Baylor
Oklahoma
No. 22 Softball Drops 5-1 10-Inning Affair to No. 12 Oklahoma
4/27/2002 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 27, 2002
WACO, Texas - Baylor's 22nd-ranked softball team dropped a 5-1 decision to No. 12 Oklahoma in 10 innings here Saturday in Big 12 Conference softball action. A crowd of 618 attended the game, the second-largest crowd this season and the third-largest in Getterman Stadium history.
With the loss, Baylor falls to 45-15 on the season and 10-7 in the Big 12. Oklahoma improves to 40-12 and 13-2. The Lady Bears will finish no lower than fourth in the league standings, the highest finish in school history. Oklahoma will finish second as Texas clinched the Big 12 regular season title Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Missouri.
Baylor scratched the scoreboard first with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Sarah Caudle led off with a walk, moved to second on a Kristen Lancaster bunt and moved to third on a passed ball. Danelle Arnold then lifted a fly ball into left that was deep enough to score Caudle and put the Lady Bears up 1-0.
However, the Sooners answered in the top of the fifth with a run on three two-out hits. Tiffany Wright started things with a single up the middle, and Christy Ring followed with a single that drew chalk down the left-field line. Kelly Braitsch then doubled down the line in right, scoring Wright from second. That was all the Sooners would get, though, as the Caudle-to-Stacey Hundley-to-Arnold relay got Ring at home.
Things remained 1-1 until the top of the 10th when the international tiebreaker rule was invoked, putting a runner at second to begin the inning. With one out in the inning, Erin Evans beat out a bunt in front of home plate and then stole second. Kami Keiter followed with a double, scoring both runners. That opened the floodgates for Oklahoma, which leads the Big 12 in nearly every offensive category.
Joni Miller started for Baylor but did not figure in the decision. The Edmond, Okla., native allowed one run on three hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts in four and two-thirds innings. Cristin Vitek, who entered the game just before Braitsch's fifth-inning double, took the loss. Vitek (17-7) was touched for four runs, three earned, on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts in five and one-third innings.
Jennifer Stewart (17-5) allowed only a Nan Wilkins sixth-inning single, walked three and struck out five in 10 innings of work.
Baylor and Oklahoma wrap up the two-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. Seniors Lancaster and Holly Fields will be honored prior to the game as the Lady Bears conclude their regular-season schedule.
