Baylor
36-17
McNeese State
41-19
No. 18/16 SB Slips to McNeese in NCAA Opener
5/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Baylor Bear Foundation
€‹COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Fighting back from 8-0 and 10-4 deficits in Friday's first-round NCAA regional game, the 18th-ranked Baylor softball team had the tying run on third base with dangerous hitter Kyla Walker at the plate.
€‹That's when Glenn Moore made "probably one of the biggest coaching mistakes in my career, taking the bat out of a .450 hitter's hand, trying to make something happen, getting overzealous."
€‹Instead of leaving it to Walker to drive in Madi O'Neal and keep this "crazy game' going, Moore tried to steal a run by sending Taylor Ellis from first base. But, the McNeese State Cowgirls were ready for it and tagged out Ellis before O'Neal could score. Game over.
€‹McNeese (41-19) scored five runs on six hits in the first inning off Baylor starter Regan Green (11-5) and kept the hits coming in a shocking 11-10 win over the Lady Bears that put "probably our backs against the wall as bad as they've ever been," Moore said.
€‹"I think I tried to outguess them a little bit, thinking they weren't going to go after (Ellis) with speed on third base. And it just didn't work out," he said. "Again, the rest of my life I'll go through that one and regret making that decision with Kyla Walker in the box. I'll take the blame on that one. The kids fought back hard, I'm very proud of them . . . but you can't dig that kind of a hole at this level."
€‹The fact that they did and still had a chance to pull this one out speaks to how crazy a game it was and how much fight this Lady Bear team has.
€‹"A lot of things happened in that crazy game," Moore said. "It was a very frustrating game, so say the least. Our game plan going in failed quickly. What we had prepared for didn't work. It was probably my fault as much as anything because we have so many new pieces right now, moving people around, overthinking it a little bit."
€‹With senior catcher Carlee Wallace out this week with a concussion she suffered at last weekend's Big 12 Championship, the Lady Bears played a game of musical chairs. Ellis moved from shortstop to catcher, Maddison Kettler from right field to short and O'Neal replaced her in right. Not to mention that Goose McGlaun is still in her infancy at third base after replacing injured starter Caitlin Charlton.
€‹"We just don't have a lot of options. We're thin, very thin, and we don't have a lot of kids that can play three positions," Moore said. "So, we're moving them around and hoping for the best. I don't think we made the wrong moves. We just needed more practicing time to have them prepared."
€‹Green, who had pitched well in a 10-2 run-rule victory over McNeese on April 10, didn't even get out of the first inning. Her day ended with back-to-back doubles by Tayler Strother and Carleigh Chaumont that made it a 5-0 game.
€‹"We thought if we could knock off a win with Regan - and her having pitched well against them the last time - that we would even the playing field (with top-seeded Texas A&M)," Moore said of starting Green instead of junior ace Gia Rodoni. "We knew, taking that risk, that we could be put in this position. Now, we're put in this position and we've used (Rodoni) in a hot game when it's exhausting out there."
€‹The Cowgirls scored on a suicide squeeze bunt in the second inning and added two more runs off Rodoni in the third, stretching the lead to 8-0. €‹No-hit through three, Baylor's bats woke up in the fourth. Three consecutive singles by Nicky Dawson, Jessie Scroggins and Shelby Friudenberg plated the Lady Bears' first run, then three more came across on sac flies by Kettler and Ellis and a fielding error by McNeese.
€‹"We just had to make adjustments at the plate," freshman Hannah Thompson said. "In the beginning of the game, we weren't adjusting real well. But, once we got through the lineup and started seeing the pitcher more, we started making adjustments. Then, we just kept rolling with each hit and passing the bat."
€‹The Cowgirls scored two more in the top of the sixth, the first one coming across on a close call at the plate, with Justyce McClain apparently beating O'Neal's throw home. Moore was given a warning by Homeplate umpire Dustin Douglass when he went out to argue the call.
€‹"It's a bang-bang play, and it's hot as heck out there, and (the umpires) are working their behinds off," Moore said. "It was a crucial call, because we would have tied the ballgame up had that out been made. If he missed it, it was still a close call and you can't be upset with it. It was a tough call to make either way. I thought he missed it, but we all have opinions, and he was closer than I am. And he's a great umpire. I have a lot of respect for Dustin Douglass."
€‹That call loomed especially big when the Lady Bears responded again with a five-run outburst that made it a one-run game, 10-9.
€‹O'Neal beat out a two-out bunt single and scored on Thompson's towering home run to left-center field.
€‹"I was just trying to get a base hit and keep the offense going," said Thompson, who hit her third homer of the season in her 47th at-bat. "She had been throwing me inside the whole game, so I just stepped off the plate a little bit and waited for the inside pitch, and it came. And I just let loose."
€‹After Ellis kept it going with an infield single, Walker reached base on a hard line shot to third that was ruled an error. Dawson greeted reliever Amber Coons with a two-run double to the gap in right-center, then Scroggins followed with an RBI single to center and raced all the way around to third on a throwing error.
€‹That left the tying run just 60 feet away, but Friudenberg popped up to first for the final out in the sixth.
€‹"I'm very impressed with the fight," Moore said. "I didn't think we were going to respond there for a while. We challenged them a little bit. . . . But, we did show some fight and came back and had a chance to win the ballgame."
€‹McNeese tacked on an unearned run in the seventh on Baylor's fourth error of the game, but the Lady Bears got right back in it with singles by McGlaun, O'Neal and Ellis. That was when Moore it out of Walker's hands.
€‹"I'm sick to my stomach," he said, "because I think in that situation you let the players win it and you don't try to overcoach them. I overcoached a little bit in that game, and it hurt us. I'll take the blame for this one."
€‹Backed into a desperate position needing to win two on Saturday and two more on Sunday just to get out of the regional, Baylor (36-17) will face Prairie View A&M (20-22) in the first elimination game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Davis Diamond. McNeese faces Texas A&M (41-16) in the winner's bracket game at 1:30 p.m., with the loser facing the Baylor-Prairie View winner at 6:30.
€‹"We'll just put our heads together and see what we can come up with and try to fight back and see what we have in us," Moore said.
THE RUNDOWN
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - No. 18/16 Baylor softball (36-16, 12-6 Big 12) dug an early hole that was too much to overcome, dropping game one, 11-10, to McNeese (40-19, 18-9 Southland) on Friday afternoon at Davis Diamond to open play in the NCAA College Station Regional.
Regan Green (11-5) made the start in the circle but was chased before the end of the first inning, surrendering six hits and five runs.
Gia Rodoni finished the first and closed the next six innings out for BU, allowing six runs, only four earned, on seven hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
McNeese came out firing on all cylinders, busting out to an 8-0 lead after three.
The Lady Bears rallied, finally breaking through with four runs in the home half of the fourth.
Nicky Dawson led off the frame with a single to right, the first hit of the ballgame for the Lady Bears.
Jessie Scroggins singled to right, with Shelby Friudenberg driving a single down the left field line to give BU its first run of the ballgame.
A walk for Goose McGlaun loaded the bases, with Hannah Smith checking on to run for Friudenberg. Maddison Kettler driving a sac fly to right that scored Scroggins.
A fielder's choice bunt to the pitcher by Madi O'Neal loaded the bases back, with Hannah Thompson driving in a run on an infield error by the Cowgirls.
Taylor Ellis closed out the four-run inning for the Lady Bears with a sac fly to center, scoring McGlaun and cutting the McNeese lead to 8-4 after four.
McNeese took back two runs in the top of the sixth, pushing the Cowgirl lead back to 10-4 heading into the home half of the frame.
Rallying with two outs, Madi O'Neal legged out a bunt single to the pitcher to put a runner on for Hannah Thompson.
The freshman came up clutch for the Lady Bears, pounding a two-run shot over left center to steal the two runs back.
Taylor Ellis kept the rally going, singling to short, with Kyla Walker reaching on an error.
A double to right center for Nicky Dawson plated two runs, keeping a runner in scoring position for Jessie Scroggins.
Scroggins singled up the middle to score Dawson, putting BU to within one run of the Cowgirls, trailing 10-9 after six.
McNeese added a dagger, two-out run in the seventh, pushing the lead back to two.
Trailing 11-9 down to the last three outs, McGlaun led off with a single, with O'Neal lacing a single up the middle.
With two outs, Ellis roped a single into right field, scoring McGlaun and moving O'Neal to third.
Trying to force a rundown on the base paths with Walker back at the plate, Ellis was caught in a rundown between first and second before O'Neal could break for home, ending the game a run short of the epic comeback.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Baylor dropped 45-29 all-time in NCAA Tournament play and 31-12 in the regional rounds of competition.
• Baylor fell to 22-7 all-time vs. McNeese, including a 4-3 mark in neutral site games and 16-3 under head coach Glenn Moore.
• Jessie Scroggins went 2-for-4, extending her own program record with her 83rd career multi-hit game and taking her season total out to a team-best 28.
• Hannah Thompson drove out the third home run of her freshman season, collecting her second-career multi-RBI game. Two out of her three home runs have come after the regular season, one in the Big 12 Championship and one in Friday's NCAA Regional.
• Nicky Dawson had her 10th multi-hit game of the season, her 11th career effort.
• Dawson also collected her fourth-career multi-RBI game, all coming in her sophomore season at Baylor.
• Madi O'Neal had her second multi-hit game of the season, her third-career multi-hit performance.
• Taylor Ellis notched her 10th multi-hit effort, the 15th of her career.
WHAT'S NEXT
Baylor will face the Prairie View A&M back at Davis Diamond on Saturday, May 19, at 4 p.m. CT. The Lady Bears will have to beat PVAMU and, on a quick turnaround, defeat the loser of the McNeese-Texas A&M game immediately following the BU-PVAMU game, slated for a 6:30 p.m. CT start. The Cowgirls and Aggies lead off the Saturday schedule, playing at 1:30 p.m. CT, with the winner advancing to the Sunday regional finals.
#SicEm
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Flores, Alexsandra (19-9)
L: Green, Regan (11-5)
S: Settle, Caroline (1)
Batting:
2B: Piancastelli, Erika 2 ; Strother, Tayler 1 ; Chaumont, Carleigh 1
RBI: McClain, Justyce 1 ; Piancastelli, Erika 1 ; Catron, Morgan 1 ; Saldivar, Alexandria 1 ; Turbeville, Aubree 1 ; Wright, Brenique 1 ; Strother, Tayler 1 ; Chaumont, Carleigh 2
SH: Strother, Tayler 1
SF: Saldivar, Alexandria 1 ; Turbeville, Aubree 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McClain, Justyce 3 ; Piancastelli, Erika 2 ; Saldivar, Alexandria 1 ; Wright, Brenique 1 ; Strother, Tayler 3 ; Chaumont, Carleigh 1
SB: McClain, Justyce 2 ; Miller, JaMaiya 1 ; Strother, Tayler 1 ; Chaumont, Carleigh 1
Batting:
2B: Dawson, Nicky 1
HR: Thompson, Hannah 1
RBI: Dawson, Nicky 2 ; Scroggins, Jessie 1 ; Friudenberg, Shelby 1 ; Kettler, Maddison 1 ; Thompson, Hannah 3 ; Ellis, Taylor 2
SF: Kettler, Maddison 1 ; Ellis, Taylor 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Walker, Kyla 1 ; Dawson, Nicky 2 ; Scroggins, Jessie 1 ; Smith, Hannah 1 ; McGlaun, Goose 2 ; O'Neal, Madi 1 ; Thompson, Hannah 1 ; Ellis, Taylor 1
CS: Ellis, Taylor 1
