Baylor
Southern Utah
SB Hits the Road for Red Desert Classic
2/26/2019 2:31:00 PM | Softball
Lady Bears make their first trip to Utah
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BAYLOR LADY BEARS (9-7) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Glenn Moore (Northwestern St., 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (9-7) at RED DESERT CLASSIC March 1-3, 2019 St. George, Utah • The Canyons Softball Complex Baylor Social Media:    |
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SOUTHERN UTAH (1-7) Location: Denton, Texas Conference: Big Sky Head Coach: Kortny Hall (Southern Utah, 2006) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Playing on unfamiliar ground, trekking to the state of Utah for the first time in program history for the Red Desert Classic in St. George, the 24th-ranked Baylor softball team (9-7) will have a new but familiar face in the dugout.
With Baylor associate head coach Mark Lumley recovering from cancer treatments and hip surgery, longtime baseball assistant coach Steve "Hoot" Johnigan will step in to help out head coach Glenn Moore and pitching coach Britni Sneed Newman.
"I can't think of anyone I respect more than Hoot," said Moore, whose team opens the three-day tournament with a matchup against the host Southern Utah team (1-7) at 4 p.m. CST Friday at The Canyons Softball Complex. "You can't replace Lum, he's been around so long. But, they're great friends and they're going to work together really well. He is a godsend for us at this moment to fill that great void that has been left with Lum's injury."
Director of Event Management and Facilities at Baylor, Johnigan was part of three Big 12 championships and a trip to the 2005 College World Series in a 20-year run as an assistant with the baseball team.
"He's been a mentor of mine for a long time," Moore said. "He's excited to learn about the short game, the slapping, and I'm excited to learn from him as well, as I have over the years. It's just going to be a different perspective on things. Sometimes, you get a little close-minded to outside ideas. He's going to bring a different perspective to our program."
The Lady Bears have struggled over the last two weekends, going a combined 5-5 in their two home tournaments. But, they finished off the Baylor Invitational with a 4-3, eight-inning win over 10th-ranked Louisiana in Sunday's consolation game.
"The last game was huge for this team's confidence, knowing that we can compete with a top-10 team as a very young team starting four or five freshmen," Moore said. "I think we'll be able to go back and draw from that victory. We're going to have some bumps and bruises down the road as we grow the team."
Sophomore DP/catcher Hannah Thompson said that win "got us going in the right direction. Not too high, not too low, just going in a straight line."
One of the most encouraging signs in that game was the performance of sophomore right-hander Sidney Holman (5-2), who gave up two earned runs on five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts in eight innings.
"We saw her consistency improve greatly against ULL, an unbelievable lineup with a lot of lefties facing a righty," Moore said of Holman, who gave up three runs on five hits in just 1 2/3 innings the day before in a 6-5 loss to Kent State. "The matchup isn't perfect, but she started to work with a changeup and feel confident in that. We need to go back-to-back games with that, and that's part of the growing process."
While Baylor's lineup remains in flux, Moore said at this point it's more about "where I put them" as opposed to who's in it. Led by junior shortstop Taylor Ellis at .370, five are hitting at .295 or higher.
"We'll look at some of that this weekend again, but I'm feeling more comfortable with a couple different for leadoff with Nicky Dawson and Ana Watson both producing," Moore said. "Nicky had one bad day last weekend, but overall she hit nearly .500. And Ana gives us a little more pop in that leadoff spot. A little bit more of a threat but not quite the wheels Nicky has. We still have some options we may play with throughout the year and kind of go with the lineup we feel is the hottest."
Dawson and Watson are hitting .357 and .300, respectively, while freshman centerfielder Lou Gilbert is hitting .313 and junior first baseman Goose McGlaun is at .295.
"I feel like it's coming," said Thompson, who is hitting .196 with two homers and nine RBI. "Our lineups were switched around a lot at the beginning, and now we're getting a consistent one."
The rest of the weekend schedule has Baylor facing Notre Dame (7-7) at 6:30 p.m. CST Friday, Utah Valley (3-7) and CSU Bakersfield (5-7) at 1 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday and then closing out with another matchup against Notre Dame at 11 a.m. Sunday.
"For three weekends now, we've played a pretty tough schedule and probably a little tougher than I would have liked with such a young team," Moore said. "But, we're still above .500 and have our head above water and finished with a good win. We head into a weekend that might not be quite as challenged. We will be challenged, but not quite as challenging overall, day to day and game to game. Hopefully, we can have a weekend that will allow us to build some confidence."
STORY LINES
•No. 24/RV Baylor softball travels to Utah for the first time in program history to take part in the Red Desert Classic in St. George, Utah where the Lady Bears will face Southern Utah, Notre Dame, Utah Valley and CSU Bakersfield.
• Baylor will be playing the latter two for the first time.
• The Lady Bears are a combined 2-1 against the rest of the field as their previous encounters against Southern Utah and Notre Dame came in 1997.
• Over the weekend, the Lady Bears topped off the Baylor Invitational with a 4-3 win in eight innings over No. 10 Lousiana. It marked the second loss of the season for the Ragin' Cajuns.
• Baylor is 2-2 vs. top 10 opponents this season.
• Sidney Holman pitched a complete game against Louisiana and gave up three runs off five hits with seven strikeouts to move to 5-2 on the season.
• Goose McGlaun got things going with two outs and Ana Watson on second in the top of the eighth inning. Her single up the middle scored Watson to give Baylor a one-run lead.
• Nicky Dawson capped off her stellar weekend with what proved to be the game-winning RBI. Dawson followed McGlaun's single with one of her own to left field. Dawson finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs.
• Three different Lady Bears hit a home run over the weekend. Taylor Ellis and Hannah Thompson both jacked one in the win over North Texas. Thompson hit another on Saturday against Kent State. On Sunday, Kassidy Krupit hit her fourth homer of the year against Louisiana.
• Nicky Dawson and Sidney Holman were named to the Baylor Invitational All-Tournament Team.
• Baylor is 7-1 when scoring first in 2019.
• The Lady Bears are 6-1 when the opponent scores two runs or less this season.
• Baylor adds two transfers and a strong eight-member signing class to the 2019 roster.
QUICK HITS
• Baylor will play 24 games against 12 programs that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Regionals, including WCWS participants Washington and Oklahoma.
• Baylor is 270-99 over the last 7 seasons, averaging over 38 wins per season since 2013.
• BU was picked 3rd in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll behind Oklahoma and Texas.
LADY BEARS AGAINST RED DESERT CLASSIC OPPONENTS
• Baylor has only faced Southern Utah and Notre Dame as the Lady Bears will face Utah Valley and CSU Bakersfield for the first time this weekend.
• The Lady Bears are 0-1 against Southern Utah and 2-0 against Notre Dame with all three of those contests coming in 1997. BU played Southern Utah in the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. and faced Notre Dame in the Oklahoma Invitational in Norman, Okla.
• Only three current Lady Bears were alive when BU last played Southern Utah and Notre Dame - Nicky Dawson, Kyla Walker and Gia Rodoni. Regan Green was born two days after Baylor's second game against Notre Dame, and three more Lady Bears were born later in 1997.
