Friday, March 24 • vs. Oklahoma State • Stillwater, Oklahoma |Cowgirl Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM
Saturday, March 25 • vs. Oklahoma State • Stillwater, Oklahoma |Cowgirl Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • ESPN+
Sunday, March 26 • vs. Oklahoma State • Stillwater, Oklahoma |Cowgirl Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • ESPN+
 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Riding the high of coach Glenn Moore's 1,000^th career win, 20^th-ranked Baylor softball (23-5) opens Big 12 Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at No. 2 Oklahoma State (26-2) that begins with Friday's 6 p.m. game at Cowgirl Stadium in Stillwater.
            "I don't look at it as we have to, it's an opportunity," said Moore, who picked up his milestone victory when the Bears beat UT Arlington, 5-0, Wednesday in Arlington. "A lot of people thought Oklahoma State was going to drop off a little bit. I didn't, because they have Kelly Maxwell back in the circle. They didn't rebuild, they just reloaded."
            A returning first-team All-American, Maxwell (8-0, 1.99 ERA, four saves) was a 21-game winner last season when she helped the Cowgirls reach the Women's College World Series for the third-straight year. Freshman Kyra Aycock (7-0, 1.55) and Alabama transfer Lexi Kilfoyl (7-1, 1.60) give OSU one of the best trio of pitchers in the country.
            "They don't really miss a beat from one to another, and they all bring something different," Moore said. "They can also swing the bats really well (.353 team batting average), but their strength is their pitching. And, obviously, that's the name of the game, and that's why they only have two losses."
            Baylor doesn't have the pitching depth that OSU does, but junior Dariana Orme has already won two Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors. She is 10-2 with a 0.79 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 79.2 innings.
            Going into the season, the Bears had a strong 1-2 punch with Orme and Aaliyah Binford. But Binford underwent season-ending knee surgery on Monday after making just six appearances.
            "That's a big blow to us," Moore said. "Anytime you have an injury like that, it opens up the opportunity for someone else. That's what I put in front of the girls. Now, RyLee (Crandall) and Kaci (West) are going to be called on a little quicker than normal."
            Crandall has developed into a solid No. 2 pitcher, compiling a 7-2 record with a 2.11 ERA, two saves and 51 strikeouts in 49.2 innings. West is 4-1 with a 2.85 ERA and is hitting .250 as a two-way player.
            Shaylon Govan, a transfer from SFA, pitched the final two innings in Wednesday's game against UTA in her first appearance. The starting first baseman, Govan is hitting .420 with a team-high seven homers and 35 RBIs.
            "Shay pitched well in high school and pitched a little bit at SFA," Moore said. "We had a discussion about two weeks ago and we've been working her in bullpens a little bit here and there. We certainly wanted to get some bugs out. If we were going to use her this weekend, we needed to throw her a little bit."
            Moore said the Bears may also get junior college transfer Ava Knoll back by next week after missing five weeks with a stress reaction in her shin. In her only appearance, she tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief in a 5-2 win over Southern Utah in the UNLV Rebel Kickoff.
            "I think everybody is starting to come into their role like everybody's expected," said catcher Sydney Collazos, who is hitting .413 with two homers and 10 RBIs. "RyLee has had a little bit of trouble, but she's super resilient. She's really coming into her own, and I think she's got a lot of success ahead of her."
            Orme, coming off an injury that ended her season last year, has thrown a league-high 79.2 innings. She got a save in her only relief appearance and has thrown four shutouts in her 14 starts, including a no-hitter against then-No. 21 Maryland and the first seven-inning perfect game in program history in a 3-0 win over SFA.
            "The load the coaches have put on me is not as big as people think," Orme said. "They trust me, and I trust the other pitchers we have in the bullpen. We're doing pretty well with that."
            The series wraps up with games at 2 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday. Both of the last two games will be streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+, with Casey Kendrick and Ali McCutcheon calling the action.  


STORY LINES
• Baylor Softball is beginning conference play this week at No. 2 Oklahoma State. The Bears will face the Cowgirls in a three-game series starting on Friday, March 23.
• The Cowgirls lead the all-time record over Baylor, 45-31. 
• BU and OSU are facing off against each other while both teams have been ranked in the top 25 for the first time since the 2011 season. 
• The Bears started the week, 1-0, after taking down UT Arlington on Wednesday afternoon, 5-0. That marks Baylor's eight shutout win this season and the second time this season they shut out the Mavericks. 
• Maintaining their position in the polls, Baylor is now ranked No. 22 in the D1Softball, Softball America and ESPN/USA Today polls, and come in at No. 20 in the NFCA coaches' poll. 
• BU is currently sitting at 25 in the NCAA Softball RPI standings. 
• Baylor ranks second in the Big 12 in pitching ERA, with a 1.84 team ERA. No. 1 Oklahoma is the only team ahead of the Bears. 
• BU also leads the Big 12 in sacrifice bunts (21), sacrifice fly's (12) and stolen bases (54).
• McKenzie Wilson ended her on-base streak, which dated back to last season, at 35. That streak is good for third all-time in the Baylor record books, one short of tying Lindsey Cargill for second place at 36. She has since reached base in every game; her current streak is six games. 
•  Wilson also leads the Big 12 in stolen bases (15), while Presleigh Pilon follows behind her in third place with 10.
• Dariana Orme picked up three wins last week and posted a 0.91 ERA through 23.0 innings pitched. She struck out 27 batters and pitched three complete games with two shutout appearances. In the Bears 7-1 victory over Houston, Orme didn't walk a single batter, that was the third time this season that she did not walk a single batter. She picked up Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors for her performance during the previous week.
• Shaylon Govan leads the Bears with a .420 batting average with four doubles, seven home runs and 35 RBIs. She is currently 10th in the nation in runs batted in per game with 1.25 and leads the Big 12 with 35 already on the season. 
• Govan is one of six Bears to have double digit RBIs already on the season. Emily Hott follows her with 20, Amber Toven has 18, McKenzie Wilson has 13, Taylor Strain has 11 and Sydney Collazos has 10.
• Sydney Collazos has led the Bears over the last six games, batting .667, with 10 hits, a home run and a double. She had a .933 slugging percentage and added five RBIs and 14 total bases. She picked up one walk and didn't strikeout in a single plate appearance.
• The Bears hit six home runs as a team last week and turned five double plays in the three-game Houston series.
•In Baylor's 5-0 win over UTA, six different Bears recorded a hit as Emily Hott picked up the only multi-RBI appearance with two. RyLee Crandall pitched 5.0 innings allowing only one hit and striking out five. Shaylon Govanrecorded her first appearance in the circle for the Bears, only allowing one hit and striking out two, including a game-winning strikeout. 
• BU has had 21 of 22 players see action during a game at some point this season.
• Head coach Glenn Moore picked up his 1,000th career win this week against UT Arlington. He is the winningest coach in Baylor Athletics history and now ranks 11th among active Division I head softball coaches to reach this milestone. 861 of his 1,000 career wins have come at Baylor University.