June 1, 2007
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. --- The No. 7 Baylor softball team stood toe-to-toe with defending national champion and No. 4 Arizona; however, Kristie Fox's solo home run in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Wildcats to a 2-1 victory over the Lady Bears in action at the NCAA Women's College World Series on Thursday.
The loss drops Baylor to 50-15 on the season and into the loser's bracket of the WCWS while Arizona improves to 45-12-1 while advancing in the winner's bracket.
The starting pitchers for the contest, Arizona's Taryne Mowatt and Baylor's Lisa Ferguson, were in control throughout before the Wildcats broke through first with a run in the fourth inning.
With Fox at third after advancing following a lead-off double, Laine Roth drove her home with a ground out to shortstop to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Baylor answered right back; however, as a pair of passed balls allowed the Lady Bears to tie the game. After the first passed ball allowed Kirsten Shortridge to advance to third, she came home to score on a 2-1 pitch with Courtney Oberg at the plate to score the first run for Baylor to tie the game.
Two pitches later, Oberg almost gave the Lady Bears the lead as she laced a line drive that was heading to center field; however, Fox made a leaping, snow-cone grab to save the run and retire the side as the score remained tied heading into the bottom of the fifth.
The score would remain the same until the bottom of the ninth when Fox took the first pitch from Ferguson and lifted it just inside the foul pole past the outstretched hands of left-fielder Tiffany Wesley to end the game and send the Wildcats into a raucous celebration at home.
Ferguson pitched exceptionally in the loss, falling to 25-8 on the season after allowing two runs on six hits in eight innings of work. With seven strikeouts, the senior right-hander became only the third player in school history to surpass 600 for her career as she now has 602 during her four-year career.
Mowatt picked up the win for Arizona while improving to 37-10 on the season after allowing one unearned run on two hits in nine innings of work while striking out 15 batters.
Shortridge and Ashley Monceaux picked up hits for the Lady Bears as Baylor struggled to get the key hit, leaving seven runners on base during the night.
Baylor will return to action with its season on the line as the Lady Bears face No. 7 Texas A&M on Saturday, June 2, in an elimination contest at 1:00 p.m. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN HD.
