 Conference.
Texas is the Big 12 softball coaches' preseason favorite to win the league title this season. The Longhorns, with 77 points, received six of the possible 10 first-place votes to edge out Oklahoma, which tallied four first-place votes and 75 points. Texas A&M (61 pts.) ranked third followed by Baylor (fourth - 58 pts.), Nebraska (fifth - 48 pts.), Missouri (sixth - 43 pts.), Oklahoma State (seventh - 32 pts.), Kansas (eighth - 24 pts.), Texas Tech (ninth - 20 pts.) and Iowa State (10th -12 pts).
It is the highest Baylor has been picked in the preseason poll since 2002, when the Lady Bears were picked to finish fourth in the conference. The fourth-place preseason selection ties the 2002 squad for the highest predicted league finish in school history.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
The Lady Bears entered the season ranked in both of the national polls and have climbed into the top 10 for the first time in school history as Baylor is currently No. 8 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25 and No. 9 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25.
After going 2-1 this past week, including a weekend sweep at Kansas, the Baylor softball team remained at No. 8 in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.
The Michigan Wolverines sit atop this week's poll at No. 1 with 18-of-20 first-place votes.
Baylor is one of six Big 12 Conference teams in this week's rankings, and one of four in the top eight, as Texas (No. 4), Texas A&M (No. 5), Oklahoma (No. 6), Missouri (No. 19) and Nebraska (No. 24) join Baylor in this week's poll.
Baylor's No. 12 ranking in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 marks the second consecutive week the Lady Bears have not been ranked in the top ten in the poll.
Michigan, with 22 first-place votes, is ranked No. 1 in the poll released by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Oklahoma (No. 5), Texas (No. 6), Texas A&M (No. 3) and Missouri (No. 17) join the Lady Bears in this week's rankings.
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 (5th, 626)
RUNS: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 117); Kim Wilmoth (5th, 101); Harmony Schwethelm (6th, 94)
HITS: Kim Wilmoth (4th, 195); Harmony Schwethelm (5th, 164); Carrie Leerberg (9th, 145)
MULTIPLE-HIT GAMES: Kim Wilmoth (3rd, 55); Harmony Schwethelm (5th, 47)
DOUBLES: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 31); Stephanie Pomes (8th, 23)
TRIPLES: Carrie Leerberg (1st, 9); Kim Wilmoth (t-2nd, 8); Kelly Osburn (t-4th, 7)
HOME RUNS: Kelly Osburn (1st, 21); Stephanie Pomes (t-2nd, 20); Chelsi Lake (t-4th, 15)
TOTAL BASES: Kelly Osburn (3rd, 261); Kim Wilmoth (5th, 233)
WALKS: Kelly Osburn (1st, 76)
HIT BY PITCH: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 16); Kim Wilmoth (t-9th, 8) Carrie Leerberg (t-6th, 9)
SACRIFICE FLIES: Stephanie Pomes (1st, 7); Kelly Osburn (t-7th; 3) SACRIFICE HITS: Kim Wilmoth (9th, 21); Harmony Schwethelm (7th, 23)
STOLEN BASES: Kim Wilmoth (1st, 88); Harmony Schwethelm (2nd, 72); Carrie Leerberg (3rd, 66); Kelly Osburn (4th, 63)
STOLEN BASE ATTEMPTS: Kim Wilmoth (1st, 112); Harmony Schwethelm (2nd, 85); Carrie Leerberg (3rd, 77); Kelly Osburn (4th, 75)
PITCHING RECORDS
APPEARANCES: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 157); Lisa Ferguson (5th, 70)
GAMES STARTED: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 105); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 46)
RELIEF APPEARANCES: Cristin Vitek (1st, 52); Lisa Ferguson (t-5th, 24)
WINS: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 72); Lisa Ferguson (4th, 31)
LOSSES: Cristin Vitek (t-3rd, 36); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 10)
DECISIONS: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 108); Lisa Ferguson (5th, 41)
COMPLETE GAMES: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 46); Lisa Ferguson (5th, 19)
SHUTOUTS: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 18); Lisa Ferguson (4th, 10)
SAVES: Cristin Vitek (3rd, 9); Lisa Ferguson (t-1st, 10); Tessa Lynam (6th, 3); Nicole Jackson (t-8th, 1)
INNINGS PITCHED: Cristin Vitek (2nd, 715.2); Lisa Ferguson (5th, 307.0)
STRIKEOUTS: Cristin Vitek (1st, 746); Lisa Ferguson (6th, 201); Tessa Lynam (8th, 70)
GETTERMAN STADIUM KIND TO LADY BEARS
With a win over Louisiana-Monroe to open the season, Baylor claimed its 100th win at Getterman Stadium as the Lady Bears now own a 119-42 career mark on their home field, opened in 1999. The Lady Bears had their best year ever at Getterman Stadium last season as Baylor went 27-4 at home on the year.
Baylor went undefeated in conference play at home last season as the Lady Bears swept season series with Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas Tech and Iowa State. Prior to the NCAA Softball Championships the Lady Bears were 27-2 at Getterman Stadium on the year.
Baylor has lost less than 10 games at home four of the five years the stadium has been open and has never posted a losing record in a season at home.
Arizona's 1-0 win over Baylor at the Compass Bank Invitational was the first loss for Baylor at home since a 3-2 setback to Oklahoma Christian on April 1, 2004, a span of 15 games.
UP NEXT...
Baylor will return to action on Wednesday, April 27, when the Lady Bears travel to Denton, Texas, to face North Texas at 6:00 p.m.
