Friday, March 14 • vs Texas Tech • Waco, Texas | Getterman Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: ESPN+
Saturday, March 15 • vs Texas Tech • Waco, Texas | Getterman Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: ESPN+
Sunday, March 16 • vs Texas Tech • Waco, Texas | Getterman Stadium • Radio: 101.3 FM • Watch: ESPN+

By Jerry Hill                                                          
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Baylor softball coach Glenn Moore knows all too well how painful growing pains can be, especially when you have three of your four pitchers recovering from offseason surgeries.
 
"At this level, they make you pay the price for those mistakes. And we've paid dearly," said Moore, whose Bears (12-14, 1-2) will host 12^th-ranked Texas Tech (20-7, 2-1) in a three-game series beginning with Friday's 6:30 p.m. game at Getterman Stadium.
 
"I would venture to say this is, from a statistical standpoint, probably the worst bullpen that I've had in my 25 years of coaching here. I can't remember one statistically worse. That doesn't mean that our pitchers are not talented. We've just got to get them over some bumps and get some confidence."
 
Baylor's 4.23 team ERA ranks ninth out of the 11 softball-playing teams in the Big 12 and is more than two runs higher than Tech (2.20). Redshirt freshman Lexie Warncke is 4-4 with a team-best 3.47 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 42.1 innings, while Duke transfer Lillie Walker (2-3, 4.06, 2 saves) has the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.4-1 (33-14).
 
"We've had some spots where we've had some success in the circle," Moore said, "but we really haven't been able to put it together long enough to where they can really relax and just get out there and throw a game the way that they've done in the past. That's where our biggest focus and challenge is right now."
 
Walker has been most effective in more of a relief role, picking up the Bears' two saves, but she is scheduled to make her fourth start of the year in Friday's series opener.
 
"That's where I'm more accustomed to at Duke," said Walker, who threw four shutout innings in relief in last Friday's 3-2, walk-off win over Kansas. "Honestly, I just try to get out there and play my role, whatever it may be for the team. And if that's what it is, then I'm happy and blessed to do that."
 
Dariana Orme (3-2, 5.71 ERA) had dropped more than four runs off her ERA before a rough outing in Sunday's 12-2 loss to the Jayhawks, giving up five runs on three hits and five walks with one strikeout in 1.2 innings.
 
"Lillie is probably coming the closest to performing at the highest level of her potential," Moore said, "but the other ones, all three of them, are returning from surgery. So, they're still trying to find themselves in the process, and that did not accelerate as quickly as we hoped. . . . Not so much with Dari, but the freshman pitchers needed some games where they would be able to make mistakes and get away with it. And we haven't had enough of those."
 
This weekend, Baylor's pitchers will have the added pressure of matching up against arguably the best pitcher in the country.
 
A returning All-American and the reigning USA Softball Player of the Year, Stanford transfer NiJaree Canady (8-3, 0.75, 106 strikeouts) was 41-10 with a 0.67 ERA in her two seasons with the Cardinal and helped her team to back-to-back semifinal appearances at the Women's College World Series. She did have her worst outing in Sunday's 10-1 loss to Oklahoma State, giving up five runs (two earned) in 2.0 innings.
 
"Apart from what most believe, myself included sometimes, (Canady) is human and that happens," Moore said. "She's thrown a lot already. And the more you throw, the more people have video on you. She threw some great pitches, even in that game. She gave up five runs on four hits, and not all of those were hard-hit balls. (OSU) did the job and was able to get more barrels on the ball."
 
Walker said "it's in the back of your mind" that you're going up against Canady, but "I think I can use my knowledge to help our hitters in any way possible."
 
Baylor has produced at the plate, hitting .275 as a team and averaging almost five runs per game. The Bears have three batters hitting over .400, including two-time All-American Shaylon Govan at .423 with five homers and 13 RBIs.
 
After Govan hit a game-tying home run and scored the winning run in the ninth inning in the series opener against Kansas, "they don't pitch to her the rest of the weekend," Moore said. Moved up to the 2-hole in the two midweek games, Govan went 5-for-9 with four RBIs and was only walked once in 10 plate appearances.
 
"I decided I was going to move her up to where it would be a bigger threat, where she wasn't coming up there with two outs," Moore said. "She's not a typical 2, not a typical (leadoff). But I do think Presleigh (Pilon) has a good on-base percentage, and she has a chance to put somebody ahead of her to drive in a run"
 
Moved up to the leadoff spot, Pilon hit her first home run of the season in Tuesday's 11-2 win over Northwestern State.
 
"That was actually a hit-and-run, so thank goodness it went over (the wall)," Pilon said, "because it was supposed to be on the ground. But yes, put a good swing on a good pitch, I guess."
 
The series continues with games at 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, with all three games streamed by ESPN+.  

 
STORY LINES
• Baylor Softball is getting ready to continue conference play as they host No. 12 Texas Tech for a three-game conference series at Getterman Stadium. 
• BU is coming off of two midweek contests on the road where they split a pair, defeating Northwestern State and falling against Lamar. 
• The Bears played their first conference series of the season against Kansas where they went 1-2 on the weekend falling twice against the Jayhawks after walking-off KU in game one. 
• The Bears have officially completed their tournament schedule where they played five games a weekend for the first four weekends of the season.
• Competing in its first midweek contest of the season, Baylor faced No. 1 Texas Wednesday, March 5 in Austin, Texas and fell 4-0 against the top-ranked team. 
• During the 2025 season, the team comes back to the diamond with a veteran squad that consists of 12 seniors and 15 upperclassmen.
• After ending the 2024 campaign back in a Super Regional for the first time since 2017, the Bears are looking to build on last year's season while returning 15 off of the 2024 squad, while adding four transfers and seven freshmen. 
• The Bears four transfers include Brooklyn Carter (Washington), Turiya Coleman (Houston), Carson Frier (UCF) and Lillie Walker (Duke). Coleman and Frier add depth to the Bears infield/catching position, while Carter adds speed to the outfield and Walker tosses left-handed in the circle. 
• After starting with a five-game tournament at Texas A&M where they went 3-2, the Bears hosted a three-team tournament during the second week of play, the Getterman Classic, where they welcomed No. 3 Oklahoma and Hofstra to town. the Bears went 3-2 at the Getterman Classic defeating Hofstra three times and falling against the defending National Champions, Oklahoma, twice. 
• At the Bears' third tournament of the season the Mary Nutter Classic, the Bears recorded a walk-off win over Nevada before falling in four-straight games against ranked opponents. 
• Finishing up its tournament schedule hosting the Baylor Invitational, the Bears went 3-2 on the weekend as they welcomed North Texas, Sam Houston and California Baptist to town. 
• Baylor leads the all-time record over Texas Tech 62-22, including the 25-13 lead while competing in Waco. Last year in the Bears' three-game series against the Red Raiders, Baylor took two of three from TTU at Getterman Stadium. 
• The Bears faced seven opponents so far this season who were either ranked or receiving votes in the preseason ESPN poll for a total of seven games. Those teams include: No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 13 Arkansas, No. 15 Missouri, No. 16 Nebraska and No. 1 Texas. Eight of Baylor's 14 losses on the season have come against opponents ranked in the Top 25. 
• Texas Tech will mark the eighth ranked opponent the Bears have faced this season and the seventh ranking in the top-15 or higher. 
• Turiya Coleman leads the Bears offensively with a .467 average so far this season, only missing nine games due to injury. She has compiled with seven doubles, a home run and 12 RBIs. 
• Three different Bears are tied with 13-RBIs on the season, while Shaylon Govan has a team-leading five homeruns.
• Lillie Walker picked up the Baylor's only win in the circle last week making an appearance in all four games and striking out a team-high nine batters. 
• Shaylon Govan is now tied for second place in career walks at Baylor. She currently has 114 and is 19 walks away from tying the career record. 
• Baylor's leading hitter last year, Shaylon Govan, is back for her senior season for the Bears after being named a unanimous First-Team All-American last year. The two-time All-American hit .444 last season while setting Baylor single-season records in walks (48) and on base percentage (.579). Her on base percentage led the nation, while her batting average was top-7 in the nation. 
• Head coach Glenn Moore is in his 25th season at the helm of the Baylor Softball program. In a quarter of a century, Moore is Baylor Athletics' active all-time wins leader across all sports. He has progressed up the active NCAA coaching ranks, now ranking No. 17 in total victories among active Division I head coaches.