Baylor
Missouri (Big 12 Tournament)
Softball Drops Extra-Inning Decision to Tigers
5/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 14, 2005
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- Missouri scored six runs in the top of the eighth inning as the Tigers rallied for a 10-4 victory over the Lady Bears to eliminate Baylor from the Big 12 Conference Tournament. With the loss, Baylor falls to 47-12 on the season as Missouri improves to 42-12 and advances to the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship game against Texas.
After a scoreless first inning, Baylor grabbed a two-run lead with a pair of runs in the second. After Kim Wilmoth singled and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Carrie Leerberg, Chelsi Lake hit a double to left-center to score Wilmoth as the Lady Bears took a 1-0 lead. After Melissa Huffhines singled to advance Lake to third, Katie Ottens and Emily Gipe came into the game as pinch runners and executed a perfect double steal as Ottens came home on the throw to second to give Baylor the two-run lead.
Missouri tied the game in the third when Janessa Roening hit a two-run single with the bases loaded and two outs to make the score 2-2.
The Lady Bears answered the Tiger rally; however, with two runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-2 lead. Kelly Osburn led-off the inning with a double to left-center field and scored when Harmony Schwethelm doubled to the right-center field gap to give the Lady Bears a one-run lead. After advancing to third, Schwethelm scored on a wild pitch to give Baylor a 4-2 lead.
Missouri scored a pair of runs in the fifth, however, as the Tigers responded to a two-run deficit for the second time during the game. Roening had a RBI double and Alyson Tobyne a two-out RBI single to tie the score at 4-4. With runners at second and third, Baylor reliever Cristin Vitek forced Kenda Power to ground out to prevent the Tigers from taking the lead as the game went to the bottom of the fifth.
Neither team managed to score in the final two innings, however, as the Tigers and Lady Bears went into extra innings for the second time this season.
Missouri then exploded for six runs in the eighth as the Tigers batted around, collecting five hits, to take a six-run lead into the bottom of the inning.
Erica Peterson shut down the Lady Bears in the bottom of the inning as she improved to 17-3 on the season with the win.
Cristin Vitek fell to 12-5 on the season after allowing one earned run in 2.2 innings of work.
Baylor will find out who and where the Lady Bears will play in the NCAA Softball Championships when the pairings are announced at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNews. Damon's in Waco will host a watch party for the Baylor softball team beginning at 6:00 p.m. that will be open to the general public.
