Baylor
21-11, 5-3
Arizona
26-8, 8-3
SB Battles, but Comes up Short Against No. 13 Arizona
3/28/2026 7:38:00 PM | Softball
BU matches a season high with three homeruns on Saturday
TUCSON, Arizona – Baylor softball battled all day, before ultimately falling to No. 13 Arizona 11-7 on Saturday afternoon at Hillenbrand Stadium.
Saddled with an eight-run first inning, the Bears were fighting an up-hill climb all day, but were unrelenting, responding to each Arizona outburst. Ultimately the hole was too deep as the Wildcats clinched the series in Tucson with a second-straight win in the series.
RUNDOWN
Arizona struck quickly in the opening inning, plating eight runs on six hits to take an early 8-0 lead.
Baylor responded emphatically in the second when Leah Cran jumpstarted the rally with a solo home run before the Bears capitalized on traffic on the bases. Karynton Dawson and Brooklyn Carter each delivered RBI doubles, and Faith Piper capped the inning with her career-first homerun, a two-run shot to cut the deficit to 8-5 and swing momentum back toward the Bears.
The Wildcats added three runs in the third, including a two-run home run from Addison Duke, to push the lead to 11–5.
Baylor continued to chip away. In the fourth, Sa'Mya Jones sparked the inning with a leadoff single and later scored on an RBI base hit from Amber Toven to make it 11-6.
Cran delivered again in the fifth, launching her second home run of the game to bring Baylor within four at 11-7. The Bears threatened to close the gap further, but Arizona's pitching staff was able to limit additional damage over the final two innings.
GAME NOTES
· Baylor is now 9-18 all-time against Arizona
· The Bears are now 7-5 in the last 12 games against the Wildcats
· Baylor tied a season high with three homeruns on Saturday
· BU is 3-4 this season in the white tops and white bottoms
· The Bears used a 32nd-different lineup combination this season
· The 18 combined runs for the Bears and the Wildcats marked Baylor's highest-scoring game of the season and its highest-scoring game since The Bears and Houston Cougars combined for 20 in April of last season
· The Bears' seven runs scored are its most runs against a top-15 team since scoring nine against No. 5 Texas on May 5, 2023
· BU's nine hits were its most in a losing-effort so far this season
· Leah Cran hit two homeruns on Saturday, joining Amber Toven and Kaygen Marshall as the only Bears to homer twice in the same game this season
· Cran now has five multi-RBI games this season and eight for her career
· Faith Piper hit her career-first homerun on Saturday and now has hits in three of her last four games
· Piper carded her sixth multi-RBI game and the eighth of her career
· Toven reached base for a 13th-straight game, matching the longest streak of her career
· Karynton Dawson is just the fourth different leadoff hitter for Baylor this season
· Dawson tallied her team-leading 14th extra-base hit
· Lexie Warncke went 5.2 innings, her second-longest outing of the season
WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will be back in action on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. CT, looking to salvage the series against the No. 13 Wildcats.
All games for the remainder of the season will be televised on ESPN+ and heard on air and online via 101.3 COOL FM.
Follow @BaylorSoftball on X, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates.
—BaylorBears.com—
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Berry, Jenae (2-0)
L: Tanner, Peyton (6-4)
Batting:
2B: Carter, Brooklyn 1 ; Dawson, Karynton 1
HR: Cran, Leah 2 ; Piper, Faith 1
RBI: Cran, Leah 2 ; Carter, Brooklyn 1 ; Piper, Faith 2 ; Toven, Amber 1 ; Dawson, Karynton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cran, Leah 2 ; Carter, Brooklyn 1 ; Lindsey, Gigi 1 ; Piper, Faith 1 ; Jones, Sa'Mya 2
Batting:
2B: Jennings, Tele 1 ; Lucas, Kez 1
HR: Duke, Addison 1
RBI: Sniffen, Jenna 1 ; Stewart, Sydney 1 ; Shockey, Regan 1 ; Duke, Addison 3 ; Jenkins, Grace 1 ; Jennings, Tele 3 ; Trice, Sereniti 1
SH: Biehl, Tayler 1
SF: Jenkins, Grace 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sniffen, Jenna 2 ; Stewart, Sydney 1 ; Shockey, Regan 1 ; Biehl, Tayler 1 ; Duke, Addison 2 ; Daley, Molli 1 ; Jennings, Tele 1 ; Trice, Sereniti 1 ; Lucas, Kez 1
