April 30, 2006
Box Score
WACO, Texas - The No. 18 Baylor softball team jumped out to an early three-run lead and withstood a seventh-inning rally by Iowa State as the Lady Bears picked up the series sweep over the Cyclones with a 5-3 victory in action at Getterman Stadium. With the win, the Lady Bears eighth straight, Baylor improves to 36-17 on the season, 12-5 in conference play as Iowa State falls to 23-25, 5-11 in Big 12 play with the loss.
Unlike game one of the series, Baylor jumped out to an early lead with a pair of runs with two outs in the bottom of the first inning to grab a 2-0 lead. After Brette Reagan walked, Chelsi Lake delivered a run-scoring double to right field as Reagan came all the way home from first as the Lady Bears took a 1-0 lead. Ashley Monceaux gave Baylor a two-run cushion as she smashed a single down the first base line, scoring Lake from second and giving the Lady Bears a two-run advantage.
Baylor would add a single run in the second as the first four batters reached base for the Lady Bears in the inning. With the bases loaded, Miriam Romero delivered a run-scoring single to left field, scoring Kylie Conroy from third to make the score 3-0.
Iowa State starting pitcher Amie Ford was removed in favor of Alyssa Ransom as Ransom worked out of a bases loaded, no-out jam to prevent the Lady Bears from extending the lead in the inning as the score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth.
The Lady Bears added what turned out to be a pair of much-needed insurance runs in the inning as Kelly Osburn executed a perfect squeeze play to score Jordan Daniels before Harmony Schwethelm added a RBI single in the inning to give Baylor a five-run cushion.
Iowa State refused to go quietly; however, as Jessica Quade delivered a three-run home run in the seventh to make the score 5-3. The Cyclones then managed to put the tying run on base before Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson re-entered the game and forced Beth Tharp to foul-out to first base, preserving the Lady Bears victory.
With the win, Baylor established a new school record for conference wins in a season as the Lady Bears can finish no lower than third-place in the Big 12 Conference. Prior to this season, the Lady Bears had never finished higher than fourth in the conference standings.
Ferguson picked up the win for the Lady Bears and improved to 18-11 on the season after allowing two runs on two hits in 6.2 innings of work. Amie Ford took the loss for Iowa State and fell to 10-11 on the season after allowing three runs on five hits in one-plus inning.
Daniels, Romero and Monceaux led the way for Baylor with two hits apiece on the day as Daniels just missed out on a three-hit outing as she was robbed of her first career home run when Iowa State's Stephanie Mosley reached over the right-field wall to make the grab in the fourth inning.
Baylor will close out the regular season on Wednesday, May 3, when the Lady Bears host No. 2 Texas at 6:30 p.m. in the final home game of the year.
