Baylor
Houston
SB Hosts Houston for Two-Game Weekend Series
3/19/2021 11:49:00 AM | Softball
Baylor riding a six-game winning streak
• Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT)
• Sunday at 1 p.m. (CT)
Site: Waco, Texas / Getterman Stadium
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 101.3 FM | Stream
Live Stats: BaylorStats.com
Twitter Updates: @BaylorSoftball
Series History
• Baylor leads, 21-14
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Just over a year after ending the COVID-shortened 2020 season with a doubleheader sweep at Houston, Baylor softball (16-4) will welcome the Cougars (8-12) for a two-game weekend series at Getterman Stadium.
Baylor, which has won six in a row and 12 of its last 16, will face Houston at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, with both games streamed live by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
"We're feeling confident with where we are and definitely seeing growth each week," Baylor associate head coach Britni Newman said. "The four losses that we've had, we've treated those as opportunities to get better and figure out what it was that we weren't doing right."
The Lady Bears did a lot right on a six-game road trip to Arizona, splitting a pair of games against No. 9 Arizona State and taking two each from Tarleton State and Grand Canyon at the Lopes Up Classic in Phoenix.
In Sunday's 7-2 win over ASU, second-year freshman Aliyah Binford threw 5.2 shutout innings, allowing just four hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, Binford improved to 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA.
"Aliyah mixes her speeds so well," said Newman, who works with the pitchers. "We talk about having three different speeds. She has more like six. She can just control the zone well by changing it up. She can top out at 68 mph, and then she can drop a 43-mph changeup in there. . . . That's one of the hardest things for hitters to adjust to is just variations. Since she can not only spot the ball, but being able to change up the speeds, it's had for hitters to make the adjustments."
Newman has been able to rotate in four different pitchers, with senior Gia Rodoni going 4-3 with a 4.63 ERA, three saves and team-high 38 strikeouts facing the toughest teams. Junior Sidney Holman-Mansell (5-0, 2.95) and freshman Maren Judisch (3-0, 1.78) give the Lady Bears one of the deepest pitching staffs in the country.
"It's been good that Maren hasn't necessarily had to take a huge role as a freshman," Newman said of the freshman right-hander from Waukee, Iowa. "She's been able to get in some innings and kind of relax and throw, rather than having to feel major, major pressure as a freshman. That's an ideal situation to bring her in . . . allowing her to get her confidence at this level and get some innings in."
In what turned out to be their final games of the 2020 season, Rodoni took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of a 1-0 win over Houston in the opener and the Lady Bears belted out five homers to take the nightcap, 10-6.
Baylor will travel to face Sam Houston State on Tuesday in Huntsville before opening Big 12 play next weekend at Texas Tech (13-7).
"Houston always has a good team, a scrappy lineup," Newman said. "I feel good going into the weekend, coming off some great wins in Arizona. It will be a good, solid weekend, for sure, good softball."
STORY LINES
• Baylor hosts Houston for a two-game series over the weekend at Getterman Stadium. The two teams faced last season in what ended up being the last games of the year for both teams as the seasons were shut down shortly thereafter.
• BU swept the doubleheader in Houston a year ago. Gia Rodoni nearly threw a perfect game, until a bloop single in the seventh inning, in Baylor's 1-0 win in the first game before the bats got hot for the Lady Bears in the second game, a 10-6 win. Baylor hit four home runs in the fifth inning - back-to-back by Goose McGlaun and Aliyah Binford. Lou Gilbert hit the first of her career, and Hannah Thompson rounded things out. Thompson ended up with two HRs in the game, the first time for BU since Taylor Ellis did so at Oklahoma on April 5, 2019.
• Binford was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week as she took over in the circle with the bases loaded and one out in Sunday's game at No. 9 Arizona State and held one of the most powerful offenses in the country scoreless on their home field. Binford kept the Sun Devils off balance with her offspeed and induced a slew of groundouts to pick up the win. The right-hander gave up four hits through 5.2 innings of work.
• Baylor is now 3-2 against ranked opponents this season. After opening the year with a loss to No. 25 Arkansas, the Lady Bears have won back-to-back games against ranked foes No. 25 Mississippi State (10-6) and No. 13 Louisiana (8-1). Over the weekend, Baylor split at No. 9 Arizona State.
• For a team among the nation's leaders in triples (9), Baylor more than tripled its home run production over the weekend. BU flew to Arizona with only three home runs on the season and came home with seven more. Zadie LaValley hit her first career bomb to spark a seventh inning two-out rally at Arizona State on Thursday. McGlaun hit a walkoff solo shot against Northern Illinois on Friday before LaValley was at it again against GCU. Ana Watson also went yard against the Lopes on Friday. Saturday was a home run derby for Baylor as Gilbert and Binford each hit dingers before Hannah Smith hit her first career home run.
• Nicky Dawson is Baylor's all-time leader in career triples with 12 after ripping one to left center field against Louisiana Tech on March 7. The fifth-year senior outfielder now has five triples this season, a mark that ties her for first nationally. Dawson is now tied for second in program history for triples in a season alongside Kyla Walker (2017), Carrie Leerberg (2004) and Kelly Osburn (2005). Harmony Schwethelm had six triples in 2005.
• 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.
