Baylor
Iowa State
Iowa State Rallies to Defeat No. 8 Softball
4/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 30, 2005
AMES, Iowa --- Senior Carrie Leerberg gave the No. 8 Baylor softball team a 1-0 lead with her first career home run in the top of the eighth inning, however, Iowa State responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to defeat the Lady Bears 2-1 in action at the Southwest Athletic Complex. With the loss, Baylor falls to 44-9 overall, 10-6 in the conference, as the Cyclones improve to 18-27 overall and 3-12 in Big 12 play with the win.
The Lady Bears had a couple of chances to take the lead on the Cyclones in the first seven innings, however, could not manage to score as the game remained scoreless heading into the eighth.
Baylor's first strong chance to score came in the fourth inning when Chelsi Lake doubled down the left field line with Harmony Schwethelm at first. Schwethelm was thrown out at the plate, however, as the score remained 0-0 heading into the bottom of the inning.
Lake almost out the Lady Bears on top in the sixth inning as well, however, her drive to deep right field was caught at the wall by Iowa State's Kristy Olsen to keep the score knotted at 0-0.
Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson worked out of a jam in the bottom of the inning, retiring Misty Kimura with the bases loaded as the Lady Bears and Cyclones went into extra innings tied at 0-0.
Leerberg finally put the Lady Bears on the board in the top of the eighth when she led off the inning with a line drive that just cleared the right field fence for a home run to give Baylor a 1-0 lead. The home run was the first of Leerberg's four-year career as the second baseman was making her first start after returning from a hamstring injury suffered during the series against Nebraska.
Baylor had a chance to extend the lead, placing runners at second and third with only one out; however, Alyssa Ransom came into the game in relief for the Cyclones and retired the next two batters to keep the Baylor lead at one.
Iowa State then responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning to claim the come-from-behind victory. With two outs, Ashley Killeen struck a two out single through the right side of the infield as Kristen Karanzias barely beat April Luce's throw home to tie the score at 1-1. Paige Jensen then struck a double just past the out-stretched arms of Schwethelm, allowing Killeen to score from first to give the Cyclones the 2-1 victory.
The hit made a winner out of Ransom who improved to 11-16 on the season after retiring both batters she faced in the eighth.
Ferguson took the tough-luck loss for Baylor after allowing two runs on six hits in 7.2 innings of work. The sophomore right-hander struck out 12 in the loss, the most in her career and the most for a Baylor pitcher this season.
The Lady Bears will look to earn a split in the series when the teams meet in the series finale on Sunday, May 1, at 12:00 p.m.
