No. 22 Baylor Softball Completes Comeback Wins Over No. 19 UCLA, No. 13 Missouri

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – No. 22 Baylor Softball took down No. 19 UCLA, 5-3, and No. 13 Missouri, 5-4, Saturday night to close out the Mary Nutter Classic with a ranked-doubleheader sweep.

The Bears came from behind to win both games, walking-off the Tigers in game two in the bottom of the seventh.

THE RUNDOWN

Taylor Strain got things started in game one of the Saturday doubleheader with a single to left field in the top of the first, but no one would bring her home.

The Bears let two Bruins reach base in the bottom of the first, but two strikeouts from pitcher RyLee Crandall ended the threat before UCLA could capitalize.

Emily Hott laid down a bunt single in the second, before Aliyah Binford reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, but again the Bears didn’t have any runs come across. The BU defense sat the Bruins down in order in the bottom half of the second.

Baylor threatened in the third after they loaded the bases on a hit, a dropped third strike and a walk, but the Bruins stifled the threat with back-to-back strikeouts.

UCLA was able to take the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third after a leadoff walk and back-to-back singles plated a run.

The Bears put runners in scoring position again in the fourth but didn’t bring anyone home as they held the Bruins scoreless in the bottom half of the frame.

A two-RBI double for the Bruins in the fifth inning put UCLA up 3-0 as Baylor was running out of chances to score.

Getting the momentum rolling in the sixth, Binford and Leah Cran recorded back-to-back singles to put two on with no one out. After Wilson reached on a throwing error to load the bases, Strain capitalized on another Bruins error and two Bears came around to score. Within one run and runners in scoring position, UCLA walked Shaylon Govan to load the bases yet again for the Bears. A sacrifice fly from pinch-hitter Kaci West tied the game at 3-3, before a double from Hott plated two more Bears and gave them the 5-3 advantage.

Baylor allowed just three baserunners over the next two innings, completing the comeback win over the Bruins to take game one on the day.

The Bears fell behind early in game two, after the Tigers capitalized off of a BU error and timely hits to score a run in the top half of the first.

Strain continued her hot hitting, singling in her first at-bat for the second straight game.

Digging a deeper hole, Missouri tacked on two more runs in the second as two-out hits brought home more Tigers.

After a quiet third inning for both sides, the Tigers put the Bears in a 4-0 deficit after a single to left field plated an unearned run.

Not going down without a fight, the Bears started to claw back into the game in the bottom half of the fourth when Shannon Vivoda was hit by a pitch with one out to get the Bears going. With Vivoda on first, Abi Flores singled to left-center to put two on for Cran. Back-to-back one run singles from Cran and Pilon cut the Tigers lead in half.

Still down two runs, the Bears sat the Tigers down in order in the sixth before a solo shot from Sydney Collazos in the bottom of the inning put the Bears within a run. With no one out, West was issued a walk and made it to third on a groundout and wild pitch. Cran came up clutch in the sixth, scoring the game-tying run with a single through the left side.

Trying to hold off extra innings, the Bears sat Missouri down in order in the top half of the seventh before creating chaos to close out the game. A one-out walk to Govan put one on before a strikeout brought Collazos back to the plate. A single to left field advanced pinch-runner Ana Watson to second base before West found herself back to the plate and singled up the middle to walk-off the No. 13 team.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bears totaled 20 hits on the day
• Six different Bears recorded a multi-hit game
• Leah Cran was 4-for-7 at the plate with two RBIs
• Aliyah Binford pitched a complete game against Missouri, striking out 11 batters, tying a career-high
• RyLee Crandall improved to 4-0 on the season, picking up a win over No. 19 UCLA while striking out four
• Kaci West recorded the walk-off hit
• Sydney Collazos hit her first home run of the season
• McKenzie Wilson, Taylor Strain and Emily Hott each recorded a double
• Hott and Cran had the only two multi-RBI totals on the day
• Baylor out-hit both UCLA and Missouri
• The Bears have won their last seven games and improve to 8-3 on the season
• BU picked up three ranked wins on the weekend and went 5-0 at the Mary Nutter Classic

UP NEXT

The Bears will return home to face Morgan State in a three-game series, March 2-3, at Getterman Stadium.