Baylor
Missouri
Softball Sweeps Missouri with Walk-Off Win
4/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 24, 2005
WACO, Texas --- Trailing 3-0, the No. 8 Baylor softball team rallied for four unanswered runs; capped by Chelsi Lake's walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh, as the Lady Bears earned a sweep of No. 17 Missouri with a 4-3 win over the Tigers in action at Getterman Stadium. With the win, Baylor improves to 43-8, 10-5 in the Big 12 Conference, as Missouri falls to 32-10, 6-7 in conference play.
After a scoreless first inning, Missouri got on the board first with a run in the second. Following a lead-off double by Jen Bruck, Kathy Masterson singled up the middle with one out to score Bruck from second as the Tigers grabbed the 1-0 lead.
Micaela Minner extended the Missouri lead to three when she lifted her 14th home run of the season, a two-run shot, well over the right-center field wall to make the score 3-0.
It was all the runs Missouri would manage, however, as Baylor pitching shut down the Tigers the rest of the way, allowing the Lady Bears to stage a late rally.
Tessa Lynam put the Lady Bears on the board in the fourth, when she led off the inning with a solo shot over the left field wall, her eighth home run of the season, to pull Baylor within two runs.
Although Baylor was unable to score in the fifth, a two-out rally in the sixth, sparked by seniors Kim Wilmoth and April Luce, tied the game at 3-3. With two-outs, Lynam singled up the middle and was replaced in favor of pinch-runner Jordan Daniels as Wilmoth came up to the plate. The senior shortstop came through for the Lady Bears, lacing a triple to the right-center field wall, scoring Daniels from first to cut the Tigers lead to 3-2. Luce then tied the game when she took the first pitch from Erin Kalka and smashed it up the middle, scoring Wilmoth from third as the Lady Bears tied the game.
Lynam came into the game in relief in the seventh and allowed a lead-off double to Alyson Tobynem as the Tigers got the go-ahead run in scoring position with no outs. The junior right-hander got out of the jam, however, when Kelly Osburn made a diving catch off the bat of Leanne Bowers and doubled off Sarah Stringer at second to end the Tigers threat.
The play set-up another walk-off win for the Lady Bears as Baylor scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to win the game. After Kalka allowed a one-out double to Katie Ottens, Bruck came into the game and walked the next two batters, loading the bases for the Chelsi Lake. On a 2-1 pitch, Lake hit a seeing-eye single through the right side, scoring pinch-runner Kylie Conroy from third, giving the Lady Bears their second consecutive walk-off win over the Tigers.
Lynam earned the win for Baylor, her second of the series, as she improved to 10-2 on the season after allowing no runs on one hit in one inning of work.
Kalka took the loss for Missouri and fell to 4-5 on the season after allowing four runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings of work.
The game marked the final regular season home contest for six Baylor seniors: Melissa Huffhines, Carrie Leerberg, Luce, Stephanie Pomes, Wilmoth and Cristin Vitek, who were honored after the contest.
Lynam and Wilmoth each had two hits in the win to lead the Lady Bears attack.
The Baylor (10-5) win, coupled with losses by Texas (to Iowa State) and Oklahoma (to Kansas), moves the Lady Bears into a tie with the Sooners (10-5) for second place in the conference with the Longhorns (8-4) one-half game behind in the standings.
The Lady Bears will return to action on Wednesday, April 27, when Baylor travels to Denton, Texas, to face North Texas at 6:00 p.m.
