Feb. 17, 2006
Box Score
HOUSTON, Texas --- The No. 15 Baylor softball team split a pair of games at the Houston Hobby Invitational, defeating Sam Houston State 9-0 in five innings before falling to Houston 4-2 in the second game. With the split, Baylor moves to 3-3 on the season.
In game one against Sam Houston State, Baylor jumped out to an early 4-0 lead as the Lady Bears posted four runs in the first inning. With two outs, five consecutive batters reached base for Baylor as Brette Reagan delivered a two-run double, scoring Tessa Lynam and Chelsi Lake, while Kylie Conroy followed with a two-run double of her own, scoring Ashley Monceaux and Reagan, to give the Lady Bears the early four-run lead.
In the second, Baylor extended the lead to five when Lynam hit a two-out single to right field to score Harmony Schwethelm from second as the Lady Bears grabbed a 5-0 advantage.
Baylor's hot hitting continued in the bottom of the third as the Lady Bears plated three runs to extend the lead to eight. Lauren Parker delivered a double to score Monceaux as Miriam Romero followed with a run-scoring single to give Baylor a 7-0 lead. Parker closed out the scoring in the inning when she scored on an errant throw by the Bearkats catcher, giving Baylor an insurmountable eight-run lead.
Reagan out the finishing touches on the victory as she delivered a run scoring single, her third RBI of the game, scoring Lynam as Baylor had a nine-run lead heading into the fifth.
Ferguson retired the side in order in the fifth, allowing only one hit while striking out eight as the right-hander recorded her second consecutive shutout on the season. The one-hitter was the first for Baylor since Feb. 19, 2005, when Cristin Vitek allowed only one hit in a victory over Minnesota.
Reagan led the Lady Bears attack, going 3-for-3 with two runs and three RBI while Lynam added three hits, two runs and a RBI in the win.
In game two against Houston the Lady Bears grabbed another early lead, this time on Kelly Osburn's solo home run to lead off the game, the second lead-off home run for Osburn this season, as Baylor went up 1-0.
The run scored by Osburn pushed her career total to 129 as the senior surpassed Michelle Sorrels (128, 1996-99) for Baylor's career lead in the category.
After Baylor was held scoreless the next two innings, Houston rallied for a run in the bottom of the third to tie the game when Jessica Valis scored on a wild pitch with two outs.
The Cougars then grabbed the lead in the fifth when four straight batters walked with one out as Houston grabbed a one run cushion.
Baylor rallied to tie the game in the sixth; however, as Osburn scored her second run of the game on a wild pitch by Candi Kloecker with two outs to make the score 2-2.
Houston managed to take the lead for good in the bottom of the inning when Elaina Nordstrom delivered a two-run, two-out single to make the score 4-2.
Baylor was unable to rally in the seventh as Kloecker picked up the win after allowing two runs on four hits while earning the complete game victory. With the bases loaded and one out, Crystal Briscoe came into the game for Houston and recorded the final two outs to pick up the save.
Ferguson came into the game in relief and took the loss for Baylor after allowing one earned run and two hits over 1.1 innings of work as she fell to 2-1 on the season.
Baylor will continue action at the tournament on Saturday, Feb. 18, when the Lady Bears face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 9:00 a.m. before meeting Samford at 11:00 a.m.
