April 27, 2003
Box Score
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Baylor softball used a four-run fourth inning and dominating pitching for a 4-0 victory over Kansas here Sunday, closing out the regular season for both teams. The victory put an end to a season-long eight-game losing streak for the Lady Bears, who now stand 29-27 overall and 3-15 in the Big 12. Kansas falls to 26-21 overall and 4-14 in league play.
Baylor broke through offensively in the fourth, making use of four hits and a Kansas error. The explosion began with Kelly Osburn's ninth home run of the season, a solo shot to left-center. After Danelle Arnold reached on an error, Nan Wilkins singled through the left side to put runners on the corners. Amber Daniel then doubled off the wall in center, scoring both runners. Kelly Levesque followed with a single through the right side, scoring Daniel.
Meanwhile, Baylor pitchers Katie Decker and Cristin Vitek kept the Jayhawk bats in check all day. Decker (8-6) allowed just two hits in 4.1 innings, and Vitek earned her second save of the season with 2.2 innings of perfect relief work.
Decker allowed a first-inning single to Lindsey Weinstein and then retired 12 straight before hitting Nettie Fierros with one out in the fifth. After Decker surrendered a single through the left side to Heather Stanley, Vitek came in and struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
Kelly Levesque went 3-for-4 at the plate, and Osburn was 2-for-3.
Baylor plays next week at the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Lady Bears will be the No. 10 seed and will face seventh-seeded Iowa State in a play-in game Thursday at 5 p.m. CDT. The Cyclones swept the season series, winning both games in their final at bat.
Notes: Kansas leads the all-time series 18-6. This was Baylor's first-ever victory at Lawrence, snapping a five-game skid at Jayhawk Field. ... With her ninth home run of the season, Osburn moves into a tie with Kristen Vitek (2002) for second on Baylor's single-season home run chart. ... Stacey Hundley had a third-inning single, extending her career-long hitting streak to 12 games. That ties Naomi Fitzgerald (2000) for the second-longest in school history, just two games shy of Kelly Osburn's school-record 14-gamer earlier this season.
