Baylor
Centenary
Big Innings Spark Softball
1/31/2003 12:00:00â¯AM | Softball
Jan. 31, 2003
WACO, Texas - A pair of big innings propelled Baylor's softball team to season-opening wins here Friday in first-day action of the Getterman Classic. The Lady Bears used a seven-run sixth inning to run-rule Centenary 12-0 in six innings. Baylor then scored nine runs in the third inning to run-rule Texas-Arlington 9-1 in the final game of the first day.
Baylor starts the season 2-0, while UTA, which also lost to Florida 5-4 in eight innings earlier in the day, falls to 0-2. Centenary knocked off Florida 6-5 in the three-day, double-round-robin event's first game. The Ladies are now 1-1, while Florida, the only of the three teams not opening their season this weekend, moves to 3-1.
The Lady Bears scrapped for a couple of runs in each of the first two innings against Centenary, capitalizing on several miscues by the Ladies. Kim Wilmoth pushed a fifth Baylor run across the plate in the fifth to make it 5-0.
However, it was the sixth inning in which the Baylor bats really came to life. The Lady Bears sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning and six got hits. No hit was bigger than Stephanie Pomes' grand slam off the centerfield video board, her second career homer.
Katie Decker (1-0) went the distance for Baylor, but the junior right-hander had to work through trouble on several occasions. She forced Centenary to leave 10 runners on base en route to her first complete-game shutout as a Lady Bears. Decker, who walked just 27 batters in 97.0 innings last season, issued six free passes against the Ladies. However, she allowed just three hits and struck out four.
In the nightcap, Baylor's bats were dormant for the first, second and fourth innings. However, a one-out April Luce double to right, followed by Kelly Levesque being hit by a pitch, began an offensive barrage for the Lady Bears. Wilmoth followed with a line-drive triple to right-center, plating both runners and breaking a scoreless tie.
Pomes capped her night later in the inning with a three-run double off the base of the wall in left. April Luce also became the first player in school history to collect to hits in an inning twice. She also accomplished the feat against Southern in last year's Getterman Classic.
UTA finally did snap Baylor's season-opening scoreless innings streak at 10.1 innings when Beverly Rowan smashed a towering solo homer down the leftfield line in the top of the fourth.
Cristin Vitek (1-0) went the distance for the Lady Bears, allowing just Rowan's homer and scattering two other hits. She also struck out three with no walks.
Action continues here Saturday with four more games. UTA has the early games; the Lady Mavs play Centenary at 10:30 a.m. followed by a 12:30 p.m. rematch with Florida. Baylor plays Centenary at 3 p.m. and Florida at 5:30 p.m.
