Softball Faces No. 1 Arizona in Three-Game Series

Softball 3/9/2006 12:00:00 AM

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#18 BAYLOR (18-6) TRAVELS TO #1 ARIZONA (20-1)
MARCH 10-12, 2006
HILLENBRAND STADIUM
TUCSON, ARIZ.

THE SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, MARCH 10
Baylor at Arizona, 8:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 11
Baylor at Arizona, 8:00 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 12
Baylor at Arizona, 1:00 p.m.

THE SERIES
ARIZONA LEADS 5-0
Waco: Arizona leads 1-0
Tucson, Ariz.: Arizona leads 1-0
Neutral: Arizona leads 3-0
Since 1996: Arizona leads 4-0
Current Streak: Arizona won 5
Baylor W-L Last 10: 0-5

LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: None
Live Audio: None
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Television: None

Winners of 10-of-11, the No. 18 Baylor softball team travels to face its toughest test of the season as the Lady Bears open a three-game series against No. 1 Arizona on Friday, March 10, at 8:00 p.m. The series continues with a game on Saturday, March 11, at 8:00 p.m. as the series concludes with a single contest on Sunday, March 12, at 1:00 p.m. Baylor enters the series with an 18-6 record after sweeping a pair of games from Houston on Wednesday. The Lady Bears are led in the circle by junior pitcher Lisa Ferguson, who leads the team with a 9-2 record and 1.15 ERA on the season. Ferguson has tossed four shutouts this season as the right-hander has struck out 63 batters in 67 innings of work. At the plate, the Lady Bears head into the key three-game series led by freshman third baseman Brette Reagan. Reagan leads the team with a .470 batting average and .545 on-base percentage and is tied for the team lead with junior Chelsi Lake with five home runs and 24 RBI.

The match-up with the Wildcats will mark only the second time in school history Baylor has met the nation's top-ranked team. In Baylor's only other meeting with a No. 1 team, the top-ranked Wildcats defeated the Lady Bears 1-0 at the 2005 Compass Bank Invitational. Arizona owns a 5-0 edge in the all-time series as Baylor is 0-1 in games played against the Wildcats in Tucson.

QUICK NOTES
• Baylor is No. 18 in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and No. 18 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25.

• Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 31st consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 30th consecutive week the team has appeared in the USA Softball Top 25.

• Baylor is 132-5 over the past five seasons when scoring at least four runs.

• Baylor is 110-13 over the past four seasons when collecting at least eight hits.

• Baylor is 157-16 over the past five seasons when out-hitting its opponent.

• Baylor is 61-13 over the past two seasons at Getterman Stadium, including a 23-6 mark at home last season.

LADY BEARS TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CLUTCH HITTING
Off to an 18-6 start on the season, the Baylor softball team has taken advantage of clutch hitting in key situation as high percentage of the Lady Bears' runs have come with two outs in the inning. Of the130 runs scored by Baylor so far this season, 59 (45 percent) have come on two-out RBI hits.

Freshman Brette Reagan and junior Chelsi Lake lead the team with 14 RBI with two outs as the tandem is currently leading a Baylor team that is hitting .309 (63-of-204) on the year with two outs while opponents are only hitting .212 (41-of-193) in the same situation.

SCOUTING ARIZONA (20-1)
Top-ranked Arizona enters the weekend series with an impressive 20-1 record with the Wildcats only loss coming at the hands of No. 2 Texas, 1-0. The Wildcats pose a duel threat in the circle as the combination of Alicia Hollowell and Taryne Mowatt have allowed only seven runs all year as Arizona is out-scoring its opponents 136-7 on the season.

So far this year, Hollowell has posted an unblemished, 11-0 record with a 0.21 ERA while Mowatt is 9-1 on the season with a 0.56 ERA.

The Wildcats are just as formidable at the plate with Caitlin Lowe leading the way with a .493 batting average on the season. Chelsie Mesa provides the pop in the Arizona line-up as she is tied for the team lead with four home runs and leads the squad with 18 RBI.

Harmony Schwethelm REACHES 200 CAREER HITS
With four hits in the double-header sweep of Texas State, Baylor outfielder Harmony Schwethelm became only the fifth player in school history to reach the 200-hit plateau for her career. In the pair of wins over Texas State, Schwethelm has pushed her career total to 211 as she collected the milestone base hit with a single in the fifth inning in Baylor's 9-1 win over the Bobcats in game one.

Schwethelm ranks fourth on Baylor's career hits list and is now 37 hits shy of breaking the Baylor career record of 247 held by Naomi Fitzgerald (1998-2001).

Senior Kelly Osburn is also closing in on the 200-hit mark as the outfielder is only 13 hits shy of the milestone.

SCHWETHELM BREAKS CAREER STOLEN BASE RECORD
With a steal of second in the 6-5 win over No. 13 Washington, Harmony Schwethelm became Baylor's career stolen base leader, surpassing Kim Wilmoth (91, 2002-05) with 92 in her career. For her career, Schwethelm now has 93 stolen bases in 108 attempts as the senior closes in on 100 stolen bases for her career.

Schwethelm, who has only been caught stealing 15 times in her career, has a stolen base percentage of .861 to rank second on the Baylor career charts.

Chelsi Lake BREAKS RBI CAREER MILESTONE
With an RBI single to make the score 6-4 against No. 13 Washington, junior Chelsi Lake recorded the 102nd of her career as she became Baylor's career leader in the category, surpassing Sarah Caudle who drove in 101 runs from 2000-2003.

Earlier in the year, Lake became only the second player in school history to pass the career 100-RBI club as the junior will shatter the previous career record. Heading into this weekend, Lake has recorded 106 RBI during her two-plus year career.

Senior Kelly Osburn is also close to the RBI century mark as the senior has drove in 82 runs during her career and is 18 RBI shy from the milestone.

BAYLOR SOFTBALL IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
After going 7-1 last week with a doubleheader sweep of Texas State and going 5-1 at the Compass Bank Invitational, the Lady Bears are ranked No. 18 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll released Tuesday. In addition, Baylor earned a No. 18 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25.

Baylor is one of five Big 12 Conference school ranked in the current polls as Texas (No. 3 ESPN.com/No. 2 USA Today), Texas A&M (No. 19, No. 20), Oklahoma (No. 14, No. 14) and Nebraska (No. 17, No. 15) join Baylor in the rankings.

Arizona, with a 20-1 record, claimed the top spot in both polls this week.

Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 30th consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 30th consecutive week the team has appeared in the USA Softball Top 25. The last time Baylor failed to appear in either poll was March 16, 2004.

BAYLOR LADY BEARS IN THE CAREER CHARTS
Several Lady Bears are aiming to continue making their way up the career charts in 2006. Below is a list of Lady Bears who currently rank in the top ten in one of the career categories:

BATTING RECORDS
RUNS: Kelly Osburn (1st, 137); Harmony Schwethelm (3rd, 120)
HITS: Harmony Schwethelm (4th, 211); Kelly Osburn 6th, 187)
MULTIPLE-HIT GAMES: Harmony Schwethelm (2nd, 61); Kelly Osburn (6th, 44)
DOUBLES: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 37); Chelsi Lake (t-5th, 27); Tessa Lynam (t-9th, 24)
TRIPLES: Harmony Schwethelm (t-2nd, 8); Kelly Osburn (t-4th, 7); Chelsi Lake (t-10th, 4)
HOME RUNS: Kelly Osburn (1st, 27); Chelsi Lake (3rd, 21); Tessa Lynam (5th, 18)
RBI: Chelsi Lake (1st, 106); Kelly Osburn (5th, 82); Tessa Lynam (8th, 70)
TOTAL BASES: Kelly Osburn (1st, 319); Harmony Schwethelm (6th, 246); Chelsi Lake (7th, 225)
WALKS: Kelly Osburn (1st, 92)
HIT BY PITCH: Kelly Osburn (2nd, 20); Kylie Conroy (t-7th, 9)
SACRIFICE FLIES: Kelly Osburn (t-7th; 3); Chelsi Lake (t-7th, 3); Tessa Lynam (t-7th, 3)
SACRIFICE HITS: Harmony Schwethelm (6th, 25)
STOLEN BASES: Harmony Schwethelm (1st, 93); Kelly Osburn (3rd, 70)
STOLEN BASE ATTEMPTS: Harmony Schwethelm (2nd, 108); Kelly Osburn (3rd, 86)

PITCHING RECORDS
APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 100); Tessa Lynam (8th, 38); Nicole Jackson (10th, 24)
GAMES STARTED: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 62); Tessa Lynam (8th, 14)
RELIEF APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (t-3rd, 37); Tessa Lynam (7th, 24); Nicole Jackson (t-8th, 23)
WINS: Lisa Ferguson (4th, 45); Tessa Lynam (8th, 15)
LOSSES: Lisa Ferguson (6th, 16); Tessa Lynam (t-9th, 4)
DECISIONS: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 61); Tessa Lynam (8th, 19)
COMPLETE GAMES: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 28); Tessa Lynam (10th, 4)
SHUTOUTS: Lisa Ferguson (4th, 15); Tessa Lynam (t-9th, 1)
SAVES: Lisa Ferguson (1st, 13); Tessa Lynam (t-5th, 4); Nicole Jackson (t-8th, 1); Sarah Hausner (t-8th, 1)
INNINGS PITCHED: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 424.0); Tessa Lynam (8th, 111.1) STRIKEOUTS: Lisa Ferguson (4th, 309); Tessa Lynam (8th, 99)

Kelly Osburn BREAKS PAIR OF CAREER RECORDS
With her solo home run to lead-off the game against Houston, Baylor senior Kelly Osburn pushed her career runs scored total to 129, breaking Michelle Sorrels (1996-99) career record of 128 runs scored. In three-plus seasons as a Lady Bear, Osburn has now scored 137 runs.

The record is just one of several where Osburn will hold the career lead once her career is over. Already Baylor's career leader in home runs (27), walks (92), runs scored (137) and total bases (319), the senior ranks second in doubles (37) and fourth in triples (7).

With a strong showing this week, Osburn could become Baylor's career leader in doubles as the senior left-fielder is currently one double shy of Caudle (38) for the career lead in the category.

UP NEXT...
Baylor continues its five-game road swing when the Lady Bears travel to Tempe, Ariz., to face No. 10 Arizona State in a doubleheader beginning at 4:00 p.m.

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