Saturday, May 1
Waco, TX
2 PM
Baylor
26-15, 7-6
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Kansas
22-22, 2-12
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Kansas
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Baylor
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SB Gets Series Sweep over Kansas
5/2/2021 3:18:00 PM | Softball
Gia Rodoni finished the day with 11 strikeouts, no walks
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Gia Rodoni and Glenn Moore both had restless nights, realizing the importance of the one out Baylor softball needed to close out a 6-5 win over Kansas.
The Jayhawks had the tying run at second base and dangerous hitter Morgan Wynne at the plate when play was suspended by rain Saturday afternoon.
"I definitely didn't sleep well last night, just thinking of starting the day off in a stressful situation," said Rodoni, who had been called from the bullpen right before the game was suspended and had yet to throw a pitch.
After intentionally walking Wynne with first base open, Rodoni struck out cleanup hitter Ashlyn Anderson swinging to pick up her fourth save of the year. Turning around less than an hour later, the sixth-year senior right-hander struck out a season high-tying 10 batters and tossed a three-hitter in a 6-1 win that completed the series sweep for the Lady Bears (27-15, 8-6).
"I knew once we got that game out of the way, I could take a breath and relax a little bit and come back to the second game with a fresh start," said Rodoni, who improved to 11-7 with her 71st career victory. "Getting that one out was huge."
Moore said the suspended game was on his mind "most of the night," knowing that "if we didn't finish that one off, it could lead to a Kansas weekend. It's really all about momentum."
Taylor Ellis finished a home run shy of the cycle in the series finale – after hitting a two-run shot in the fifth inning of Game 2 that ultimately provided the difference in the game.
She started her day by throwing out speedy leadoff hitter Brittany Jackson on a bunt attempt in the top of the first, hit a triple to center in the second, reached on a bunt single in the third and then drove in a run with a double off the wall in the fourth.
"It was great to start off the game with a triple," said Ellis, who has hit two career triples, both this season. "I was just glad I had a great day and my team had my back and they come through in clutch situations and made my job really easy."
Moore said the Ellis' defensive gem on Jackson's bunt was "an All-American play."
"You've got to respect the line drive, and a kid lays down a bunt like that when they hadn't been bunting much," Moore said. "And she made the play on the run. That's just a phenomenal play."
In the second inning, Jackson and rightfielder Tarin Travieso collided trying to get to an Ellis shot in the right-center field gap, allowing Ellis to race all the way around to third. Jackson had to be helped off the field, and both outfielders left the game.
"The centerfielder (Moore) is actually my ex-teammate back in my Texas Glory days, so I wish the very best for her and hope she's OK," Ellis said. "That was kind of a bittersweet moment. I was happy I got the triple but upset that she got hurt."
Ellis scored on a Josie Bower single to plate the first run of the game, but the Lady Bears left the bases loaded when Kansas starter Tatum Goff (7-4) worked around a pair of walks to get Sydney Collazos on a pop-up back to the circle and Lou Gilbert on a fly to right.
Freshman catcher Lyric Moore tied it in the top of the third with her first career home run, a no-doubter that easily cleared the wall in left field.
Despite starting the bottom of the inning with four-straight hits, including a leadoff double by Emily Hott and RBI single by Goose McGlaun, Baylor had only one run to show for it and left the bases loaded again.
The Lady Bears gave Rodoni some breathing room with a three-run fourth inning that included a one-out single by Hott, a sacrifice fly by McGlaun and back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Aliyah Binford and Ellis to make it a 5-1 game.
"Giving up that home run early in the game, I knew they would respond," Rodoni said. "I know I don't have to be perfect, and they're always going to respond and keep fighting. This is one of the best hitting teams I've been on throughout my six years being here."
Which is saying a lot since Baylor made it to the Women's College World Series in 2017 when Rodoni was a sophomore. The top six hitters are all batting over .300 for the season and went a combined 24-of-55 (.436) with six doubles, one triple, four homers and 17 RBI with 18 runs scored in the weekend series.
"I think we have a scary top half of our lineup, and we've got three big hitters out of our lineup," Moore said. "We knew going in we were capable of it. Unfortunately, the ones that are out are most of our speed. We can't really manufacture runs, so we have to hope we can put at-bats together and put hits together. And we're doing that right now. We're very aggressive at the top."
After the Moore homer, Rodoni retired the next six batters in a row and allowed just two baserunners the rest of the way on Peyton Renzi's bunt single in the fifth and a two-out single by Madison Hirsch in the seventh. She ended the game by striking out Renzi looking on a 2-2 fastball.
"Everybody knows what she is capable of doing," Moore said of Rodoni, who had two wins and a save in the three-game sweep of the Jayhawks (22-23, 2-13). "I just didn't know if her body was going to let her get there this year. It's sure exciting to see her throw the way she did this weekend and even against Oklahoma earlier. I think she's hitting her stride, and she feels like she is, at the right time."
Baylor tacked on another run in the sixth when Gilbert led off with a double and scored on Binford's two-out RBI single.
"I'm really impressed with Lou and Emily Hott," Moore said of the Nos. 1 and 2 hitters in the lineup. "They're feeding off of each other, and I think opposing teams don't want to get back to the top of the order with us. As long as we do that, we're going to put up runs."
Before Saturday's game was suspended, Gilbert led off the first inning with her fifth homer of the season, tying McGlaun and Binford for the team lead. After a three-run third, Ellis gave the Lady Bears a 6-1 lead with her two-run homer in the fifth.
Wynne blasted her second homer of the game and 17th of the season in the sixth to make it 6-2. And then, things got interesting in the seventh with back-to-back doubles by Hirsch and Moore and a single by Macy Omli that brought Wynne to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.
With all night to think about it, though, Rodoni came back to strike out Anderson to preserve the win for Sidney Holman-Mansell (8-4).
"That gave us a lot of confidence going into the second game today," said Ellis, who was 5-for-10 for the weekend. "We were thinking about it all night, so that was kind of a crazy deal. But, we just roll with the punches and do what we can."
Baylor will finish the regular season with a split series next weekend against No. 7 Texas (35-9, 9-6), playing Friday night in Austin and then hosting the Longhorns on Saturday and Sunday at Getterman Stadium.
The Lady Bears have wrapped up no worse than a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 and could move up to the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 tournament by winning the series against Texas.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – It was high drama on Saturday afternoon as the Jayhawks plated three runs in the top of the seventh to cut Baylor's lead to one. Kansas had a runner on second with two outs when the game was called due to rain. The two teams picked things up where they left off on Sunday morning before closing out the series at noon.
The Lady Bears took care of business to end the second game of the series with a 6-5 victory before building off of that momentum with a 6-1 win to get the sweep.
GAME 1: BAYLOR 6, KANSAS 5
Kansas plated three runs to cut a four-run Baylor lead to one with a runner on second and two outs in the top of the seventh inning on Saturday before the heavens opened and the game was put on hold due to weather.
The two teams finished out the game Sunday morning. After Gia Rodoni intentionally walked Morgyn Wynne, the sixth-year senior struck out Ashlyn Anderson to get the win for BU.
The day before, Lou Gilbert got things started for the Lady Bears as she went yard on the fifth pitch of the ballgame to put BU up early.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of the Lady Bears until the home team put up a three-spot in the bottom of the third inning. Hannah Smith led off the frame with a single up the middle before Gilbert followed with a single to right field to put runners on the corners with no outs.
A walk by Emily Hott loaded the bases for Goose McGlaun who hit a grounder to short. The KU shortstop overthrew the catcher trying to get the force out at home which allowed two Lady Bears to score. The third run came home on a groundout by Aliyah Binford.
Baylor added a couple more runs in the fifth inning off a Taylor Ellis two-run bomb over the center field wall.
GAME 2: BAYLOR 6, KANSAS 1
Baylor took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as Taylor Ellis knocked a triple to center field and then scored off an RBI single by Josie Bower.
Kansas tied things up with a solo shot in the top of the third, but the Lady Bears had the answer in the bottom of the frame. Emily Hott led off with a double, and Goose McGlaun followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Aliyah Binford knocked in a run with an RBI single down the left field line.
Taylor Ellis executed a bunt single to perfection to load the bases with no outs but three-straight infield groundouts ended the Baylor threat.
Baylor broke things open in the fourth as Lou Gilbert led things off with a walk, and Hott followed with a single. A double steal put runners in scoring position for McGlaun who knocked a sac fly out to right field. Binford then doubled for her second RBI of the day before a double off the center field wall by Ellis scored another.
BU added one more run in the sixth as Gilbert got things started with a double before she came home on an RBI single by Binford.
HIGHLIGHTS
10 – Number of hits by the top five hitters in the lineup
TOP QUOTES
Baylor head coach Glenn Moore on the games…
" I had my mind on this most of the night, knowing the importance of momentum and how if we didn't finish that one off, it could lead to a Kansas weekend. It's really about momentum. And thank goodness, we went in and took control of that game and got it and could play relaxed the third game."
Gia Rodoni on the Baylor offense…
"I know I don't have to be perfect, and they're always going to respond back and keep fighting. This is one of the best hitting teams I've been on throughout my six years being here. I'm definitely impressed with how much they've grown and I'm excited to see how much they can keep putting up."
UP NEXT
Baylor closes out the regular season against No. 7 Texas. The Lady Bears travel to Austin for a Friday night matchup before returning home to host the Longhorns for a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday.
Baylor Bear Insider
Gia Rodoni and Glenn Moore both had restless nights, realizing the importance of the one out Baylor softball needed to close out a 6-5 win over Kansas.
The Jayhawks had the tying run at second base and dangerous hitter Morgan Wynne at the plate when play was suspended by rain Saturday afternoon.
"I definitely didn't sleep well last night, just thinking of starting the day off in a stressful situation," said Rodoni, who had been called from the bullpen right before the game was suspended and had yet to throw a pitch.
After intentionally walking Wynne with first base open, Rodoni struck out cleanup hitter Ashlyn Anderson swinging to pick up her fourth save of the year. Turning around less than an hour later, the sixth-year senior right-hander struck out a season high-tying 10 batters and tossed a three-hitter in a 6-1 win that completed the series sweep for the Lady Bears (27-15, 8-6).
"I knew once we got that game out of the way, I could take a breath and relax a little bit and come back to the second game with a fresh start," said Rodoni, who improved to 11-7 with her 71st career victory. "Getting that one out was huge."
Moore said the suspended game was on his mind "most of the night," knowing that "if we didn't finish that one off, it could lead to a Kansas weekend. It's really all about momentum."
Taylor Ellis finished a home run shy of the cycle in the series finale – after hitting a two-run shot in the fifth inning of Game 2 that ultimately provided the difference in the game.
She started her day by throwing out speedy leadoff hitter Brittany Jackson on a bunt attempt in the top of the first, hit a triple to center in the second, reached on a bunt single in the third and then drove in a run with a double off the wall in the fourth.
"It was great to start off the game with a triple," said Ellis, who has hit two career triples, both this season. "I was just glad I had a great day and my team had my back and they come through in clutch situations and made my job really easy."
Moore said the Ellis' defensive gem on Jackson's bunt was "an All-American play."
"You've got to respect the line drive, and a kid lays down a bunt like that when they hadn't been bunting much," Moore said. "And she made the play on the run. That's just a phenomenal play."
In the second inning, Jackson and rightfielder Tarin Travieso collided trying to get to an Ellis shot in the right-center field gap, allowing Ellis to race all the way around to third. Jackson had to be helped off the field, and both outfielders left the game.
"The centerfielder (Moore) is actually my ex-teammate back in my Texas Glory days, so I wish the very best for her and hope she's OK," Ellis said. "That was kind of a bittersweet moment. I was happy I got the triple but upset that she got hurt."
Ellis scored on a Josie Bower single to plate the first run of the game, but the Lady Bears left the bases loaded when Kansas starter Tatum Goff (7-4) worked around a pair of walks to get Sydney Collazos on a pop-up back to the circle and Lou Gilbert on a fly to right.
Freshman catcher Lyric Moore tied it in the top of the third with her first career home run, a no-doubter that easily cleared the wall in left field.
Despite starting the bottom of the inning with four-straight hits, including a leadoff double by Emily Hott and RBI single by Goose McGlaun, Baylor had only one run to show for it and left the bases loaded again.
The Lady Bears gave Rodoni some breathing room with a three-run fourth inning that included a one-out single by Hott, a sacrifice fly by McGlaun and back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Aliyah Binford and Ellis to make it a 5-1 game.
"Giving up that home run early in the game, I knew they would respond," Rodoni said. "I know I don't have to be perfect, and they're always going to respond and keep fighting. This is one of the best hitting teams I've been on throughout my six years being here."
Which is saying a lot since Baylor made it to the Women's College World Series in 2017 when Rodoni was a sophomore. The top six hitters are all batting over .300 for the season and went a combined 24-of-55 (.436) with six doubles, one triple, four homers and 17 RBI with 18 runs scored in the weekend series.
"I think we have a scary top half of our lineup, and we've got three big hitters out of our lineup," Moore said. "We knew going in we were capable of it. Unfortunately, the ones that are out are most of our speed. We can't really manufacture runs, so we have to hope we can put at-bats together and put hits together. And we're doing that right now. We're very aggressive at the top."
After the Moore homer, Rodoni retired the next six batters in a row and allowed just two baserunners the rest of the way on Peyton Renzi's bunt single in the fifth and a two-out single by Madison Hirsch in the seventh. She ended the game by striking out Renzi looking on a 2-2 fastball.
"Everybody knows what she is capable of doing," Moore said of Rodoni, who had two wins and a save in the three-game sweep of the Jayhawks (22-23, 2-13). "I just didn't know if her body was going to let her get there this year. It's sure exciting to see her throw the way she did this weekend and even against Oklahoma earlier. I think she's hitting her stride, and she feels like she is, at the right time."
Baylor tacked on another run in the sixth when Gilbert led off with a double and scored on Binford's two-out RBI single.
"I'm really impressed with Lou and Emily Hott," Moore said of the Nos. 1 and 2 hitters in the lineup. "They're feeding off of each other, and I think opposing teams don't want to get back to the top of the order with us. As long as we do that, we're going to put up runs."
Before Saturday's game was suspended, Gilbert led off the first inning with her fifth homer of the season, tying McGlaun and Binford for the team lead. After a three-run third, Ellis gave the Lady Bears a 6-1 lead with her two-run homer in the fifth.
Wynne blasted her second homer of the game and 17th of the season in the sixth to make it 6-2. And then, things got interesting in the seventh with back-to-back doubles by Hirsch and Moore and a single by Macy Omli that brought Wynne to the plate as the potential go-ahead run.
With all night to think about it, though, Rodoni came back to strike out Anderson to preserve the win for Sidney Holman-Mansell (8-4).
"That gave us a lot of confidence going into the second game today," said Ellis, who was 5-for-10 for the weekend. "We were thinking about it all night, so that was kind of a crazy deal. But, we just roll with the punches and do what we can."
Baylor will finish the regular season with a split series next weekend against No. 7 Texas (35-9, 9-6), playing Friday night in Austin and then hosting the Longhorns on Saturday and Sunday at Getterman Stadium.
The Lady Bears have wrapped up no worse than a fourth-place finish in the Big 12 and could move up to the No. 3 seed for the Big 12 tournament by winning the series against Texas.
THE RUNDOWN
WACO, Texas – It was high drama on Saturday afternoon as the Jayhawks plated three runs in the top of the seventh to cut Baylor's lead to one. Kansas had a runner on second with two outs when the game was called due to rain. The two teams picked things up where they left off on Sunday morning before closing out the series at noon.
The Lady Bears took care of business to end the second game of the series with a 6-5 victory before building off of that momentum with a 6-1 win to get the sweep.
GAME 1: BAYLOR 6, KANSAS 5
Kansas plated three runs to cut a four-run Baylor lead to one with a runner on second and two outs in the top of the seventh inning on Saturday before the heavens opened and the game was put on hold due to weather.
The two teams finished out the game Sunday morning. After Gia Rodoni intentionally walked Morgyn Wynne, the sixth-year senior struck out Ashlyn Anderson to get the win for BU.
The day before, Lou Gilbert got things started for the Lady Bears as she went yard on the fifth pitch of the ballgame to put BU up early.
The score remained 1-0 in favor of the Lady Bears until the home team put up a three-spot in the bottom of the third inning. Hannah Smith led off the frame with a single up the middle before Gilbert followed with a single to right field to put runners on the corners with no outs.
A walk by Emily Hott loaded the bases for Goose McGlaun who hit a grounder to short. The KU shortstop overthrew the catcher trying to get the force out at home which allowed two Lady Bears to score. The third run came home on a groundout by Aliyah Binford.
Baylor added a couple more runs in the fifth inning off a Taylor Ellis two-run bomb over the center field wall.
GAME 2: BAYLOR 6, KANSAS 1
Baylor took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as Taylor Ellis knocked a triple to center field and then scored off an RBI single by Josie Bower.
Kansas tied things up with a solo shot in the top of the third, but the Lady Bears had the answer in the bottom of the frame. Emily Hott led off with a double, and Goose McGlaun followed with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Aliyah Binford knocked in a run with an RBI single down the left field line.
Taylor Ellis executed a bunt single to perfection to load the bases with no outs but three-straight infield groundouts ended the Baylor threat.
Baylor broke things open in the fourth as Lou Gilbert led things off with a walk, and Hott followed with a single. A double steal put runners in scoring position for McGlaun who knocked a sac fly out to right field. Binford then doubled for her second RBI of the day before a double off the center field wall by Ellis scored another.
BU added one more run in the sixth as Gilbert got things started with a double before she came home on an RBI single by Binford.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Lou Gilbert hit her fifth home run of the season and the sixth of her career to lead things off for the Lady Bears.
- Hott's double in the third inning of the final game, her eighth of the season, gives her a streak of 29 games where she's reached base safely. That's good for fifth in program history.
- Taylor Ellis hit her third home run of the season and 10th of her career in the fifth inning.
- Gia Rodoni picked up her ninth career save in Game 2 which ties her for fifth in program history alongside Cristen Vitek (2002-05).
- Rodoni finished with 10 strikeouts in Game 3 to go with no walks. That marks the second time this season she's fanned 10 batters (vs. Houston on March 20). It was her 13th career double-digit strikeout game.
- Rodoni threw her ninth complete game of the season in Game 3 and the 41st of her career. That's good for seventh in program history.
- Ellis was a home run short of the cycle in Game 3 as she had a triple, a bunt single and a double.
- Ellis tied her career high with three hits in Game 3. She's had three hits in a game two other times this year – vs. Lamar (2/27), at Texas Tech (3/27).
- Aliyah Binford went 3-for-4 in Game 3. Every hit she had drove in a run.
- The top five batters for Baylor had 10 of BU's 11 hits. Hott, Binford and Ellis combined for eight.
- Baylor has now won three of its five Big 12 series. Two of those have been sweeps.
10 – Number of hits by the top five hitters in the lineup
TOP QUOTES
Baylor head coach Glenn Moore on the games…
" I had my mind on this most of the night, knowing the importance of momentum and how if we didn't finish that one off, it could lead to a Kansas weekend. It's really about momentum. And thank goodness, we went in and took control of that game and got it and could play relaxed the third game."
Gia Rodoni on the Baylor offense…
"I know I don't have to be perfect, and they're always going to respond back and keep fighting. This is one of the best hitting teams I've been on throughout my six years being here. I'm definitely impressed with how much they've grown and I'm excited to see how much they can keep putting up."
UP NEXT
Baylor closes out the regular season against No. 7 Texas. The Lady Bears travel to Austin for a Friday night matchup before returning home to host the Longhorns for a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday.
www.BaylorBears.com
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Holman-Mansell, Sidney (8-4)
L: Hamilton, K. (5-9)
S: Rodoni, Gia (4)
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Batting:
2B: Hirsch, M. 1 ; Moore, L 1
HR: Wynne, M. 2
RBI: Jackson, B. 1 ; Wynne, M. 2 ; Moore, L 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Wynne, M. 2 ; Price, A. 1 ; Hirsch, M. 1 ; Moore, L 1
Batting:
2B: Hott, Emily 1
HR: Gilbert, Lou 1 ; Ellis, Taylor 1
RBI: Gilbert, Lou 1 ; McGlaun, Goose 1 ; Binford, Aliyah 1 ; Ellis, Taylor 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Gilbert, Lou 2 ; Hott, Emily 1 ; Binford, Aliyah 1 ; Ellis, Taylor 1 ; Smith, Hannah 1
SB: Gilbert, Lou 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
P/INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
C
/ SoftballINF/C
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
RHP
/ SoftballUTIL
/ Softball
UTIL
/ Softball
RHP
/ SoftballUTIL
/ SoftballBaylor Softball: Highlights vs. Texas Tech | May 8, 2025
Thursday, May 08
back-to-back-to-back 🫢
Thursday, May 08
Round Won 👏
Thursday, May 08
Baylor Softball: Highlights vs. Kansas | May 7, 2025
Wednesday, May 07
