No. 20 SB Closes Out Regular Season with No. 5 Texas

No. 20 BAYLOR (36-15, 5-10 Big 12) vs. No. 5 TEXAS (40-9-1, 11-4 Big 12)

Friday, May 5 • vs. Texas • Austin, Texas |Red & Charline McCombs Field • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: LHN
Saturday, May 6 • vs. Texas • Waco, Texas |Getterman Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: Big 12 Now ESPN+
Sunday, May 7 • vs. Texas • Waco, Texas |Getterman Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: Big 12 Now ESPN+

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            When Glenn Moore says his 20^th-ranked Baylor softball team "has a lot of Josie Bowers in it," it's the highest of compliments he could give to the Bears and their lone senior.
            A career .253 hitter with seven home runs and 78 RBIs, Bower "has been a shining example of what it means to be a great teammate and a great leader," Moore said.
            "Josie has been through some real tough days in this program," Moore said, "from wins and losses to losing a coach to cancer (Mark Lumley), to a lot of different types of struggles. And she's persevered. She's been the glue of this program. She's held us together during those tough times, and she's also experienced great success on the field."
            Bower and the Bears (36-15, 5-10) will play a split series this weekend with fifth-ranked Texas (40-9-1, 11-4). After Friday's 6:30 p.m. game at McCombs Field in Austin, Baylor hosts the Longhorns at 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at Getterman Stadium.
            "I'm trying not to make the moment too big," Bower said of being recognized as Baylor's only senior in Sunday's Senior Day. "Being the only senior kind of makes it to where it literally is all about you, which I don't enjoy, to be honest. There's not a lot of pressure, but just a lot of emotions that go with that. Just trying not to make the moment too big, but also savoring it."
            Starting as a freshman in 2019, Bower was part of an 18-31 team, went through a COVID shutdown in 2020 and made back-to-back postseason appearances. The Bears made an NCAA regional in 2021, won the National Invitational Softball Championship last year and has been a consistent top-20 team this season.
            "A lot of people have been asking me, 'What's your favorite moments of Baylor Softball?''' she said. "I've been here for five years, so there's a lot to choose from. Just going through those different years and thinking about all that we've done. It's a lot of reflecting on what I've been through."
            As much as this weekend is about honoring Bower on Senior Day, it's actually a Bower family weekend, with her brother, Aaron, throwing out the first pitch for Saturday's game as part of the Autism Awareness game.
            "They are very special to me," Moore said of the Bower family. "It's never been a situation where you have to play my daughter or I'm not going to like you anymore. They've been Baylor fans, they've been all-in, they've been supportive. (Her dad, Greg Bowers) has a heart of gold. And Aaron, I can't say enough about him. We're going to miss him as much as we miss Josie. The team just loves him. So, we're excited to honor him on Saturday as well."
            Baylor is coming off a frustrating weekend when the Bears lost two out of three at Iowa State, getting beat in Sunday's series finale, 6-5.
            "I think timely hitting is a big thing," Bower said. "We got a lot of runners on base last weekend, but sometimes we didn't get them around, and that goes to Iowa State's defense as well. They made a lot of great plays. But just keep doing what we're doing, hitting the ball hard, and they'll eventually start falling and we'll get those hits."
            Texas, which swept a three-game series against Oklahoma State, is hitting .334 as a team with 46 homers and 62 stolen bases. Mia Scott is hitting .411 with 14 doubles, two triples, two homers and 31 RBIs and 17-of-21 on the bases.
            "I think they're the full package," Moore said of the Longhorns. "They're a tough team to beat, as we've seen when they've beaten some teams that are really good. It's going to take everything we have, being on the right page and playing really well to compete with them."
            Led by sophomore right-hander Mac Morgan (15-2, 1.72 ERA), the Longhorns boast a 1.99 team ERA. Freshman Citaly Gutierrez is 11-2 with a 1.86 ERA, while North Carolina State transfer Estelle Czech is 10-4 with a 2.33 ERA.
            "They have four arms that they're able to keep well-rested and throw really well," Moore said. "They have a lefty and three righties, and all of them are strong enough to be starting for many top-25 teams as their ace pitcher. I think that's where it starts for them."
            Friday's game will be broadcast by the Longhorn Network, with the two home games at Getterman Stadium streamed by Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

STORY LINES
• Baylor Softball is closing out its regular season with a three-game series against the No. 5 Texas Longhorns.
• BU Will play one game in Austin, Texas on Friday, May 5, before returning home to host UT at Getterman Stadium, May 6-7. Saturday's game is the Autism Awareness game and Sunday's contest will be Senior Day.
• Texas leads the all-time record over the Bears 38-22, while holding the lead in Austin, 20-9 and the lead in Waco, 17-11. Last season, Baylor went 1-2 in the series, defeating them 17-3 in game two of the series, scoring the most runs against UT in the Longhorns history.
• A 36-15 record through the first 51 games of the year marks the best record for the Bears since going 40-11 to open the 2017 season, a year that ended in the College World Series with a 48-15 record and a final No. 7 national ranking.
• Falling slightly in the polls, Baylor now ranked No. 20 in the D1Softball poll and are 21 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, 18 in the Softball America poll and 20 in the NFCA coaches' poll.
• BU is currently sitting at 23 in the NCAA Softball RPI standings.
• Baylor has turned the most double plays in a season (25), since the 2007 season when the Bears set a single-season high with 28 double plays turned. BU has only turned 20 or more double plays in a season three times in Baylor softball history.
• Baylor is 3-1 in extra-inning games on the season, with their one loss in extras coming against No. 2 Oklahoma State in an 11-inning showdown to open conference play. The Bears also have 11 shutouts on the season.
• Shaylon Govan is now tied for first in sacrifice flies in a single season with seven so far this season. She is also tied for second all-time in walks in a season with 41.
• BU also leads the Big 12 in sacrifice bunts (32), sacrifice flies (19) and stolen bases (74) on the season.
• McKenzie Wilson moved to third place in consecutive reached base streaks earlier this season with a 35 game-record.
• Josie Bower is now second all-time in Baylor softball history in hit by pitches (27), passing Kelley Levesque, after she was hit against Oklahoma.
• The Bears offense came alive against Iowa State notching 30 hits over the weekend, but BU ultimately fell 1-2 on the weekend against the Cyclones in Ames.
• Shaylon Govan leads the Bears with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs. She is the first Bears since 2019 to record double-digit home runs in a single season.
• Govan is one of nine Bears to have double digit RBIs on the season. Amber Toven follows her with 31, Emily Hott and Ana Watson have 29, McKenzie Wilson and Sydney Collazos have 22, Presleigh Pilon has 19 and Taylor Strain and Josie Bower have 14.
• Dariana Orme leads the Bears with 126 strikeouts and leads the conference in innings pitched (148.0).
• Ava Knoll made her home debut in the green and gold in the midweek contest pitching an inning against the Bobcats. Kaci West also had a no-hitter through three innings pitched and RyLee Crandall pitched one scoreless frame.
• The Bears have recorded 74 stolen bases on the season, one away from last year's season total of 75.
• BU is honoring Josie Bower as the lone senior on Sunday's senior day celebration. Bower has been an integral part of the Bears roster for the past five seasons.
• Head coach Glenn Moore picked up his 1,000th career win against UT Arlington on March 22. 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.

- BaylorBears.com -

No. 20 SB Closes Out Regular Season with No. 5 Texas

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Players Mentioned

Josie Bower

Sydney Collazos

RyLee Crandall

Shaylon Govan

Ava Knoll

Dariana Orme

Presleigh Pilon

Taylor Strain

Amber Toven

Ana Watson

Kaci West

McKenzie Wilson

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