Roster | Schedule

WACO, Texas - The Baylor softball team released its 2016 schedule Thursday, gearing up for a deeper postseason run and hopeful return to the Women's College World Series in the spring. With a compressed non-traditional fall schedule kicking off this weekend, Baylor head coach Glenn Moore also finalized his roster for the coming season.

Following a common practice in prior seasons, the Bears will do their fair share of travelling as the team will participate in tournaments in Gulfport, Miss., Fullerton, Calif., and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Baylor will also host its annual Getterman Classic February 19-21, marking the 14th year of the tournament. The tournament field will consist of Liberty, Northwestern State, and North Texas, with exact matchups and times to be determined.

"This schedule accomplishes several things," said Moore. "It will prepare us for Big 12 play, provide the needed RPI and enhance recruiting. Our four tournaments and two non-conference, three-game series will test our bullpen. This schedule gives us what we need to be in championship form in May."

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Classic in Gulfport will include Southeastern, Southern Miss, Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi State, and Nicholls State.

The Bears return to the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, with the full team field still to be determined.

Baylor closes out the preconference tournament stretch with the Hawaii Spring Fling in Honolulu. The field consists of Hawaii, Cal, San Jose State, and North Dakota State.

The Bears posted a 41-17 record overall in last year's campaign, including a 12-5 conference mark, second only to Oklahoma.

Repeating a tradition from previous years, Baylor starts Big 12 play at home with the first two of a three-game series with Texas. The final game of the series will serve as the conference finale, taking place on May 14 in Austin.

The Big 12 road trips for Baylor consist of Iowa State (April 1-3), Oklahoma State (April 15-17), and Texas Tech (April 29-May 1). In addition to the two-game series with the Longhorns, the Bears host two full conference series, including last year's Big 12 champion Oklahoma (April 8-10) and Kansas (April 22-24).

Moore also finalized a 21-person roster on Thursday, consisting of 15 returning players and five newcomers.

Although the Bears will need to replace Kaitlyn Thumann in the outfield and Jordan Strickland in the infield, Moore will have NFCA All-American Shelby Friudenberg to anchor the offensive firepower and senior pitcher Heather Stearns back in the circle.

"This is a very well balanced roster with some great power," said Moore. "Our roster will provide several lineup possibilities, with a nice mixture of speed and power. Our pitching depth was a focus, as our sport is demanding a deeper bullpen."

Looking to add depth in the circle, Moore adds three pitchers to the roster, including lefthander Abby Langkamp and LSU-transfer Kelsee Selman. Baylor opens the season with a home three-game series with McNeese State on February 12-14, leading into the Getterman Classic the following week.

Bears fans eager to meet the 2016 squad will get an early opportunity at this Saturday's "Meet the Bears" event at Getterman Field, beginning at 10 a.m. Baylor will play an intrasquad scrimmage consisting of two five-inning games, with an autograph session following the scrimmage.

2015 Fall Schedule

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