Baylor
North Texas
SB Stays at Home to Host Baylor Invitational
2/21/2019 10:17:00 AM | Softball
Lady Bears will face their third top-10 opponent this weekend
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BAYLOR LADY BEARS (7-4) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Glenn Moore (Northwestern St., 1993) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (7-4) at BAYLOR INVITATIONAL February 22-24, 2018 Waco, Texas • Getterman Stadium (1,230) TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Live Stats WATCH: Facebook Live Baylor Social Media:    |
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NORTH TEXAS (8-1) Location: Denton, Texas Conference: Conference USA Head Coach: Rodney DeLong (East Central Oklahoma, 2013) Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Glenn Moore would like nothing better than to make a huge jump this weekend when his No. 21/22 Baylor softball team (7-4) hosts the Baylor Invitational.
For now, he'll take baby steps. Or, as he puts it, "the little victories."
"We've got to be near-sighted right now and try to get those small victories and grow this team, because it is young" said Moore, whose Lady Bears finished third at last week's Getterman Classic.
"I do think we're failing forward, if you will. The mistakes we're making, we're able to work on and improve, and we're seeing the team grow. The team's got the right mentality about it. They're not happy with the way we played. That's what we wanted to see, and we went back to work this week."
With four freshmen in the everyday lineup, and another one settling in as the most consistent pitcher, Moore has had to take a more patient approach than ever with this team.
"We have to keep the next tree in sight," Moore said. "We can't look at the mountaintop right now. It's unrealistic to think we're going to play like a World Series-caliber team with the youth we have right now. We have to keep that in mind. And if we do that, I think we'll grow and become a very competitive team. If we don't, if we fall apart because we aren't world-beaters right away, then we're going to struggle this whole year."
On the positive side, the freshmen have performed quite well. Centerfielder Lou Gilbert (.361), rightfielder Ana Watson (.346) and DP Josie Brower (.333) are all hitting over .300, while third baseman Kassidy Krupit is hitting .286 with a team-high three homers and 10 RBI.
"We're definitely a young team, and you can tell from our at-bats," said Gilbert, who joined Krupit and junior shortstop Taylor Ellis (.448) on the all-tournament team. "But, where we can improve is swinging earlier in the counts and not letting it be a pitcher's count. Making it our at-bat and not letting the pitcher or the umpire determine the outcome of it."
Freshman left-hander Madison Lindsey (3-0, 1.56) has also been a pleasant surprise in the circle. After earning all-tournament honors at the season-opening Puerto Vallarta Collegiate Challenge in Mexico, she picked up three of the team's four wins last week.
Overall, though, the pitching staff has struggled. The quartet of Lindsey, Krupit, sophomore Sidney Holman (3-2, 3.11) and senior Regan Green (1-2, 4.48) have walked 44 batters in the first 11 games and compiled a 2.96 ERA.
"Add four more hits to how many ever hits you're giving up," Moore said of the walks. "And the teams we play this weekend run, so that's a double for these kids that are walking if you can't throw them out. We'll give them one or two walks a game, but when you're getting four, that's hard to overcome. Again, it's growing them mentally, maturing them at this level and teaching them what it takes to have a chance to win against top-10, top-20-caliber teams."
Weather permitting, Friday's tournament schedule begins with North Texas (8-1) vs. Kent State (3-2) at 10 a.m., followed by Kent State vs. 10th-ranked Louisiana (11-0) at 12:30 p.m., Baylor vs. UNT at 3 p.m. and the Lady Bears facing Louisiana at 5:30. Wrapping up round-robin play, Louisiana plays North Texas at 10 a.m. Saturday, followed by Baylor vs. Kent State at 12:30 p.m., with the semifinals on Saturday and the consolation and championship games on Sunday.
All three teams have solid No. 1 pitchers, with Louisiana's Summer Ellyson coming in with a 7-0 record, 0.67 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 41.2 innings. Kent State's Andrea Scali is 3-0 with a 0.44 ERA, while UNT's Hope Trautwein is 4-0 with a 0.54 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 33.1 innings.
"I don't think the pitching we've faced has been outstanding to this point. It will be this weekend," Moore said. "So, we're going to have to grow there. And because of that, we're going to have to play better defense and pitch. You don't just beat them up, but they have to realize that we have to do better. We have to pitch more efficiently, less three-ball counts. So, I think they have their blinders on."
All the Baylor games this weekend will have live video streaming on Facebook @Baylor Softball.
STORY LINES
• No. 21/22 Baylor softball will host its eighth Baylor Invitational this weekend, Feb. 22-24.
• The tournament field features the Lady Bears along with North Texas, Louisiana and Kent State.
• All Baylor games will be streamed via Facebook Live (@BaylorSoftball) this weekend.
• The Baylor Invitational began in 1981 and has been played since then in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 2015 and 2017. The Lady Bears are 29-12 all-time in the tournament.
• In 1996 Baylor hosted the Baylor Spring Invitational (2-0 against Mary Hardin-Baylor and Tarleton State) and the Baylor Tournament (2-0 against Texas Lutheran and Houston Baptist.)
• North Texas was part of the first Baylor Invitational and has participated in four overall including the 2019 tournament.
• Baylor's record is 40-26 all-time against the Baylor Invitational field.
• Baylor faced two ranked opponents in the opening weekend for the first time since the 2010 season.
• Last weekend, the Lady Bears finished third in the Getterman Classic as they beat Southern Mississippi, 4-3 on Sunday.
• Madison Lindsey went 3-0 last week in the circle with a 0.00 ERA while Taylor Ellis and Lou Gilbert batted over .500 for the week. Ellis scored five runs, while Gilbert had three RBIs and went 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts.
• Taylor Ellis, Lou Gilbert and Kassidy Krupit were named to the Getterman Classic All-Tournament team.
• Baylor returns 13 letterwinners and seven position player starters from the 2018 squad that advanced to the program's eighth consecutive NCAA Regional.
• The Lady Bears add two transfers and a strong eight-member signing class to the 2019 roster.
• The Lady Bears have the fourth-longest tenured coaching staff in the country in head coach Glenn Moore, associate head coach Mark Lumley and assistant coach Britni Sneed Newman.
• Baylor is 5-0 when the opponent scores two runs or less in 2019.
• Freshman Kassidy Krupit hit the team's first home run of the season against Liberty in the top of the seventh inning on Feb. 10, helping the Lady Bears top the Flames, 6-1, in Mexico. She's hit two more (at UTSA, UTA).
QUICK HITS
• Baylor has five games on its schedule against teams ranked in the preseason Coaches Top 10 and 16 games vs. the Coaches Top 25.
• Baylor is 1-1 against ranked opponents in 2019, going 4-8 against ranked foes last season.
• Baylor will play 24 games against 12 programs that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Regionals, including WCWS participants Washington and Oklahoma.
• Baylor is 6-1 when scoring first in 2019.
• Baylor is 270-99 over the last 7 seasons, averaging over 38 wins per season since 2013.
• BU was picked 3rd in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll behind Oklahoma and Texas.
LADY BEARS AGAINST BAYLOR INVITATIONAL OPPONENTS
• Baylor is a combined 18-12 against North Texas, Louisiana and Kent State since 2011.
• The last loss to any team in this weekend's field was Feb. 19, 2017, when North Texas topped Baylor in the Getterman Classic, 3-2, in eight innings.
• Baylor topped Louisiana in the 2018 Judi Garman Classic, 1-0. Gia Rodoni pitched a complete game shutout as none of Lousiana's eight hits went for extra bases.
• Goose McGlaun's home run in the top of the first, her third homer of the weekend, proved to be the game winner.
• Baylor's only matchup against Kent State came in the 2017 NCAA Waco Regional when Gia Rodoni recorded her first career no-hitter against the Golden Flashes and the program's first in an NCAA tournament game.
• Kyla Walker scored the winning run for Baylor in the fifth inning when she scored from third base - after lacing a two-out triple to right-center field - when Kent State's second baseman's throw to third bounced into the BU dugout.
