March 25, 2014

Sam Houston 4, Baylor 3 (10 inn) | Baylor 12, Sam Houston 0 (5 inn)

THE RUNDOWN
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The No.12 Baylor (24-6) Softball team fell in 10 innings to Sam Houston State (15-17), 4-3 before exploding for a 12-0 win over the Bearkats in the nightcap Tuesday at the Sam Houston State Softball Complex.

In the first game, both teams were scoreless for nine inniings before Baylor's Holly Holl hit a go-ahead solo homer in the top of the 10^th. That was followed by a run scored on an error and another on a sacrifice fly from Linsey Hays to give Baylor a 3-0 advantage.

However, Sam Houston State loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 10th, and the Bearkats then scored runs on two-bases loaded walks, a single, and the winning run came on a wild pitch to as the Bearkats' Tiffany Castillo scored off Whitney Canion's errant pitch.

Canion picked up the loss in game one in relief but then rebounded for a two-hit shutout in Baylor's 12-0 win in the second game of the doubleheader. She struck out three and completed the 100^th game of her career to accompany her 35^th career shutout.

However, the story was the Baylor offense in game two propelled by a 10-run fourth inning. Sarah Smith drove in four runs including a 2-run homer while Jordan Strickland also hit a two-run bomb in an inning where the Lady Bears posted 10 hits. Clare Hosack added a two-run homer to start the game in the top of the first.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Whitney Canion picked up her 100^th career complete game and 35^th career shutout Tuesday night vs. Sam Houston.
• Canion also became the school's all-time leader in total appearances from the circle with two Tuesday night. She broke a tie with Lisa Ferguson (174, 2004-07) and has 176 appearances in her career.
• Holly Holl's go-ahead home run in the top of the 10^th inning in the first game was the 10^th home run of her career.
• Linsey Hays and Kaitlyn Thumann had multi-hit games in the first game with SHSU with two hits apiece. It was Thumann's 12^th multi-hit game of the season and Hays' seventh.
• Christy Lisenby snapped an 0-for-17 hitless streak at the plate with four consecutive hits spanning from her last at bat in the first game and all three at bats in game two.
• Lisenby (2^nd of the season), Justine Young (3^rd), and Sarah Smith (7^th) all had multi-hit games for Baylor in game two with Lisenby's three leading the team.
• Smith's four RBI in game two was both a season and career-high for the sophomore.
• Clare Hosack (7^th time this season), Jordan Strickland (4^th) and Smith (2^nd) all had multi-RBI games with Smith's four leading and Strickland and Hosack had two apiece.
• Hosack's 2-run homer in game two tied her with Linsey Hays for the team lead on the season with five home runs, and it was Hosack's 17^th home run of the season.
• Strickland's two-run homer in the fourth inning was the fourth of the season and eighth of her career.
• Smith's two-run homer was the third of the season for her and the eighth of her career.
• Hosack tied a career high with three runs scored in game two (vs. Pacific, 2/15/13).
• Smith extended her on-base streak to 11 games by reaching in both games Tuesday.
• Justine Young and Ari Hawkins each scored two runs apiece.
• Hawkins jumped into the team lead with 11 stolen bases on the season after swiping three in the doubleheader.

STAT OF THE GAME I
10 - 10 runs and 10 hits in the fourth inning for Baylor.

STAT OF THE GAME II
4 - Four-straight hits for Christy Lisenby after going 0-for-17 in her previous 17 at bats; before the first game of the doubleheader where she singled Tuesday night, her last hit came Feb. 22 vs. California.

THEY SAID IT
Glenn Moore on the Bears' peformance
"Obviously, we would have liked to have swept the two games, but middle of the game weeks are designed to prepare you for the weekend schedule, and I was pleased with the way the team responded at the plate in the second game.THEY TWEETED IT

Baylor explodes for 10 runs on 10 hits in the top of the 4th, and BU leads 12-0 over Sam Houston headed B4 #SicEm

-- Baylor Softball (@BaylorSoftball) March 26, 2014