Baylor
North Carolina
Softball Captures Crowne Plaza Classic Title
2/20/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 20, 2005
HOUSTON, Texas -- On the strength of a nine-run, nine-hit sixth inning, the No. 11 Baylor softball team captured the Crowne Plaza Classic title with an 11-1 victory over North Carolina in action at Cougar Stadium. With the win, Baylor improves to 17-2 on the season as the Tar Heels fall to 10-2 on the year.
For the 13th time in 19 games this season, Baylor scored a first inning run to take an early lead. With no outs, Tessa Lynam reached on a bunt single as North Carolina starting pitcher Crystal Cox threw the ball away to allow Kelly Osburn to score. With runners on second and third and no outs, Baylor was unable to extend the lead as Cox managed to work out of the jam to keep the score at 1-0.
April Luce extended the lead to two in the second inning when she took the first pitch from Cox to lead-off the inning and blasted it over the left field wall, her second on the year, to give the Lady Bears a 2-0 lead.
North Carolina managed to cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth when Casey Testa hit a drive that glanced off Osburn's glove in left field and over the fence to make the score 2-1.
With the score 2-1 in the top of the sixth the Lady Bears put together a one-out rally to put the game away. Chelsi Lake and Kim Wimoth hit back-to-back singles as Stephanie Pomes followed with a three-run blast over the right field wall to give Baylor a commanding 5-1 lead.
After the next three batters all reached base to load the bases, Osburn followed with a single to right field to score Luce and give the Lady Bears a 6-1 lead. Schwethelm kept the string of Baylor runners to reach base alive as she slapped a single through the right side to score Erin Sheek to extend the lead to six.
Lynam then put the finishing touches on the string of Baylor batters to reach base as she hit a bases loaded clearing double to right-center field to make the score 10-1. After nine consecutive Baylor batters reached base, the Tar Heels ended the streak when Lake grounded out to the shortstop, scoring Lynam, to make the score 11-1.
For the inning, Baylor strung together nine runs on nine hits as the Lady Bears retired the Tar Heels in the bottom of the inning to claim their second run-rule victory of the tournament.
Cristin Vitek picked up the win for Baylor to improve to 6-1 on the season as she allowed only one run on four hits while striking out a season-high seven batters.
Cox took the loss for North Carolina, allowing six runs on eight hits in 5.1 innings of work.
Schwethelm, Lynam, Wilmoth, Pomes and Luce each had two hits for the Lady Bears as Luce and Lynam drove in three runs each to key the Baylor victory.
The Lady Bears will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 23, when Baylor travels to San Marcos, Texas, to take on Texas State at 5:00 p.m.
