THE RUNDOWN
Natchitoches, La. – Baylor defeats both Northwestern State and Chattanooga as they sweep their Saturday doubleheader at the Lady Demon Classic. The Bears 3-0 start is its first since the 2018 season.
 
Game 1: Northwestern State
Baylor came out of the gate swinging against Northwestern State as Emily Hott hit a leadoff single. McKenzie Wilson then reached on a fielder's choice and stole second, her first stolen base of the season. A double from Aliyah Binford brought in Wilson for the first run of the game. 
 
Binford was the starting pitcher in game one for the Bears and went three up, three down to close out the first inning. She finished the day with a complete game shutout, only allowing two hits while dealing a career high 11 strikeouts. 
 
The fifth inning started with a leadoff single from Rylie Bouvier, her first career hit for the Bears. A couple of errors led to two more runs plated as the Bears took the 3-0 lead. 
 
Sydney Collazos started the sixth inning off with her first career homerun and the first home run this season for Baylor. Another Northwestern error led to a second run scoring in the inning. 
 
The Bears ended the first game of the day with nine hits.
 
Game 2: Chattanooga
Continuing the momentum from the first game, the Bears scored on a single from Ana Watson. This is the third straight game Baylor has scored a run in the first inning. 
 
Rachel Hertenberger started the game in the circle for the Bears and the first two Chattanooga batters reached base before the game was sent into an almost two-hour rain delay. Coming off of the delay, Hertenberger struck out the next two batters and closed out the inning. 
 
Zadie LaValley singled in the second inning but no runs came across for Baylor as they shut the Mocs down to close out the second. 
 
The third inning was quiet for both sides, before an explosive fourth inning saw the Bears plate five. Five different batter recorded hits with Campbell Selman and Sydney Collazos recording doubles. Chattanooga answered with two runs of their own as Baylor held onto the 6-2 lead. 
 
The Mocs brought it within two in the 5^th inning as Baylor brought across one more run and Chattanooga scored three, before Maren Judisch took the mound.
 
BU plated three more in the top of the sixth, that started with a leadoff homerun from Emily Hott. 
 
Hertenberger and Judisch combined tonight, with Hertenberger finishing with 4.2 innings pitched and four strikeouts. Judisch worked through 2.1 innings, with two strikeouts and no runs or hits.
 
The Bears 10 runs mark the first time they have scored as many since March 13, 2021 when Baylor defeated Grand Canyon 12-2.
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• Aliyah Binford pitched a new career in strikeouts with 11, her 2nd complete game shutout
• Rylie Bouvier gets her first career start and hit
• McKenzie Wilson stole her first bases of the season
• Sydney Collazos hit the first home run of her career and the first this season
• Rhein Trochim recorded her first hit as a Bear
• Rachel Hertenberger gets her first start as a Bear, records 4 strikeouts
• Grace Powell recorded the first run of her collegiate career
• Campbell Selman and Sydney Collazos each hit doubles 
• Emily Hott hit her first home run this season

 
 
STAT OF THE GAME
11 – The number of strikeouts Aliyah Binford recorded in game one, a career high

 
TOP QUOTES
Glenn Moore on the game…
"We had many positive performances both offensively and defensively but none were more impressive than Binford's dominance in the circle.  Conditions were terrible all day but this team showed resilience and maturity in the way they competed."