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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Baylor softball's small-ball game was as effective as ever in Thursday's opening game at the Women's College World Series, with Maddison Kettler (3), Lindsey Cargill (2) and Jessie Scroggins (1) combining for all six of the team's hits.

The problem was a power outage in the heart of the Lady Bears' lineup. Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters Ari Hawkins, Shelby Friudenberg and Shelby McGlaun - who came in with a collective 27 homers and 115 RBI - went 0-for-9 off Oklahoma starter Paige Parker (24-5).

In a matchup of Big 12 rivals, the defending national champion Sooners (57-9) got the early upper hand with a three-run, first-inning homer by Nicole Pendley and held on for a 6-3 victory before a packed house of 8,874 at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

"Obviously, we're disappointed in the game," said Baylor coach Glenn Moore, whose team fell to 48-14 this season and 5-7 all-time at the WCWS. "The first inning really doomed us. Playing a team like Oklahoma, you've got to keep the score close to have a chance to win; their pitching is too good. I'm proud of the way we fought. We're that type of team, we're never going to give up. I've never seen this team quit fighting, and we made a little run at the end. But, we dug too deep of a hole."

Baylor falls into the loser's bracket and will face third-seeded Oregon (52-7) in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, while OU meets sixth-seeded Washington (49-12) at 8:30 p.m. Friday.

Moore gave his team a quick history lesson following the game, reminding the Lady Bears that they got run-ruled by Florida in the opening game at the 2014 World Series (11-0) before fighting back with wins over Florida State (7-2) and Kentucky (8-7) in "the greatest comeback in the history of the World Series."

"The team fought back and played until Sunday after winning two games on Saturday," he said, "and I expect this team to fight like crazy to be able to do that and make a run for it."

They'll have to do it the hard way now, needing four wins over two days to get to the best-of-three championship series that starts Monday. But, after coming back to knock off second-seeded Arizona twice last weekend in the Super Regional, they certainly know anything is possible.

"That gives you a ton of confidence," senior pitcher Kelsee Selman said. "I put us behind 4-0 in the first inning, but we came back. I have a ton of confidence in this team, and I know they're going to battle each pitch. We have a few more games than we should have, but I know we'll battle back and play as hard as they can."

That was even the case Thursday night, when Oklahoma jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first inning. After loading the bases with a pair of singles and a walk, the Sooners got on the board with a sacrifice fly by Fale Aviu and followed that with Pendley's three-run bomb over the left-field wall for her 17th homer of the season.

"That game is on me," said Selman (24-9), who gave up six runs on nine hits and one walk with one strikeout in five innings. "If I wouldn't have had that first inning, we would have won the ballgame, 3-2. . . . They're really good, and they're tough to pitch to, but I could have done a lot better."

It was a little dÃÆ'Æ' ©jÃÆ'Æ'   vu from the last time the two teams met, when Pendley hit a first-inning grand slam off Selman in a 6-0 victory in the rubber match of a three-game series in Norman.

"She also owned me a lot of the other times," Pendley said, "so I give her credit, and I respect her very much. She's a great pitcher. So, I think I just went up there, kind of a fresh mind, and tried to stick to the game plan we created."

Oklahoma's defense committed a season-high four errors, with two of them coming in the second inning to help Baylor get on the board.

McGlaun reached on a fielding error on a hard-hit ball to third, followed by an infield single by Kettler, with both runners moving up when Shay Knighten dropped the throw at first base. Pinch-runner Riley Browder scored on Scroggins' fielder's choice grounder, but that was all the Lady Bears could muster.

The Sooners tacked on another run in the third on a two-out RBI single by Aviu, and had a chance to blow it open in the fourth.

OU loaded the bases with a pair of bunt singles and an infield hit by 9-hole hitter Kelsey Arnold. Scroggins tracked down a Mendes fly ball in the left-center field gap and threw a laser to home plate that would have gunned down the runner at third, but OU coach Patty Gasso respected her arm and held the runner.

After hitting Caleigh Clifton with a pitch to score a run, Selman limited the damage by getting Knighten on a shallow fly to left and cleanup hitter Sydney Romero on a grounder to short.

During a huddle in the circle after a misplayed bunt, Selman told her teammates, "Just have fun. You're at the Women's College World Series."

"Not that we're OK with having those little mistakes," she said, "but just have fun and relax. We were basically just talking about making plays and good things will happen. We got out of that inning with just the one run, which that one was on me, of course. But, we did really well, played good defense and got out of it."

Trailing 6-1 and down to their last three outs, the Lady Bears made things interesting in the seventh with some more help from OU's defense.

Facing reliever Paige Lowary, Kettler opened the inning with her third hit of the game, a single through the left side. Scroggins then reached on a two-base throwing by the third baseman, putting runners on second and third with nobody out and putting the potential tying run in the on-deck circle.

"It wasn't going to come with just one swing," Kettler said. "We had just had to take it one pitch at a time, and I believe in my team."

The Sooners' struggles continued when Knighten missed another throw on Caitlin Charlton's grounder to short, scoring Kettler from third.

"We've been there many times this year," Moore said. "That's why we don't give up, because any inning can be a big inning for us. We play a lot of small ball, and we've got a couple kids than can hit it out of the park. That's what we do, we put pressure on defenses. And many times, it will snowball - they'll force a lay and throw one away at first, the ball will go off the glove. And we're a fast team, so that's kind of what we do. If they can make the plays and get us out, then they can beat us, but that's a lot of pressure."

Lowary buckled down to retire the next three batters, with Scroggins scoring on Cargill's fielder's choice grounder to second. With Baylor's top three power hitters coming up next, Kyla Walker (0-for-4) grounded out to end the game.

"Yeah, that result wasn't what we wanted," Kettler said, "but I believe in this team. You saw what we did in Tucson (against Arizona). We can make plays and come through and swing the bats. I'm very confident in this team."

Kelsee Selman (24-9) took the start and first 5.0 frames, allowing nine hits, six runs, and striking out one.

Gia Rodoni came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth, retiring the Sooners in order with a strikeout.

In the home half of the first, the Sooners loaded the bases with one out, bringing the first run on a sac fly to deep left-center and clearing the bases on a three-run home run to take the early 4-0 lead.

Baylor took one back in the top of the second, with Shelby McGlaun leading off by reaching safely on an infield error.

With Riley Browder pinch running on first base for McGlaun, Maddison Kettler legged out an infield single on a bunt, moving Browder to second on the hit and Browder advancing to third on a muffed throw at first.

Jessie Scroggins pulled through with the RBI fielder's choice grounder, scoring Browder to cut the Sooner lead to 4-1.

OU kept the pressure on, plating a run in the home half of the third and one in the fourth, to take the 6-1 lead into the seventh inning.

The late-game heroics from the Tucson Super Regional looked to have followed the Lady Bears to OKC, with Kettler leading off with a single through the middle.

Scroggins and Caitlin Charlton reached on back-to-back infield errors, with Charlton's driving in Kettler on an RBI.

With one out, Cargill reached on a fielder's choice, driving in Scroggins with an RBI to cut the OU lead to 6-3.

The Lady Bears luck would fall short, as a ground out notched the third out to drop the opening game of the double-elimination tournament.

HIGHLIGHTS
- Lindsey Cargill passed Harmony Schwethelm (2005) and Ashley Monceaux (2007) for the No. 2 spot in the Baylor record book for single-season hits, with Cargill's 82 hits in 2017 trailing only teammate Kyla Walker's 87.
- Maddison Kettler had the spark for the Lady Bear offense, going a perfect 3-for-3 with a run scored.
- Gia Rodoni made her debut in the WCWS, dropping her postseason ERA for 2017 down to 0.35, having allowed just one run in 20.0 innings pitched.

TOP QUOTES
"Obviously disappointed in the outcome of the game. I thought the first inning really doomed us. Playing a team like Oklahoma, you've got to keep the score close to have a chance to win. Their pitching is too good. I'm proud of the way we fought. We're that type of team. We're not going to give up. I've never seen this team quit fighting, and they fought hard and we made a little run at the end, but we dug too deep of a hole to come out of it. You know, it's a double elimination, and 2014, I just told the team, we came here and got run ruled by Florida, team fought back and played on Sunday and won two big games on Saturday, and I expect this team to fight like crazy to be able to do that and make a run for it" - Baylor head coach Glenn Moore

STAT OF THE GAME
.583 - the batting average of Maddison Kettler against Oklahoma in 2017, going 7-for-12 in the four meetings between the two squads.

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will face Oregon in an elimination game on Saturday, June 3, at 1:30 p.m. at USA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.

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