April 20, 2002

Box Score

STILLWATER, Okla. - Kourtny Westerfeld capped a six-run sixth inning here Saturday as No. 23 Baylor defeated Oklahoma State 7-0 in Big 12 Conference play. The Lady Bears now won the first game of four straight conference road series.

Baylor (45-13, 10-5) scored just 12 sixth-inning runs in the first 53 games of the season. However, the Lady Bears have scored 18 sixth-frame runs in their last five contests.

Leading 1-0 thanks to a Sarah Caudle third-inning RBI single, Baylor utilized a pair of Oklahoma State (26-18, 5-7) errors to get things started in the sixth. With bases loaded and no outs, April Luce reached on a fielder's choice when Caudle beat out second baseman Calli Behmer's throw at home. Nan Wilkins followed with a single up the middle, plating Lena Keine and Carrie Leerberg to make it 4-0.

That sent OSU starter Lauren Bay from the game, and Westerfeld greeted reliever Cami Carter with her third home run of the season to left-center.

Meanwhile, Joni Miller fooled the OSU bats all day. The Cowgirls, who entered the game with 42 home runs as a team, were held to just four hits, none of them for extra bases. Miller (17-6) tossed five and two-thirds innings, the last one and one-third of that in relief, allowed three hits, no walks and struck out three. Cristin Vitek entered in the fifth and allowed a hit and a walk with two strikeouts in one and one-third innings of work.

Bay (17-10) was touched for six runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts. The junior lefty had defeated Baylor in February at the UTA College Classic, striking out 12.

Baylor's seven-run output was the Lady Bears' highest scoring conference game since the second Big 12 contest of the year when they defeated Texas Tech 7-0.

The Lady Bears and the Cowgirls conclude the series here Sunday at 1 p.m. CDT. Baylor is 9-1 on Sunday this season.