No. 18 SB Falls in Game One of the Salt Lake City Regional Against Ole Miss, 3-0

Friday, May 19

Salt Lake City, Utah

12 PM

Baylor

39-17

Ole Miss

31-26

Ole Miss

Baylor

No. 18 SB Falls in Game One of the Salt Lake City Regional Against Ole Miss, 3-0

5/19/2023 5:19:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score

Bears bring tying tun to the plate in the 6th and 7th, but come up short

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Unable to figure out Ole Miss pitcher Catelyn Riley until it was too late, 18^th-ranked Baylor softball stranded five runners in the last two innings and opened the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional with a 3-0 loss to the Rebels Friday afternoon at Dumke Family Stadium.
            Riley (7-5) combined with Aynslie Furbush on a three-hitter, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and retired Presleigh Pilon on a line drive snagged by shortstop Mikayla Allee to end the game.
            "I feel like we had a good plan going in and (Riley) kind of gave us a different look than what we were expecting," said Baylor sophomore Shaylon Govan, who had a first-inning single before being walked to load the bases in the sixth. "That's just us not making adjustments through at-bats, one pitch at a time. Usually, when she had something working, she stuck with it. We just have to be better."
            Shut out for the first time in a month and just the seventh time this year, the Bears (39-17) managed just one hit and only a handful of hard-hit balls through the first five innings. And when they did hit it hard, the Rebels were there to rob them.
            Amber Toven lined out to third baseman Savana Sikes in the second inning and centerfielder Jalia Lassiter made a diving catch of a Govan liner to the right-center gap in the fourth.
            "We had some outstanding plays on defense, as they did," Baylor coach Glenn Moore said. "I think we forced them to make some great plays, and they made them as well."
            Ole Miss (31-26) took the early lead with a two-run home run by Lexie Brady in the top of the second after Sikes was hit by a pitch. And it could have been worse after a walk and an error, but Toven turned a 4-6-3 double play and then got speedy Tate Whitley with an impressive throw on a ball deep in the hole at short.
            "Amber, she's just locked down over there," Govan said. "And with somebody with speed, she can get the ball out quick. So, she did what she was supposed to do, in that sense."
            The Rebels threatened again in the third on a one-out single by Paige Smith and a walk by Myra Stevenson. But freshman RyLee Crandall came out of the bullpen to snuff it out with a pair of fly balls and gave up just one run on four hits in the last 4 2/3 innings.
            "When RyLee came in, I thought she did a good job of squelching their offense," Moore said, "and we just couldn't get anything to fall or get any momentum, get anything going until that sixth inning."
            Ole Miss tacked on an insurance run in the fifth, when Whitley reached on a bunt single and scored on Smith's triple off the wall in left field.
            "I think anytime you can extend your lead to three runs, that can feel a little different for your opponents, too," Ole Miss coach Jamie Trachsel said, "and I'm just proud of how we came back. We came out with a lot of confidence . . . and I thought that was one of our most complete games in a while."
            Trailing 3-0 and down to their last six outs, the Bears got a pinch-hit leadoff single in the sixth by Ashlyn Wachtendorf, who slapped a single over the third baseman into left field. McKenzie Wilson reached on a one-out error, and both runners moved up on a groundout.
            Instead of pitching to Govan, who has a team-high 11 homers and 51 RBIs, Riley essentially gave up an intentional walk to load the bases with two outs.
            "She's a dangerous hitter, big-time power," Trachsel said of Govan. "With first base open, it was actually a relatively easy decision, just because you don't want someone's best to beat you."
            Coming up as the potential go-ahead run, Sydney Collazos popped up to short to leave the bases stranded and the Bears off the board.
            "The frustrating thing is . . . if we execute what we have called there, we probably have the bases loaded with Shay coming up," Moore said. "And that's a different situation when they have to pitch to her. Sydney wasn't able to get it done, so they were able to get out of it."
            Baylor had a two-out rally in the seventh with a walk by Josie Bower and bloop single to right by Kaci West. But Riley once again wiggled out of trouble, getting Pilon on the line drive to short when she came up as the potential tying run.
            Dropping to the loser's bracket, the Bears will face Southern Illinois (36-19) in an elimination game at 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday. No. 15 national seed Utah (38-13), which scored two in the sixth to beat the Salukis, 11-9, will face Ole Miss at 2 p.m.
            "You've got to think small rather than big," Moore said. "First of the year, we were playing five-game tournaments every week, so it's not something we haven't done. Haven't done it in a while, but you just have to take them one game at a time and work our way back into that if (necessary) game on Sunday. But we can't think about Sunday. We've got to think about one game at a time. And that's tomorrow."


SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. - No. 18 Baylor Softball fell in game one of the Salt Lake City Regional against Ole Miss, 3-0, Friday afternoon at Dumke Family Softball Stadium.

The Bears, now 39-17 on the season, were shut out for just the seventh time this season after threatening in the sixth and seventh innings.

THE RUNDOWN
The Bears worked out of a jam early after a couple Rebels reached base in the top of the first but were able to hold them scoreless. First baseman Shaylon Govan singled in the bottom of the first, but that would be all for the Bears, as both teams went scoreless to begin the game.

Ole Miss took the early lead in the top of the second when a two-run homer to straight-away center plated the first runs for the Rebels. They had two more batters reach base in the inning, but the Bears turned a double play before a groundout to shortstop ended the threat.

The Rebels added their third run in the top of the fifth after a leadoff single and a triple.

After four-straight three-up, three-down innings, the Bears tried to start a rally in the bottom of the sixth when Ashlyn Wachtendorf hit a pinch-hit single to left field, before McKenzie Wilson reached on an error and a groundout moved runners to second and third. Govan then drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, but a pop-up ended the threat.

Ole Miss got runners into scoring position in the top of the seventh but a strikeout from RyLee Crandall and a groundout stopped the Rebels from scoring any more runs.

Baylor was down to its last chance in the bottom of the seventh and didn't go down without a fight. With two outs, Josie Bower walked before Kaci West singled to put runners on corners for the Bears. Presleigh Pilon then hit a hard-hit liner up the middle, but the shortstop made the catch to end the game.

HIGHLIGHTS

This is only the Bears' seventh shutout of the season
Shaylon Govan, Ashlyn Wachtendorf and Kaci West accounted for the Bears' three hits
RyLee Crandall pitched 4.2 quality innings, only allowing one run and striking out two
The Bears are now 33-14 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
BU is now 3-1 all-time against Ole Miss

QUOTABLE
Head coach Glenn Moore on the game: "I'm obviously disappointed in the outcome of the first game. It's not the way you want to start. I thought out girls were prepared. I thought they had the right attitude and right approach. We just got beat. I thought we competed well, and we squared up on a lot of balls and balls that went too down. But I thought overall we competed. We didn't execute some things that we should have and didn't do some things that would have helped us later in the game, especially with (Catelyn) Riley being so efficient early on. RyLee, our pitcher, came in and did a great job after Kaci had a rough start, probably struggling a little bit and not feeling the best in the world. We decided to stay with our decision to go with her and there just really was a lot on her."

WHAT'S NEXT
The Bears will play the loser of the Utah-Southern Illinois game at 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday to continue day two of the NCAA Regional Tournament. The Bears are now in a win-or-go-home scenario at the Salt Lake City Regional.

- BaylorBears.com -