Baylor Softball Opens Season at NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater
STORY LINES
• Baylor will open the 2020 season by traveling to Clearwater, Fla., to take part in the NFCA Leadoff, running Feb. 7-9 at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex.
• All five games will be streamed on the NFCA Youtube channel by Sportzcast.
• The Lady Bears will open their season against a ranked opponent for the second straight season for the first time since 2011. BU opened 2019 with a 4-1 win over then-No. 9 South Carolina in the Puerto Vallarta Challenge. Baylor previously opened consecutive seasons against ranked foes in 2009 (No. 1 Florida), 2010 (No. 21 Louisville) and 2011 (No. 24 Illinois).
• Friday marks the sixth time in the Glenn Moore era that Baylor has opened its season against a ranked opponent - 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 (No. 3 Washington), 2019 and 2020).
• Baylor is 1-0 all-time vs. Auburn. The Lady Bears won, 2-0, on Feb. 7, 2004, in the Getterman Classic.
• Louisville has won the only match-up vs. BU with a 6-5 victory on Feb. 13, 2010.
• Baylor will face former Big 12 foe Missouri on the diamond for the first time since 2016 when BU fell to the Tigers in the Judi Garman Classic, 10-4.
• BU will face Missouri State for the first time in the Moore era. All five matchups against the Bears came in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Missouri State leads the country as its coaching staff has been together for 25 years. Baylor is third as the trio of Moore, Mark Lumley and Britni Newman have served together at Baylor for 17 years.
• Saturday afternoon will mark the first time that the Lady Bears will take the field against the US Women's National Team as part of the "Stand By Her Tour." The contest will count as an exhibition for Baylor.
• After this weekend's tournament in Clearwater, the Lady Bears will play 13-straight games at home in Getterman Stadium over a two-week period.
• Baylor welcomes back 17 returners and six starters from a year ago. That does not include Gia Rodoni, Kyla Walker and Maddison Kettler who are back after missing the 2019 season due to injury.
QUICK HITS
• Baylor will play five opponents ranked in the preseason Coaches Top 10 and four opponents in the preseason Coaches Top 25. In all, the Lady Bears play 12 games against Top 10 foes and eight games against Top 25 foes.
• Of the 20 games against teams ranked the preseason Coaches Top 25, only six of them are at home (3 vs. No. 3 Oklahoma, 1 vs. No. 8 Minnesota, 2 vs. No. 6 Texas). Three are neutral-site games (2 vs. No. 9 Florida State, 1 vs. No. 23 Auburn), and the remaining 10 are true road games (1 at No. 6 Texas, 3 at No. 7 Florida, 3 at No. 13 Oklahoma State, 3 at No. 18 Texas Tech, 1 at No. 24 Arkansas).
• Baylor defeated four ranked opponents in 2019.
• Baylor sported the second-toughest schedule in the country in 2019.
• Baylor will play 10 games against four programs that advanced to the 2019 Women's College World Series - Oklahoma, Florida, Minnesota and Oklahoma State).
• Baylor is 284-128 over the last 7 seasons, averaging 36 wins per season since 2013.
• BU was picked fifth in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll behind Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
• Glenn Moore is in his 20th season at Baylor and is the school's all-time active wins leader across all sports (756).
• Moore is five wins shy of 900 in his career that enters its 24th season.
• Baylor's four WCWS appearances since 2007 are second in the Big 12, trailing only Oklahoma (6).
• In Moore's 23 previous years as a collegiate head softball coach, his teams have posted a winning record in 22.
• Baylor's four WCWS appearances tied for the second-most by a private school, trailing only Northwestern and Creighton (5) for the top spot.
• BU has gone 198-161 in Big 12 play in Moore's 19 seasons at the helm after going 18-44-1 before his tenure.
• Baylor has ranked in the Top 25 for average attendance in each of Moore's 19 seasons at Baylor, including a Top 20 ranking every year since 2003. The Lady Bears finished 20th in the country in attendance last season.
2019 SEASON IN REVIEW
• In 2019, the Lady Bears played the second-toughest schedule in the country with one of the youngest lineups in the nation. At most, six freshmen would be on the starting lineup for a game. Freshmen accounted for 45 percent of the team's at-bats.
• Gia Rodoni, Kyla Walker and Maddison Kettler each received medical redshirts and return for the 2020 season.
• With their absence, Baylor returned only three starters from 2018 - Goose McGlaun, Nicky Dawson and Taylor Ellis. McGlaun and Dawson were Second Team All-Big 12 members, while Ellis played a major role for the Lady Bears at shortstop and behind the plate.
• Sidney Holman-Mansell did most of the work in the circle for the Lady Bears as she made appearances in 37 of BU's 49 games with 170.2 innings of work and a 3.65 ERA.
FIFTH-YEAR SENIOR STANDOUTS RETURN FOR 2020 SEASON
• Gia Rodoni and Kyla Walker return to the diamond after redshirting the 2019 season due to injury.
• Rodoni, the 2018 NFCA All-Central Region selection, made 42 appearances with 34 starts in the circle, posting eight shutouts and two no-hitters. Her 268 strikeouts on the season led the Big 12 and ranked 13th in the country.
• Rodoni worked a 2.32 ERA with a 23-12 record, holding opposing hitters to a .215 batting average over 223.2 innings of work.
• Walker, a College Sports Madness Second Team All-American, played in 45 games and made 44 starts, limited by injury for a portion of the season.
• Walker topped her previous career-high with a .433 batting average in 2018, good for second all-time in program history and giving her three of the top five single-season batting averages on Baylor's career leaderboard.
• She maintains a large lead in the program's career batting average record book, entering her senior season with a .422 career hitting clip, good for the fifth-highest career mark in all of NCAA Division I softball, the second-highest among non-freshmen hitters.