SB Drops a Heartbreaker to No. 8 Seed Wisconsin

Friday, May 15

Austin, Texas

12:30 p.m.

Baylor

28-27

#8 Wisconsin

33-19

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Baylor	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	6	2
Wisconsin	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	5	0

Peyton Tanner Twirls a Gem against Wisconsin in the NCAA Austin Regional

SB Drops a Heartbreaker to No. 8 Seed Wisconsin

5/15/2026 5:07:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Tanner twirls a gem, but BU’s offense comes up short in 2-1 loss

By: Matt Roberts

AUSTIN, Texas – Baylor softball suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to No. 8 seed Wisconsin in nine innings Friday afternoon in the opening round of the NCAA Austin Regional at Red and Charline McCombs Field.

Behind one of the strongest postseason pitching performances in recent program history, the Bears battled the Badgers deep into extra innings before Wisconsin walked it off in the bottom of the ninth.

Peyton Tanner was outstanding in the circle, striking out seven over 8.1 innings of work, limiting Wisconsin to just five hits. Her seven strikeouts marked the most by a Baylor pitcher in an NCAA Tournament game since Gia Rodoni struck out nine against South Alabama in the 2021 Gainesville Regional.

The Bears will now fight to keep their season alive in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

RUNDOWN
Baylor threatened early in the opening inning when Faith Piper doubled into the gap, and Leah Cran followed with a walk, but Wisconsin escaped the jam to keep the game scoreless.

Tanner settled in immediately in the circle, working around traffic throughout the afternoon and stranding seven Wisconsin runners through the first five innings. The Bears also came up with a key defensive play in the first, as Cran turned an inning-ending double play to erase a Badger threat.

Wisconsin finally broke through in the sixth inning, capitalizing on a couple of Baylor errors and a well-placed bunt to plate the game's first run and take a 1-0 lead despite not recording a hit in the frame.

Down to its final strike in the top of the seventh, Baylor found life. Piper delivered her second double of the day into left-center field before Amber Toven followed with Baylor's first hit with runners in scoring position all afternoon, ripping an RBI double to tie the game at 1-1.

The Bears threatened again in the eighth after Sa'Mya Jones singled and stole second, while Olivia Buettner added a two-out double later in the inning, but Baylor was unable to push across the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the ninth, Wisconsin loaded the bases with one out before Hannah Conger lined a walk-off RBI double into right field to secure the 2-1 victory for the Badgers.

GAME NOTES

Baylor tied a season high with four doubles, its most since getting four against Lamar on April 6th.
Friday was Baylor's first extra-inning game in the NCAA postseason since game two of the Salt Lake City Regional in May of 2023.
BU picked up six walks against Badger pitching, its most since walking nine times against Houston on April 2nd.
BU is 52-40 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bears are now 0-3 all-time against Wisconsin.
Baylor used its 47th different lineup in its 55th game of the season.
Faith Piper tallied her 12th and 13th doubles of the season, tying her for the team lead.
Piper tied the Baylor record for doubles in an NCAA Tournament game (2).
Peyton Tanner's seven strikeouts are the most by a Baylor pitcher in an NCAA Tournament game since Gia Rodoni struck out 9 against South Alabama on May 21, 2021, in the Gainesville Regional.
Tanner's 8.1 innings pitched are the most by a Baylor pitcher in the NCAA tournament since Whitney Canion threw 10.1 in an 11-inning loss to Tulsa in the 2014 Waco Regional.
Tanner is the third pitcher in program history to pitch 8-plus innings, allowing one or fewer earned runs in an NCAA Tournament game (Cristen Vitek & Whitney Canion)
Sa'Mya Jones picked up her fourth multi-hit game of the season, and her third in the last six games.

QUOTABLE
Glenn Moore on his team's performance —"Peyton threw an outstanding game. It was one of the best performances I've seen from her this year, and she just kept going right back out there, wanting that run. We finally tied it up, but couldn't push another one across. When you're depending on things to fall your way, to win a game, then you didn't take control of the opportunities to take control of early on. So, I'm disappointed in that a little bit, but the fact that the kids continued to fight and gave us a chance there was impressive. But we had too many at-bats that weren't challenging them."

Tanner on her outing — "We talked before the game about just being efficient and working to get an out as quickly as possible, limiting the circles of my arm. So, when I got in that jam and was able to get out of it, I feel like it boosted my adrenaline in a good way. There were some nerves at the beginning, and then just being able to get out of a jam just helped me calm down, and get my adrenaline going in the right direction."

Toven on her message to the team entering Saturday — "I mean, we made it here, so we might as well just keep winning. We have nothing else left to lose, and speaking as a senior, and for the other two girls, I think it means a whole lot to us to play as long as we can. Especially coming off of last year, when we didn't even get our name called for postseason. So being here, it just means more, and I think we need to reiterate that to the team as a whole."

WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will face the loser of Texas and Wagner in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. All NCAA Tournament games will be available to watch on ESPN+, and can be heard on-air and online at 101.3 COOL FM.

Follow @BaylorSoftball on X, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates.

—BaylorBears.com—