No. 21 BAYLOR at LONE STAR STATE INVITATIONAL
Friday, Feb. 26
• No. 21 Baylor vs. UConn - 3:30 p.m.
• No. 21 Baylor vs. Ole Miss - 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 27
• No. 21 Baylor vs. Lamar - 2:30 p.m.
• No. 21 Baylor vs. UConn - 5 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 28
• No. 21 Baylor vs. No. 25 Mississippi State - 11 a.m.
Site: Waco, Texas / Getterman Stadium
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
• Talent: Pete Sousa (pxp), Kelly Levesque (analyst)
Radio: 101.3 FM | Stream
• Talent: Dan Ingham
Live Stats: BaylorStats.com
Twitter Updates: @BaylorSoftball
Series History
• UConn: Baylor leads, 1-0
• Ole Miss: Baylor leads, 3-0
• Lamar: Baylor leads, 14-0
• Mississippi State: Baylor leads, 6-0

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            After playing its first game at Getterman Stadium in 358 days, the No. 21 Baylor softball team (2-1) will try to make up for lost time with five games over the next three days in the Lone Star Invitational. 
            In the first year of a unique tournament that is also hosted by Texas and Texas State, the Lady Bears will face UConn (3-2) at 3:30 and Ole Miss (4-5) at 6 p.m. Friday, Lamar (2-8) at 2:30 and UConn at 5 p.m. Saturday and 25^th-ranked Mississippi State (6-1) at 11 a.m. Sunday. 
            "Certainly, any time you have an opportunity to play high-caliber teams, you have to take advantage of it when they come to your place," Baylor coach Glenn Moore said. "We're looking forward to playing every one of these teams. A lot of different challenges, a lot of different styles of play. From gorilla ball to short-game ball, we've got to be ready for it all this weekend."
            In Wednesday's 6-1 win over UTA, Baylor exploded for six extra-base hits, including home runs by Emily Hott and Goose McGlaun. Through the first three games, half of the Lady Bears' 22 hits have gone for extra bases. 
            "We had quality at-bats up and down the lineup," Moore said. "There is still room to improve, we can't get too high off of that, but it was nice to see. We had five balls hit that could have very easily left the yard. We ended up getting two home runs out of that, and it was nice to see our new lights flash (after homers). We got a pretty solid, complete game."
            After splitting games against Arkansas and McNeese State on Sunday at the Cowgirl Classic, Wednesday's game "was the first where we could really see how dangerous we could be," senior third baseman Taylor Ellis said. Hott hit her first career homer out of the No. 9 spot. 
            "(Hott) took the first pitch and looked really strong and confident," Ellis said. "I said, 'Watch, she's about to smack one right here,' and the ball left the park. When you have a 9-hole hitter who can do that, you're doing pretty well. If one person doesn't have their best night, the nest person will. That's a quality of a good team, and that's something we have."
            The busy weekend will test a deep pitching staff that has rebounded from a six-run second inning against Arkansas, allowing four runs over the last 20 innings. Gia Rodoni (1-1, 6.39 ERA) got the save in a 3-2, nine-inning win over McNeese and picked up the win Wednesday, giving up one run on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts in five innings. 
            Sidney Holman-Mansell leads the staff with a 1.17 ERA, while freshmen Maren Judisch and Aliyah Binford have allowed a combined two runs on five hits in 8.1 innings. 
            "If you're going to play five (games in three days), you really need to have a bullpen," Moore said. "This does give you an opportunity to dip into it and see how those pitchers can throw. We haven't had an opportunity to get Madison Lindsey in yet, and we haven't thrown Gia a whole lot because we haven't played a whole lot. We just really need to use our bullpen and kind of figure out what are capabilities are with our bullpen."
            Sophomore outfielder Josie Bower, who has a team-high two doubles among her four hits, said the Lady Bears have the potential to hit up and down the lineup. 
            "Especially after all these indoor practices where we were hitting a lot," Bower said. "We got time to fine-tune our swings. Our lineup is pretty dangerous, so I think we'll be able to do that a lot this year."
            All of Baylor's games this weekend will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with KWTX anchor Pete Sousa and former Baylor standout Kelly Levesque calling the action.
            After this weekend, the Lady Bears will play their next 12 games on the road, starting with a doubleheader next Thursday at No. 9 Louisiana and the Louisiana Tech Invitational on Saturday and Sunday in Ruston, La. 


STORY LINES
• Baylor hosts the Lone Star State Invitational this weekend. This is the first year of the tournament as Baylor, Texas and Texas State are all host sites with opponents rotating among the three. The Lady Bears will first play host to UConn and Ole Miss before adding Lamar to the mix on Saturday. BU will end the weekend against No. 25 Mississippi State, marking the second-straight weekend with a ranked opponent.
• BU is coming off a 6-1 win over UTA in their home opener on Wednesday. The Lady Bears got to show off their new "tricked out" lights as Emily Hott and Goose McGlaun each went yard and set off the light show at Getterman Stadium. 
• BU, a team known for its small-ball game with exceptional speed, is making a turn towards power this season. Half of Baylor's hits this season have gone for extra bases (7 doubles, 1 triple, 3 home runs). Against UTA on Wednesday, the Lady Bears had five hits before recording a single. 
• Goose McGlaun was named one of 30 candidates for the 2021 Senior CLASS Award. McGlaun is the fourth selection to the preliminary list by a Lady Bear, joining Carlee Wallace, Heather Stearns and Kaitlyn Thumann.
• After 20 seasons as an assistant coach for the Lady Bears, Mark Lumley retired in October before he passed away in December after his fourth bout with cancer. The Baylor players and coaching staff will all be wearing blue ribbons in his honor. This season is for Lum.