May 4, 2007
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
#7 BAYLOR (44-12, 13-3) HOSTS #6 TEXAS A&M (39-8, 12-5)
MAY 5, 2007 - 4:00 PM
GETTERMAN STADIUM
WACO, TEXAS
THE SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, MAY 5
No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 7 Baylor, 4:00 p.m.
THE SERIES
Baylor vs. Texas A&M: Texas A&M leads 39-15-1
Waco, Texas: Texas A&M leads 15-7
College Station, Texas: Texas A&M leads 16-5-1
Neutral: Texas A&M leads 8-3
LIVE COVERAGE
Radio: ESPN Radio 1660 AM
Live Video: www.BaylorBears.com
Live Audio: www.BaylorBears.com
Live Stats: www.BaylorBears.com
Television: None
With the Big 12 Conference regular season title on the line, the No. 7 Baylor softball team returns to action this weekend as the Lady Bears close out the regular season when they host No. 6 Texas A&M for a single contest on Saturday, May 5, at 4:00 p.m.
The scenarios are simple for the Lady Bears heading into their final game of the regular season. A win over the Aggies would give Baylor at least a share of its first-ever Big 12 Conference regular season title while a loss to Texas A&M will drop BU a half-game behind Oklahoma in the final standings as they will end up as the No. 2 or No. 3 seed heading into the Big 12 Conference Championship in Oklahoma City next weekend.
Ashley Monceaux continues to lead the way for Baylor heading into the contest as the senior leads the team with a .405 batting average, 16 home runs and 56 RBI on the season. Sophomore Brette Reagan continues to play well in conference play as she leads the Lady Bears with a .467 batting average, six home runs and 20 RBI.
Lisa Ferguson will likely get the start in the circle as the senior enters with a record of 21-7 and a 1.98 ERA on the season.
Texas A&M leads the all-time series, 39-15-1; however, Baylor has won two straight in the series after the Lady Bears claimed a thrilling, 3-1 victory in extra innings earlier this season.
Only a limited number of general admission tickets remain for the contests with the Aggies. Fans that had tickets for the originally scheduled Tuesday contest will be able to use them for Saturday's meeting with the Aggies. For tickets, contact the Baylor Ticket Office at 1-800-BAYLOR-U or 254-710-1000 or purchase tickets online at www.baylorbears.com.
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M, eliminated from the Big 12 Conference title race with a loss against Texas Tech on Sunday, is led by pitcher Amanda Scarborough. The junior ranks second in the Big 12 Conference with a 1.11 ERA as she has posted a 20-5 record in 164.0 innings of work so far this season.
Megan Gibson leads the attack at the plate as she leads the team with a .418 average, 10 home runs and 34 RBI on the year.
The Aggies pitching staff ranks first in Big 12 Conference play, posting an ERA of 0.96 during conference play while the Texas A&M hitters ranks third in Big 12 play, hitting .263 in conference games.
Despite dropping the series opener to the Lady Bears this season, Texas A&M still leads the all-time series, 39-15-1, as the Aggies picked up a 4-3 win in Waco last season.
LISA FERGUSON BREAKS BAYLOR CAREER VICTORY MARK
With a win against Texas State, Baylor senior Lisa Ferguson broke the Baylor career win mark as the right-hander now owns a career record of 77-35 in three-plus seasons.
With the victory against the Bobcats, Ferguson broke Stacey Allison's (1996-99) career mark of 75 wins for the most career wins in Baylor softball history. Ferguson is start to rewrite the Baylor record book as the senior owns the career lead in saves (19) and victories (75) and ranks in the top three in 10 career categories.
The senior has been a force in the circle this year, posting a 21-7 record and 1.98 ERA on the year. In all but four innings this season, the right-hander has been in complete control. In games (33-of-37 appearances) in which she did not allow an inning of four or more runs, she has posted a 21-4 record and 1.17 ERA.
THE BAYLOR JETS
Over the last few seasons, Baylor has always been known for its speed. This year is no different as the Lady Bears head into the contest with the Tigers leading the Big 12 Conference with 129 stolen bases in 151 attempts.
This season, Baylor speed and conditioning coach Brandon Marcello and the Lady Bears coaching staff have created a club called "The Baylor Jets" to honor the speedsters in the Baylor line-up.
\
Starting this year; while recognizing speedsters from the past, "The Baylor Jets' is an elite club for the fastest players to come through the Baylor softball program. Starting in 2007, each time a player "earns their wings," the player will get a sticker of a jet to go on the back of their batting helmet.
In order to "earn their wings," a player must meet the following criteria: post a time of 2.78 second from home-to-first, record a combination of at least 25 stolen bases and infield singles throughout the year and have a shuttle time average of 62 seconds or less with one time less than 60 seconds.
With the above criteria in mind, Miriam Romero, Tiffany Wesley and Nicole Wesley have all "earned their wings" for the 2007 season and will play the rest of the year with a sticker of a jet on the back of their helmet. Former jets in the Baylor program include Kelly Levesque, Carrie Leerberg, Kim Wilmoth and Harmony Schwethelm.
BAYLOR STREAKING
Baylor enters the game with the Aggies as winners of 18-of-21 contests dating back to the team's trip to the Bank of Hawai'i Invitational. During the hot streak, which included a 13-game winning streak, the Baylor offense has hit at an impressive .314 clip while the pitching staff has been dominant in the circle, posting a 18-3 record and 1.90 ERA while holding opponents to a .209 average.
Brette Reagan has led the attack during the streak, posting a .421 batting average with seven home runs and 24 RBI. Ashley Monceaux has also been hot at the plate, posting a .355 average with seven home runs and 24 RBI. During the streak, five players are currently batting .300 or higher as four players have scored at least 10 runs in the last 21 games.
In the circle, Lisa Ferguson and Kirsten Shortridge have combined for a 16-3 record as the duo has combined to strike out 90 batters while holding opponents to a .205 batting average.
CHELSI LAKE MAKING HER MARK ON CAREER CHARTS
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 43 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 has passed during the 2007 campaign as the senior already holds the Lady Bears career record with 178 RBI. In addition, Lake just surpassed Osburn's career total bases mark of 395 as she now has 404 for her career and recently broke Osburn's career doubles mark of 43 with a double in the victory over Oklahoma State.
Ashley Monceaux AND BAYLOR CONTINUE TO PRODUCE
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 .321 batting average on the year and currently ranks second in the league and ninth in the country in the category. In addition, the Lady Bears have hit 52 home runs on the season and have posted an impressive .480 slugging percentage.
Leading the way for Baylor has been senior Ashley Monceaux. Monceaux leads the Lady Bears with a .405 batting average, 16 home runs and 56 RBI. The senior first baseman has posted an almost unbelievable .797 slugging percentage and 126 total bases as she ranks among the top ten in the conference in eight different categories.
As a team, Baylor currently features six players batting over .300 on the season, including freshman Kirsten Shortridge (.355), Nicole Wesley (.324) and Tiffany Wesley (.302).
GETTERMAN STADIUM KIND TO LADY BEARS
Since the stadium opened, Getterman Stadium has been kind to the Lady Bears as Baylor owns a 164-53 mark all-time at the stadium since it opened in 1999. So far this season, Baylor is an impressive 27-2 at home this season 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. In the Lady Bears last game at home, Baylor set a single-game attendance record as 1,455 fans attended the Texas game and saw the Lady Bears claim a 5-2 victory.
BAYLOR SOFTBALL IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
The Baylor softball team is currently ranked No. 7 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll. In addition, Baylor earned a No. 10 ranking in the latest USA Today/NFCA Top 25.
Baylor is one of five Big 12 Conference school ranked in both polls as Texas A&M (No. 6, No. 6), Oklahoma (No. 3, No. 3), Missouri (No. 18, No. 25) and Texas (No. 23, No. 17) join the Lady Bears in the polls.
Alabama has moved to No. 1 in the rankings in both polls.
Baylor's appearance in both polls marks the 54th consecutive week the Lady Bears have appeared in the NFCA Top 25 and the 53rd 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.
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 (99, 7th)
HITS: Chelsi Lake (215, t-4th)
MULTIPLE-HIT GAMES: Chelsi Lake (54, t-5th)
DOUBLES: Chelsi Lake (45, 1st)
TRIPLES: Chelsi Lake (t-10th, 4)
HOME RUNS: Chelsi Lake (1st, 42); Ashley Monceaux (4th, 24); Brette Reagan (t-5th, 22)
TOTAL BASES: Chelsi Lake (404, 1st)
SACRIFICE FLIES: Chelsi Lake (t-1st, 9)
PITCHING RECORDS
APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (t-1st, 165); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 29)
GAMES STARTED: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 113); Kirsten Shortridge (8th, 19)
RELIEF APPEARANCES: Lisa Ferguson (t-1st, 53)
WINS: Lisa Ferguson (1st, 77); Kirsten Shortridge (t-8th, 15)
LOSSES: Lisa Ferguson (5th, 35); Brittany Turner (t-8th, 5)
DECISIONS: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 113)
COMPLETE GAMES: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 59)
SHUTOUTS: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 27)
SAVES: Lisa Ferguson (1st, 19)
INNINGS PITCHED: Lisa Ferguson (2nd, 752.1); Kirsten Shortridge (8th, 141.1); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 103.1)
STRIKEOUTS: Lisa Ferguson (3rd, 572); Ashley Monceaux (10th, 76); Kirsten Shortridge (9th, 108)
UP NEXT...
Baylor will enter the Big 12 Conference Championship as the No.1, No. 2 or No. 3 seed as the Lady Bears open play at the single-elimination tournament on Friday, May 11.
