By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            With a track record of making 16 NCAA regionals in the 22 previous seasons a tournament was held, Baylor softball coach Glenn Moore feels fairly confident that his team has "done enough to impress the committee."
            The fourth-seeded Lady Bears (27-18) will get a chance to improve their resume at the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, facing sixth-seeded Texas Tech (19-25) at 11 a.m. Friday and No. 1-seeded and top-ranked Oklahoma (42-2) at 2 p.m. Friday in pool play. 
            They would then play ninth-ranked Oklahoma State (20-4), No. 10 Texas (26-5) or fifth-seeded Iowa State (31-19) in Saturday's bracket play, depending on their finish in pool play. 
            "We're certainly not where we want to be, but this is our body of work," said Moore, whose team was swept by Texas last weekend in the final regular-season series. "And given what I've seen in the past, my experience tells me traditionally we would have done enough to impress the committee. I feel pretty good about that. But, they're going to look at the last 10 games a little bit as well, so you have to make sure you perform. And we need a win."
            The best chance for that comes in the early game Friday, when they face a Texas Tech team that squeaked into the field as the No. 6 seed with a 3-15 mark in conference play. Baylor swept a conference-opening series in Lubbock back in March, but had to pull out a couple of tight 5-2 games. 
            The winning pitcher in both of those bookend games in the Tech series, sixth-year senior Gia Rodoni (11-9, 3.58 ERA) said the key is "limiting them on base."
            "They're an aggressive team," Rodoni said. "I know their pitching is great as well. The pitcher we'll probably see (Missy Zoch, 10-12, 3.60) has some great off-speed that the first game we struggled with. But, after that, we kind of figured it out. So, just attacking them early and staying on top and not letting them get any sort of momentum."
            While it was "humbling" getting shut out by Texas three-straight times, sophomore outfielder Lou Gilbert (.343, 5 homers, 20 RBI) said the Lady Bears are still confident at the plate. 
            "Softball is a humbling sport, so everybody has those weekends," Gilbert said. "Just because it humbles you one weekend doesn't mean it's going to do the same the nest. We're going to face a lot of great pitchers, but we've got great coaches and we've got hard-working teammates."
            In that same vein, despite back-to-back losses to the Longhorns, Rodoni said she feels "a lot better than what I've felt in the past going into postseason."
            "I definitely don't feel like I've been overthrown," she said. "Coach has been good with conserving innings. So, I feel great going into it."
            Moore said Rodoni is "feeling the best she has all year."
            "That's exciting, (because) that's really our chance of having success is having a healthy Gia Rodoni in the circle," Moore said. "Even though the outcome hasn't been what we wanted the last couple of games, there's been evidence from her that she's someone who can compete in postseason for us and give us what we need."
            Tech is hitting a league-worst .260, but senior Karli Williams gives the Red Raiders a serious threat in the middle of the lineup, hitting .304 with a team-high seven homers and 31 RBI. 
            "They have nothing to lose, and I expect them to play this game like it's their championship game," Moore said. "I told the girls the other day, we've got to make sure we're prepared. We don't have any reason to take anyone for granted, so I don't fear that at all. We just have to go up there and realize we've put in the body of work that we have at this point in time and now we see where that takes us."
            Earning second-team All-Big 12 honors, Gilbert and second-year freshman second baseman Emily Hott have given the Lady Bears a potent 1-2 punch at the top of the order, hitting .343 and .324, respectively. Hott had a 29-game on-base streak come to an end in the second game of the Texas series, but her .491 on-base percentage in league play ranks sixth. 
            After seeing their RPI ranking drop from 32^nd to 38^th, which is actually four spots below an Iowa State team that they took two of three from, Moore said he made a point of telling the team, "We need to make sure we take care of business up there."
            All the games at the tournament will be streamed live by Big 12 Now on ESPN+. 
            The NCAA bracket and region selections will be announced at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPN. 


BAYLOR at PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 SOFTBALL. CHAMPIONSHIP
• Pool A
    • No. 4 Baylor vs. No. 6 Texas Tech - Friday at 11 a.m. (CT) | Integris Field
    • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Baylor - Friday at 2 p.m. (CT) | OGE Energy Field
    • No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 Texas Tech - Friday at 7:30 p.m. (CT) | OGE Energy Field
• Pool B
    • No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 3 Texas - Friday at 11 a.m. (CT) | OGE Energy Field
    • No. 3 Texas vs. No. 5 Iowa State - Friday at 2 p.m. (CT) | Integris Field
    • No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 5 Iowa State - Friday at 5 p.m. (CT) | OGE Energy Field
• Saturday
    • Pool A 3rd Place vs. Pool B 3rd Place - 10:30 a.m. (CT) | Integris Field
    • Pool A 2nd Place vs. Pool B 2nd Place - 10:30 a.m. (CT) | OGE Energy Field
    • Pool A 1st Place vs. Pool B 1st Place - 3 p.m. (CT) | OGE Energy Field
Site: 
• USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium | Oklahoma City, Okla.
TV: 
• Big 12 Now on ESPN+
• Saturday's championship game on ESPN2
Radio: 101.3 FM | Stream
Live Stats: BaylorStats.com
Twitter Updates: @BaylorSoftball

STORY LINES
• Baylor softball heads north to Oklahoma City for the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Softball Championship this weekend. The fourth-seeded Lady Bears will take part in a pair of pool play games on Friday against sixth-seed Texas Tech (11 a.m.) and top-seed Oklahoma (2 p.m.). BU will then play a team from the opposite side of the bracket (No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Texas or No. 5 Iowa State) on Saturday to close things out.
• Baylor is 13-26 in the Big 12 tournament. Against current conference foes, BU is 7-16. The Lady Bears are 1-3 against Texas Tech in the tournament (W 1-0 in 1997, L 0-8 in 2001, L 4-8 in 2007, L 5-6 in 2018) and 0-4 against the Sooners (L 2-3 in 1998, L 0-1 in 2003, L 2-5 in 2004, L 4-6 in 2018).
• The Lady Bears advanced to the Big 12 title game in 2018, their most recent appearance in the conference tournament. After splitting the action on Day 1 (7-1 win over OSU, 5-6 loss to TTU), No.3 seed BU battled in a 6-4 loss to top-seeded Oklahoma.
• That was the last championship game played at the tournament as th final day in 2019 was canceled due to inclement weather and unplayable field conditions.
• The NCAA Selection Show is slated for 8 p.m. on Sunday and will be aired on ESPN2. BU looks to return to postseason action after missing the tournament in 2019 before the 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19.
• Glenn Moore picked up win No. 800 at Baylor last Friday in BU's 7-1 victory over Kansas. Moore is the wins leader across all sports for Baylor Athletics. Last season, he reached the 900-win milestone for his career.
• Lou Gilbert and Emily Hott were named to the All-Big 12 Second Team on Wednesday afternoon. The duo moved up to the top two spots in the Baylor lineup against Sam Houston (4/21). During that time, Hott is hitting .400 with 14 hits, four doubles, a homer and five RBI, while Gilbert is hitting .361 with 13 hits, four doubles, a triple, three homers and four RBI. The two combine for 22 runs scored.
• Gilbert moved into the leadoff spot with Nicky Dawson's injury. Gilbert has both the short game and power as she has 48 hits to lead the team. Of those 48 hits, 20 of them are for extra bases (13 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs) and 12 of them are bunt singles.
• Hott recently saw her 29 game on-base streak come to an end in the series opener at Texas. However, her .491 on-base percentage for Big 12 play is good for sixth in the conference. 
• Taylor Ellis has a hit in 10-straight games, a streak that marks a career high for the fifth-year senior. During this stretch that started in the second game at Iowa State, Ellis is hitting .414 with three extra-base hits, a team-high 12 hits and four RBI with only one strikeout. After hitting a homer in Game 2 vs. Kansas, Ellis followed that with a bomb short of the cycle in Game 3 with a bunt single, a double and a triple.
• Aliyah Binford tied a Getterman Stadium record with six RBI on April 30. She hit back-to-back three-run home runs. It marked the first multi-home run game by a Lady Bear since Hannah Thompson on March 10, 2020. Binford is the 55th BU player to go yard multiple times in a game.
• Binford (3/16) and Gia Rodoni (3/30) have eached been named the Big 12 Pitcher of the week this season, marking the first time since 2016 and the fourth season in program history (2004, 2014, 2016, 2021) that multiple Baylor pitchers have earned the weekly conference honors.
• 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 have all been wearing blue ribbons in his honor. This season is for Lum.