No. 21 Baylor Softball Shuts Out Iowa State, 6-0

WACO, Texas – No. 21 Baylor Softball shut out Iowa State in its series opener, 6-0, Thursday night at Getterman Stadium.

THE RUNDOWN

After two Cyclones drew walks and made it to second and third in the top of the first, the Bears buckled down to keep Iowa State out of scoring position for the rest of the game.

Baylor got the bats going early when Presleigh Pilon singled in the bottom of the first, but that would be all for the Bears as Iowa State converted a double play to end the threat.

BU plated its first run of the game in the bottom half of the second after Abi Flores kicked off the inning with a single to left center and advanced to third on a sac bunt and groundout. With two outs, Leah Cran doubled down the right-field line to score pinch-runner Caroline Rowatt and put BU up 1-0.

In the bottom of the third, Emily Hott launched her third homer in as many games over the wall in right-center field, a two-run shot that gave Baylor the 3-0 advantage.

After RyLee Crandall retired the side in order for the third-straight inning, Sydney Collazos singled and Cran doubled again to put two on for Taylor Strain. The centerfielder then doubled to right-center to bring home both runners and give BU a 5-0 lead over the Cyclones.

Shaylon Govan tallied the Bears’ fourth double of the night in the bottom of the fifth, but that would be all the action for BU until another run came home in the sixth.

Crandall, who took a no-hitter into the sixth, allowed only one hit in the game, a single up the middle that accounted for only the third Cyclones base runner of the game.

Cran singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth before pinch-hitter Shannon Vivoda launched the Bears’ fifth double of the night to the wall in right-center field. The hit brought home Cran for BU’s sixth run of the night and secured the victory after the Bears retired the Cyclones in order again in the top of the seventh.

HIGHLIGHTS

Emily Hott recorded a home run for her third-straight game

Abi Flores went 2-for-3 at the plate

Leah Cran was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles while scoring two runs

Eight Bears combined for 11 hits

RyLee Crandall pitched a seven-inning complete-game shutout, only allowing one hit while striking out nine

This is the Bears’ seventh game this season with double-digit hits

This marks the second time this season the Bears have limited an opponent to one hit

The Bears now have six shutouts on the season

QUOTABLE

Head Coach Glenn Moore on the game …

“I think we were a team that you don’t really want to run into right now because we’ve been on the verge of getting those wins and we were just really, really hungry right now. To the contrary, we played a team that hasn’t been able to play in a while and probably had some rust. We’ll see that rust knocked off tomorrow. So we’ve got to make sure we continue to get better from this as well. But I think we were a very hungry team today. Our maturity with this team, our upperclassmen, I think they were going to make sure that we were going to come out ready to play. They did some extra leading, if you will, after practice yesterday. And I was happy to see that and happy to see the team respond to that leadership.”

Emily Hott on her diving catch before her home run …

“I would just say with Big 12 it is so important to get that momentum and get it early, so I'm going do it any way I can. And if it's me making a diving catch, so be it; if it's me getting the home run, so be it. So, it's always good to have that in the back of your mind that it’s all right, I didn’t get a hit my first at-bat, but I took away a hit, so that’s a hit in my books.”

RyLee Crandall on her performance in the circle …

“You know, things happen, and I feel like growth came from that. Maybe not the best start, but I wanted to make sure that from then on, I was solid for my team because they started off great offensively.”

UP NEXT

The Bears will face Iowa State for game two of the three-game series at 2 p.m. Friday, March 29, at Getterman Stadium.