March 10, 2007

Box Score

WACO, Texas --- Alex Colyer's two-out, solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a 2-2 tie to lift the No. 14 Baylor softball team to a 3-2 victory over No. 2 Arizona in action at Getterman Stadium on Saturday. With the victory, Baylor evened the series with the defending national champion and improved to 23-5 on the season while Arizona fell to 17-4 on the year with the loss.

"We fought extremely hard today and I could not be prouder of the team," head coach Glenn Moore said. "Everybody on the team really wanted this one and it showed. We played well and just found a way to win."

After falling behind early in game one of the series, Baylor was able to take the early lead against Arizona this time around as the Lady Bears jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the second inning. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Courtney Oberg drilled a single up the middle, scoring Miriam Romero from third to give Baylor the first run of the game.

The Lady Bears threatened to extend the lead in the inning; however, Arizona starting pitcher Sarah Akamine got out of the inning without any more damage to keep the Baylor lead to one run.

With Baylor holding a tenuous one-run advantage, the Wildcats quickly responded, scoring two runs in the third to grab a 2-1 lead. Caitlin Lowe drove in Laine Roth while Chelsie Mesa delivered a double off the left field wall to score Lowe from first and give Arizona lead.

Clutch two-out hitting for the Lady Bears would prove to be the difference; however, as Baylor delivered single runs in the fifth and sixth inning to regain the lead.

With two outs and Colyer at third base, senior Chelsi Lake delivered a single off the right field wall allowing Baylor to tie the game.

Colyer would then give Baylor the lead with her fifth home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth to break a 2-2 tie. On a 3-2 pitch from reliever Taryne Mowatt, Colyer roped a line-drive well over the left field wall to give Baylor a 3-2 lead.

Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson would do the rest of the work as she retired the side in order in the top of the inning to give the Lady Bears the victory. For the contest, Ferguson retired the last 12 batters she faced as she improved to 9-3 on the season after allowing two runs on four hits in seven innings of work.

Mowatt took the loss for Arizona after allowing two runs on two hits in 3.1 innings of work as she fell to 11-4 on the season.

The win snapped an eight-game Arizona winning streak as the Lady Bears picked up their first win over the Wildcats softball program. In addition, the victory was the first for Baylor over a team ranked in the top five since May 28, 2005, when the Lady Bears defeated No. 2 Cal, 4-1, at the NCAA Waco Super Regional.

Baylor and Arizona will conclude the three-game set when the teams face each other in the finale of the three game series on Sunday, March 11, at 12:00 p.m.