SOFTBALL IN REBUILDING MODE

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Most coaches are averse to talking about rebuilding. They're just reloading.
            But, with 10 newcomers on a 21-player roster, Baylor softball coach Glenn Moore knows this is a rebuilding year coming off a 27-23 season that saw the Bears make their 13^th NCAA Regional appearance as the No. 2 seed in Gainesville, Fla.
            "It's a fresh start with us," said Moore, who is 802-400 in 21 years at Baylor with an overall record of 941-442. "I've compared this team – I've been here a long time – to one of my earlier teams before we had much respect in our program. I think we were overlooked a lot, and this team could be one of those that flies under the radar a little bit. It's certainly a hungry team."
            Blending in four transfers and six first-year freshmen with five returning starters, the Bears are hoping to get the program back to the level where it made four Women's College World Series and two other Super Regionals in an 11-year stretch (2007-17).
            "I think our program has earned the right for players to come here with the expectation of going to the World Series," said Moore, whose team began workouts last Tuesday. "We want recruits to think that you'll come to Baylor with a chance of going to the World Series.
            "I'm a believer that you keep that mountaintop in view, but you pay attention to the trees in front of you first. . . . We've got a lot of trees in front of us right now. And we've got to get a lot better before we're considered one of the best eight teams in the nation."
            Sophomore outfielder McKenzie Wilson, who hit .393 with 39 stolen bases in earning Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors in 2019 at Fresno State, said the team's goal is not just to make it to postseason play this year, "but it's to make a run."
            "I believe this team can make it to postseason and not only make it, but shock a lot of people, turn a lot of heads," she said. "(The goal) is to get to the College World Series."
            Wilson is expected to have a huge impact on a team that lost three "super" seniors in pitcher Gia Rodoni, first baseman Goose McGlaun and catcher/infielder Taylor Ellis.
            "McKenzie Wilson has the potential to be one of the best we've had here," Moore said. "I don't want to put too much on her shoulders, but she certainly has the head, she has the ability. She's going to be exciting, she's going to be a fan favorite."
            During a COVID-shortened 2020 season, Wilson hit .474 and ranked second in the country with 26 stolen bases (in 28 attempts).
            "Obviously, speed is something you can't really teach. You either have it or you don't," Wilson said. "I'm just someone who makes the defense lose their mind a little bit. . . . Whether it's hitting, slapping, bunting, I'm always going to keep the defense on their toes, kind of wondering, 'Oh, what is she to do next?' type of thing."
            One of the biggest keys to this year's team will be the development of a pitching staff that lost Rodoni, who won 71 games in six seasons. The Bears also lost Sidney Holman-Manzell, who transferred back to ACU after winning 22 games in three seasons.
            Replacing that experienced duo are a pair of transfers in Dariana Orme from Fresno State and Rachel Hertenberger from Houston. Orme was 10-4 with a 3.19 ERA and two saves at Fresno, while Hertenberger picked up wins over Baylor and seventh-ranked Oklahoma State last year.
            "We have a pitching staff that we know is a little rough around the edges, but the potential is there," Moore said. "Dariana Orme and Rachel Hertenberger, we're expecting to be very much a force in the circle for us this year. But, at the same time, they're going to get roughed up from time to time."
            The Bears will open the season Feb. 11-13 at the Lady Demon Classic in Natchitoches, La., facing UT Martin, Northwestern, Chattanooga and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Highlighting the non-conference home schedule is a three-game series against perennial power Oregon the following weekend "to let us know where we really are."
            "We go to Palm Springs, and that's one of the best tournaments in the country," Moore said. "We will play great competition out there. So, we have enough buffers that if we do feel better about ourselves than maybe we should, it will let us know where we are. And I think we do have enough of those buffs that if we do well against them, we'll be rewarded at the end of the season with a postseason berth."

SOFTBALL IN REBUILDING MODE

Players Mentioned

Taylor Ellis

Rachel Hertenberger

Goose McGlaun

Dariana Orme

Gia Rodoni

McKenzie Wilson

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