Bower, Crandall Sweep Softball Big 12 Weekly Awards

IRVING, Texas – Baylor softball’s Josie Bower and RyLee Crandall were named Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, announced by the conference Tuesday afternoon.

This marks the Bears’ first sweep of the conference weekly awards since April 10, 2018, when Shelby Friudenburg and Gia Rodoni won.

Bower went 5-for-8 at the plate this week, hitting .625 with two doubles. The Spring, Texas, native recorded a team-leading five RBIs on the weekend en route to the Bears’ sweep over then-No. 5 Texas.

The senior put an exclamation point on her Senior Day on Sunday, recording a double in the bottom of the seventh to get the rally going that won the game for Baylor. She had two hits on Senior Day and started in all three games for the Bears last weekend.

Crandall was dominant in the circle over the weekend, picking up two wins over a top-5 team and appearing in all three games. The freshman threw two complete-game five-hitters and picked up her team-leading 15th win of the season on Sunday.

The Atresia, N.M., native had six strikeouts while only giving up three runs and 12 hits with three walks in 13.0 innings pitched. She finished off Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Longhorns, pitching one inning as the closer.

This marks the first weekly award for Bower and Crandall.

The Bears are heading to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship this week as the No. 4 seed where they will take on No. 5 seed Iowa State at 12 p.m. CT Thursday, May 11.