Box Score

EUGENE, Oregon - No. 17/21 Baylor softball (45-13, 2-1) fought back from a 6-0 shutout at the hands of No. 4 Oregon, advancing to a Regional Championship game rematch with the Ducks with an 11-2 win over Long Beach State in Saturday evening's elimination game at Jane Sanders Stadium.

In the evening's crucial victory, freshman Gia Rodoni (6-1) took the start, making her first start after appearing in each of Baylor's two previous 2016 NCAA postseason games.

Rodoni pitched 5.0 innings of work, allowing just three hits and two runs, zero earned, while striking out three. Kendall Potts closed out the final 2.0 frames of shutout ball to close out the win.

For the Baylor offense, another quick start grabbed a quick lead in the second frame.

Lindsey Cargill roped an RBI single through the left side of the infield, scoring Shelby Friudenberg.

Caitlin Charlton followed with an RBI single into the left field grass to score Hawkins, giving the Lady Bears the 2-0 lead.

Back in the fourth, Charlton came up big once again, drilling a single back up the middle, scoring Riley Browder, pinch running for Friudenberg.

Taking a 3-0 lead into the fifth, Cargill kept the hot bat, singling to right field to score Friudenberg from second.

The LBSU throw to the plate on Friudenberg resulted in a throwing error on the right fielder, with the ball ending up in the back stop to allow Ari Hawkins to add another run.

With the Baylor lead at 5-0, LBSU answered back in the home half of the inning, capitalizing on a two out error by the BU defense to cut the lead back to 5-2.

Baylor attacked back in the top of the sixth, with Charlton leading off with a solo home run to left field.

The Lady Bear bats completely took over in the top of the seventh, posting a big inning to put the game completely out of reach.

BU loaded the bases, but had Jessie Scroggins facing a full count with two outs. Scroggins drilled a double to the gap in left center, driving in Charlton, Cargill, and Hawkins.

Kyla Walker followed with a single into left field, allowing Scroggins to race around to plate another run.

Sarah Smith iced the big inning with a single up the middle to score Walker, closing out an 11-2 win for the Lady Bears.

In the morning matchup with Oregon, it was Heather Stearns (20-7) that took the start, with the NCAA's top batting offense posting nine hits and five runs on her, three earned.

Rodoni closed out the last frame, allowing a run on three hits.

For the Ducks, three-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year, Cheridan Hawkins, was at her best, allowing just one recorded hit and shutting out the Baylor offense.

STAT OF THE DAY #1
15 - the total for the Baylor offense vs. Long Beach State, rebounding from a one-hit loss in the early game vs. Oregon.

STAT OF THE DAY #2
3 - the number of appearances in the NCAA postseason for Gia Rodoni, the only pitcher for Baylor to appear in each of the team's games in the Eugene Regional.

STAT OF THE DAY #3
5 - the number of Lady Bears to post multiple hits in the evening game vs. Long Beach State: Lindsey Cargill (4-for-4), Caitlin Charlton (3-for-3), Shelby Friudenberg (2-for-3), Ari Hawkins (2-for-4), and Jessica Scroggins (2-for-5). Those five combined for eight RBI and nine runs scored.

WHAT'S NEXT
The Lady Bears face No. 4 Oregon in the Eugene Regional Championship game on Sunday, May 22 at 4:00 p.m. PT/6:00 p.m. CT.

#SicEm

EUGENE, Ore. - It was feast or famine for the Baylor softball team in second-day action at the NCAA Eugene Regional.

After being totally shut down by Cheridan Hawkins in a 6-0 loss to Oregon, the Lady Bears (45-13) bounced back to pound out 15 hits in an 11-2 rout of the Long Beach State 49ers Saturday night to stay alive and make it to the region finals for the fourth straight year and fifth time in the last six years.

"I really felt like that was the Lady Bear softball team we saw a couple weeks ago when we played last," Baylor coach Glenn Moore said, "and very happy with the way we performed both sides of the plate. We were a little slow getting going offensively, but we finally started putting hits together."

And while Baylor lit up Long Beach starter Christina Clermont (23-12) after managing just five hits against her in a 3-2 win the day before, the 49ers (33-22) could muster very little against freshman pitcher Gia Rodoni (6-1).

Making her fifth collegiate start since having her redshirt pulled halfway through the season, Rodoni gave up just three hits and a pair of unearned runs in five innings to pick up the win.

"Just coming back and hitting my spots and trusting my defense was a big part of it," she said, "and then, just relying on my offense as well to produce runs for me."

Moore said he "had to have a lot of confidence" in Rodoni to go with the freshman right-hander in an elimination game.

"We pulled her redshirt halfway through the season because she's not afraid to pitch. She goes after hitters," Moore said. "And we needed that kind of leadership in the circle, quite honestly, and she gave it to us."

Baylor's offense got going early and often, plating two runs in the second on an Ari Hawkins double off the wall and RBI singles by Lindsey Cargill and Caitlin Charlton. The Nos. 7 and 9 hitters, Cargill and Charlton were a combined 7-for-7 with five RBI and three runs scored.

Charlton came through again in the fourth with an RBI single up the middle, but the Lady Bears missed a chance to extend the lead when Cargill was gunned down at the plate on a Jessie Scroggins grounder and Kyla Walker flied out to shallow center field to leave the bases loaded.

Rodoni ran into a little trouble in the second, when she hit a batter and gave up a two-out single. But she came back from a 3-0 count to get 9-hole hitter Haley Tobler on a pop-up to second and retired the next seven batters in a row.

The Lady Bears (45-13) scored a pair of two-out runs in the fifth, when Shelby Friudenberg singled, Hawkins reached on an error and Cargill followed with an RBI single. When the throw home got away, Hawkins came all the way around to score and make it 5-0.

In the bottom half of the frame, Long Beach State got on the board with a pair of unearned runs on a Charlton throwing error with two outs after a walk and single.

"I thought we were right there in the game and had a lot of opportunities," Long Beach coach Kim Sowder said. "Baylor just did a better job early on of getting the timely hits. We just couldn't seem to put them together, and that was the difference in the ballgame."

Charlton got one of those runs back when she led off the sixth inning with a blast over the left-field wall, her fifth home run of the season.

"She came inside, the perfect pitch that I love to hit out," Charlton said. "I feel like I've been seeing the ball really well lately and making good contact. I'm thinking small, thinking base hits, and that seems to be working out. I just have to keep that same mindset going into tomorrow."

Summoned from the bullpen, Kendall Potts gave up three singles but was able to work out of it by striking out Kelli Finah and retiring Tobler on a grounder to short.

Baylor broke it open in the seventh, scoring five insurance runs, all with two outs. Scroggins cleared the bases with a three-run double to the gap in left-center, then Walker and Smith followed with RBI singles that stretched the lead to 11-2.

Potts gave up a leadoff single and a two-out walk before retiring Tiera Falo on a fly to center to close it out.

The Lady Bears face Oregon (46-8) at 6 p.m. CDT Sunday, needing to win twice to advance to the Super Regionals for the third time in six years.

"You win one, and then the pressure kind of changes to be honest with you, to them," Moore said. "And I've told them from the get-go that the pressure is on Oregon, anyway, to win this thing and not on us. We feel good about where we are. We'll have a rested pitcher thanks to our bullpen being able to throw really well today. Heather (Stearns) was able to sit that game out, so we'll be ready to go."

Stearns (20-7) got roughed up in Saturday's first game, giving up five runs (three earned) on nine hits and three walks in five innings in the 6-0 loss to Oregon.

Three-time Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year Cheridan Hawkins "was on her game tonight," Moore said, tossing a one-hit shutout with no walks and four strikeouts.

"I always like to give credit where credit's due," said senior third baseman Sarah Smith, who got on twice to give the Lady Bears their only baserunners of the game. "She's an amazing pitcher, she exploits weaknesses. When I went out there my first at-bat and she was throwing, I was like, `Wow, we haven't faced a girl like that, a left that can really spin the ball.'''

Smith reached on a hard-hit ball up the middle in the fourth that was ruled an error on the shortstop and then broke up the no-hitter with a one-out single to center in the seventh.

By the fifth, the Lady Bears were just trying to bunt to get anything going against the hard-throwing lefty.

"That's what you do when you've got a pitcher dominating you," Moore said. "I don't know who's doing the ruling, but (Smith had the first hit of the game; that was clearly a hit. But when she's got the momentum of a no-hitter, you still have to try to break that a little bit, and that's what we were doing."

After leaving the bases loaded in the first, Oregon broke through with two runs on four hits in the second and added single runs in each of the next four innings, the last one coming off Rodoni.

"We knew we were going to have to play great to have a chance to play with them, and we didn't," Moore said. "When you don't bring your best against a team like Oregon, you're going to pay the price. And we paid the price."