Softball Hosts Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday

Softball 3/21/2007 12:00:00 AM

March 21, 2007

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2007 BAYLOR SOFTBALL

#12 BAYLOR (26-9) HOSTS OKLAHOMA BAPTIST (9-15)

March 22, 2007 - 5:00 p.m. (DH)

Getterman Stadium

Waco, Texas

THE SCHEDULE

THURSDAY, MARCH 22

Oklahoma Baptist at No. 12 Baylor (DH), 5:00 p.m.

THE SERIES

Baylor vs. Oklahoma Baptist: Baylor leads 2-1

Waco, Texas: Never Met

Shawnee, Okla.: Never Met

Neutral: Baylor leads 2-1

LIVE COVERAGE

Radio: None

Live Video: None

Live Audio: www.BaylorBears.com

Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com

Television: None

The No. 12 Baylor softball team returns to action this week as the Lady Bears get their final tune-up before Big 12 Conference play begins as they host Oklahoma Baptist for a doubleheader on Thursday, March 22, beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Baylor enters the week after finishing second at the Bank of Hawai'i Invitational in Honolulu, Hawai'i. The Lady Bears are led at the plate by senior first baseman Ashley Monceaux. On the season, Monceaux has posted a team-leading .438 batting average with nine home runs and 37 RBI.

Senior Lisa Ferguson continues to be a steady presence for the Lady Bears in the circle, leading the way with a 12-4 record and 1.76 ERA in 99.2 innings of work.

Oklahoma Baptist, a NAIA school out of Shawnee, Okla., enters the doubleheader with a record of 9-15 and winners of 6-of-7. The Lady Bison are led by Jayme Boyer, who leads the team with a .357 average, nine home runs and 21 RBI. In the circle, Lauren McKay leads the way, posting a 5-7 record and 3.17 ERA in 81.2 innings of work.

For tickets to the doubleheader, contact the Baylor Ticket Office at 1-800-BAYLOR-U or 254-709-4657. Live audio for the contests is also available at the official website for Baylor Athletics, www.baylorbears.com.

QUICK NOTES

• Baylor is No. 17 in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25 and No. 12 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25.

• Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 49th consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 48th consecutive week the team has appeared in the USA Softball Top 25.

• Baylor is 166-10 over the past six seasons when scoring at least four runs.

• Baylor is 139-18 over the past five seasons when collecting at least eight hits.

• Baylor is 197-20 over the past five seasons when out-hitting its opponent.

• Baylor is 88-19 over the past four seasons at Getterman Stadium, including a 17-1 mark at home this season.

• For the first time in school history, Baylor swept the national player of the week honors after taking two-of-three from No. 2 Arizona. Alex Colyer was named USA Softball National Player of the Week while Lisa Ferguson was named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week. Both earned Big 12 Conference player of the week honors as well.

• Baylor's Chelsi Lake and Brette Reagan were named to the ASA Softball National Player of the Year Preseason Watch List. The selection to the watch list marked the second time in school history Baylor players have been named to the preseason list.

• Baylor's Chelsi Lake was selected as a first-team ESPN.com Preseason All-America at the catcher position.

• For the first time in history, live, streaming audio will be available for every Baylor softball game. Sign-up for audio is free and fans can listen to every Baylor softball game by visiting www.baylorbears.com.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA BAPTIST

Oklahoma Baptist, a NAIA school out of Shawnee, Okla. and a member of the Sooner Athletic Conference, enters the doubleheader with a record of 9-15 and winners of 6-of-7. The Lady Bison are led by Jayme Boyer, who leads the team with a .357 average, nine home runs and 21 RBI. In the circle, Lauren McKay leads the way, posting a 5-7 record and 3.17 ERA in 81.2 innings of work.

The Lady Bison will be making their first trip into Waco as Baylor owns a 2-1 edge in the series. The teams met for the only time in school history back in 1981, with Baylor claiming a pair of victories in Fort Worth, Texas, before Oklahoma Baptist came away with a 2-1 win in Omaha, Neb., on May 22, 1981.

Chelsi Lake BREAKS CAREER HOME RUN MILESTONE

With a home run at the Bank of Hawai'i Invitational, Chelsi Lake moved into first place, surpassing former Baylor star Kelly Osburn (2003-06),in the Baylor career home run category. Lake has now hit 39 career home runs as the senior already holds the Baylor single-season home run mark with 18 round-trippers in 2006.

The career milestone is just one of a number of Baylor marks Lake will likely pass during the 2007 campaign as the senior already holds the Lady Bears career record with 163 RBI. In addition, Lake is just 22 total bases shy of surpassing Osburn's career total bases mark of 395.

Ashley Monceaux AND BAYLOR OFFENSE OFF TO HOT START

Over the past few years, the Baylor offense has had tremendous success at the plate and this year has been no different. So far this season, Baylor has posted a .324 batting average on the year and currently ranks second in the league in the category. In addition, the Lady Bears have hit 30 home runs on the season and have posted an impressive .479 slugging percentage on the year.

Leading the way for Baylor has been senior Ashley Monceaux. Monceaux, who earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Week honors earlier this season, leads the Lady Bears with a .438 batting average, nine home runs and 37 RBI. The senior first baseman has posted an almost unbelievable .813 slugging percentage and 78 total bases as she ranks among the top five in the conference in nine different categories.

As a team, Baylor currently features seven players batting over .300 on the season, including freshman Kirsten Shortridge (.357), Nicole Wesley (.349) and Tiffany Wesley (.304).

GETTERMAN STADIUM KIND TO LADY BEARS

Since the stadium opened, Getterman Stadium has been kind to the Lady Bears as Baylor owns a 160-53 mark all-time at the stadium since it opened in 1999. So far this season, Baylor is an impressive 17-1 at home as last year Baylor went 21-8 in the friendly confines of Getterman Stadium. Since the stadium opened, no Lady Bears team has lost more than 10 games at home in a single season.

Baylor's best mark at home came during the 2004 campaign when the Lady Bears enjoyed a 26-4 record at home, including a 24-2 mark during the regular season.

In the stadium's six years of existence, attendance has steadily risen as Baylor set a pair of attendance records last season. Last season, Baylor set a single-game attendance record when 1,455 fans attended the BU-Texas game to close out the home portion of the schedule.

BAYLOR SOFTBALL IN THE NATIONAL POLLS

The Baylor softball team is currently ranked No. 12 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll. In addition, Baylor earned a No. 17 ranking in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25.

Baylor is one of four Big 12 Conference school ranked in both polls as Texas A&M (No. 3, No. 4), Oklahoma (No. 4, No. 3) and Texas (No. 10, No. 11) join the Lady Bears in the polls.

Tennessee, after opening the year No. 2 in the national polls, has moved to No. 1 in the rankings in both polls.

Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 49th consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 48th 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. Within the Big 12 Conference, only Texas A&M and Oklahoma have currently appeared in the national polls for more consecutive weeks.

Alex Colyer NAMED USA SOFTBALL NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

For her performance against No. 2 Arizona, Alex Colyer was tabbed USA Softball National Player of the Week the Amateur Softball Association announced.

The selection marks the first for Colyer in her career in the second time a Baylor player has been tabbed USA Softball National Player of the Week. Former Lady Bear Tessa Lynam received the award during the 2005 season.

Colyer led Baylor to a 4-1 record last week as the Lady Bears swept Sam Houston State before taking two-of-three from No. 2 Arizona. Colyer hit .455 (5-for-11) on the week and led the team with three home runs, all of which won or ended the game for the Lady Bears. In their first win over No. 2 Arizona, Colyer hit a two-out, solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Lady Bears a 3-2 win, its first in school history over Arizona and tied the highest ranked team Baylor has beaten in school history.

In the rubber match of the series with the Wildcats, Colyer went 2-for-3 with two singles and made a game-saving catch in the top of the seventh. With a runner on third and the score tied with one out, Colyer made a leaping catch on a line-drive heading to the gap to keep the game tied. Baylor scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win their second consecutive game and take the series.

Earlier in the week against Sam Houston State, Colyer hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning for the only run of the game as Baylor claimed a 1-0 victory. In the nightcap, Colyer's solo shot to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning gave the Lady Bears a walk-off, 8-0, run-rule win.

For the week, Colyer led the team with a 1.273 slugging percentage and drew two walks on the week to record a .538 on-base percentage. In addition, Colyer stole two bases on the week while recording 10 putouts and five assists.

LISA FERGUSON NAMED NFCA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Baylor senior pitcher Lisa Ferguson was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I National Player of the Week for the week ending Mar. 11, the association announced. The selection marks the first time in school history a Baylor player has picked up the NFCA honor.

Along with Alex Colyer, who picked up USA Softball National Player of the Week honors, Ferguson and Baylor swept the two, national weekly honors after the pair also swept the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week awards.

Ferguson posted a 3-0 record on the week, including a pair of victories over then-No. 2 Arizona and combined for a shutout of Sam Houston State.

A Fort Worth, Texas, native, Ferguson limited Arizona to four hits, its lowest hit total of the season, in the Bears' opening win of the three-game series. She struck out four and walked one in the winning effort. She allowed a pair of runs in the third, but gave the 14th-ranked Bears (24-5) a chance to rally by retiring the final 12 Wildcats she faced.

In the series finale, Ferguson surrendered an earned run in the opening inning before settling down and allowing just four hits with three strikeouts the rest of the way to earn the victory and move to 10-3 on the year.

Ferguson limited the week ¹s opponents to a .159 batting average en route to claiming a 1.17 ERA in 18 innings of work. She struck out 11, walked two and allowed three extra-base hits.

BAYLOR LADY BEARS IN THE CAREER CHARTS

Several Lady Bears are aiming to continue making their way up the career charts in 2007. Below is a list of Lady Bears who currently rank in the top ten in one of the career categories:

BATTING RECORDS

RUNS: Chelsi Lake (94, t-7th)

HITS: Chelsi Lake (195, 7th)

MULTIPLE-HIT GAMES: Chelsi Lake (49, 7th)

DOUBLES: Chelsi Lake (43, t-1st)

TRIPLES: Chelsi Lake (t-10th, 4)

HOME RUNS: Chelsi Lake (1st, 39); Ashley Monceaux (6th, 17); Brette Reagan (t-7th, 15)

TOTAL BASES: Chelsi Lake (373, 2nd)

SACRIFICE FLIES: Chelsi Lake (2nd, 8)

PITCHING RECORDS

APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 149); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 28)

GAMES STARTED: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 102)