March 6, 2004

Box Score

Clearwater, Fla. -Baylor left-handed pitcher Cristin Vitek became the first pitcher in school history to pitch back-to-back no-hitters as she followed her gem against Boston with a no-hitter against Northern Illinois as the Lady Bears defeated the Huskies 2-0. The Lady Bears concluded the day with a 4-1 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga to extend the team's win streak to 13 and tying the 2002 squad for the longest win streak in school history.

With the wins, Baylor now stands at 20-5 on the season heading into the championship round at the Speedline Classic.

The record-setting day opened with Vitek's no-hitter against Northern Illinois. Vitek was dominant from the start, as she struck out nine of the first ten Huskie batters to step to the plate.

The left-hander retired the first 12 batters of the game before allowing a walk to Bernard in the bottom of the fifth inning. The walk broke a string of 33 consecutive batters to be retired by the junior pitcher.

At the plate, the Lady Bears scored all the runs Vitek would need with single runs in the second and fourth innings. After Carrie Leerberg singled and stole second, Stephanie Pomes collected her first of three hits in the game with a double to right-center to score Leerberg and give the Lady Bears a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth, Erin Sheek hit a fly ball to deep right field, allowing Leerberg to tag at third and score easily to give the Lady Bears a 2-0 lead.

Vitek cruised through the rest of the game, striking out 13 Huskie batters along the way, tying her career high for strikeouts in a game and placing her third on the all-time single-game strikeout list.

The Huskies' Bernard came close to breaking up the no-hitter in the seventh; however, as she lined a shot up the first base line. The drive deflected off of Baylor first baseman Chelsi Lake and over to Leerberg at second. Both players reacted quickly as Leerberg was able to flip to Lake before Bernard reached first to record the second out of the inning.

Vitek (12-2) forced the next batter to pop-up, completing her second consecutive no-hitter and the ninth in school history while recording her 12th victory of the season.

Pomes and Harmony Schwethelm added three hits each in the game, as the Lady Bears managed 12 hits for the game.

The Lady Bears avoided a letdown with a 4-1 victory over Tennessee-Chattanooga to clinch the Group Four title at the Speedline Classic and advance Baylor into the championship round of the tournament.

After a scorelss first inning, Baylor busted the game open in the third, scoring three runs to grab a 3-0 lead.

With runners on second and third and one out, Kelly Osburn collected her first of three hits in the game with a single to drive home Kelly Levesque and Danelle Arnold to grab a 2-0 lead.

Melissa Maler made it 3-0 as she singled to right field to score Osburn from second base.

UT-Chattanooga cut the lead to 3-1 with a run in the fifth; however, Baylor stretched the lead to three for the second time in the game as Levesque singled to right field to score Pomes for a 4-1 lead.

Freshman pitcher Lisa Ferguson (8-1) picked up the victory, pitching four-plus innings, allowing only one unearned run on seven hits.

Vitek came into the game in the fifth with the Moccasins threatening and was able to end the rally and complete the game for her first save of the season.

Baylor will now look to break the school record for consecutive wins when the Lady Bears will face Illinois in the championship round of the Speedline Classic at 10:00 a.m. (CST) tomorrow. If the Lady Bears win, the team will face the winner of the Oregon-South Florida game at 12:00 p.m. (CST) for the Speedline Classic championship.