Baylor
Louisiana-Monroe
Softball Opens Season with Pair of Wins
2/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 4, 2005
WACO, Texas --The No. 17 Baylor softball team opened the 2005 season with a pair of victories in the first day of action at the Getterman Classic as the Lady Bears blanked Louisiana-Monroe 7-0 before defeating No. 22 Illinois 5-2. With the wins, Baylor improves to 2-0 on the season and is now 18-1 all-time at the Getterman Classic.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Lisa Ferguson got the Lady Bears off to a good start on the year as she tied her single-game career high with seven strikeouts against Louisiana-Monroe in the opener. Ferguson tossed six innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits and one walk along the way as she improved to 1-0 on the season.
The victory over the Indians also gave the Lady Bears their 100th career win in Getterman Stadium as Baylor improved to 100-38 all-time on their home field.
Baylor got on the board early against the Indians as Kelly Osburn hit a bases loaded single to right field to score Harmony Schwethelm to give the Lady Bears an early 1-0 lead.
The Lady Bears then managed to capitalize on several ULM mistakes in the fifth and sixth innings to outscore the Indians 6-0 over the two frames and extend their lead to 7-0.
After Carrie Leerberg reached on a fielding error and advanced to third, Chelsi Lake drove her home with a single to right-center field to make the score 2-0. Baylor would then steal a run later in the inning as Kim Wilmoth stole home on the Indians failed pickoff attempt of Stephanie Pomes at first base.
With the score 3-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Baylor exploded for four runs to grab a seven run lead and put the game away. The key hit of the inning came when Tessa Lynam belted a single to center field to score Schwethelm and Leerberg to give the Lady Bears a 6-0 lead. The two-run single was the first hit of the year for Lynam, who returned to the Lady Bears line-up after missing last season due to a back injury.
Katie Ottens closed out the scoring for the Lady Bears in the contest when she scored her first career run off of a throwing error by catcher Ellie Barham with two outs.
Freshman Nicole Jackson came into the contest to get the final three outs as Baylor won its seventh consecutive season opener.
Osburn and Wilmoth each collected two hits as Schwethelm and Leerberg scored two runs each to lead the attack for the Lady Bears.
Jennifer Braley allowed one run and four hits in four innings of work to take the loss for the Indians.
Baylor continued to capitalize on errors in the second contest of the night as the Lady Bears scored three unearned runs to defeat No. 22 Illinois 5-2.
The Lady Bears scored a pair of runs in the top of the second inning as Baylor grabbed an early 2-0 lead. With runners on first and second, Erin Sheek placed a bunt down the third place line to force Illinois pitcher Jackelyn Diekemper into a hurried throw that sailed down the right field line. Wilmoth and Osburn made the most of the mistake as both runners came home to score to give the Lady Bears the early two-run cushion.
Baylor then extended the lead to five with three runs off of two hits in the fourth inning. With runners on second and third with no outs, Wilmoth hit a sharp grounder to second base. Angelena Mexicano was unable to field the ball cleanly allowing Osburn and Kylie Conroy to score to give the Lady Bears a 4-0 lead.
Wilmoth ended the scoring in the inning after she came home when April Luce reached on a fielding error by Shana Diller.
Although Illinois managed two runs in he bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to three, Baylor senior left-hander Cristin Vitek shut down the Fighting Illini the rest of the way as the Lady Bears went on to claim a 5-2 win.
For the contest, Vitek tossed a complete game, allowing two runs on seven hits as Baylor avenged last season's loss to Illinois in the NCAA Softball Championships.
Schwethelm led the way for Baylor with two hits as Osburn and Wilmoth scored two runs each in the victory.
Diekemper took the loss for Illinois, allowing five runs on two hits in three innings of work.
In other action at the Getterman Classic on Friday, Illinois defeated Centenary 4-2 to open the tournament and Centenary rallied with two runs in the sixth to defeat UL-Monroe 2-1 in the second contest of the day.
Baylor will continue play in the Getterman Classic on Saturday, Feb. 5, as the Lady Bears face Centenary at 10:00 a.m. before meeting No. 22 Illinois at 2:30 p.m. In other action on the second day of the Getterman Classic, UL-Monroe will face Illinois at 12:15 p.m. while the Indians will close out the day against Centenary at 4:30 p.m.
