By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – There are certainly times when Baylor softball coach Glenn Moore would like to see maybe a little more urgency from his very chill team.
 
That calmness paid off on Saturday, when the Bears (25-24, 10-11) twice rallied from deficits to defeat the BYU Cougars, 8-5, clinching the series victory before a Senior Day crowd of 1,290 at Getterman Stadium.
 
"I know how badly we need to win to be considered for postseason," Moore said. "I think they do, too . . . but I don't think they ever panicked. Sometimes, I don't think they panic enough. They just stay calm and get the job done. The greedy me wants all three of these, but I'm very blessed and fortunate to be able to finish out the year like this."
 
After losing a late lead in Friday's 4-3 loss to the Cougars (30-14, 12-9), Baylor fell behind just four batters into Saturday's game, when Lindy Milkowski blasted a two-run home run to left-center field off BU starter Lillie Walker.
 
When Aleia Agbayani led off the second inning with a double, Moore turned to freshman right-hander Sadie Ross (5-6), who was able to put up zeroes in four of the next five innings and keep the Bears within striking distance.
 
"It's awesome to have the support of my team behind me," said Ross, who gave up three runs on nine hits and a walk with one strikeout in 5.0 innings. "Whatever I throw, I know they're going to get it behind me, so we're all good."
 
Shut out through the first three innings, the Bears tied it up at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth, when Abi Flores delivered a one-out, two-run single through the right side.
 
"Through the whole season, we've had a lot of fight," Flores said. "We've had a lot of trials and tribulations, and we always just pull together in the same direction. Today was special. This weekend was special for the seniors. I know all of us wanted to do it for the seniors.'
 
BYU regained the lead in the top of the fifth, with Hailey Morrow ripping a double to left-center field and coming across on Ilove'a Brittingham's only hit of the weekend.
 
Answering immediately, the Bears scored four runs on five hits and an error in the bottom half of the frame as the first seven batters reached base safely. Turiya Coleman and Karynton Dawson had back-to-back RBI singles before Amber Toven drove in two with a single up the middle that gave BU a 6-3 lead.
 
"They threw a punch right away today and chased Lillie (Walker) out," Moore said. "But we had to fight double hard to get the momentum shift going in our favor. We dodged a few bullets here. They could've really driven some nails in the coffin, and they weren't able to push them across. That was enough to keep us believing."
 
Tacking on what proved to be two critical insurance runs in the sixth. Dawson collected another RBI with a sac fly that scored Shaylon Govan, then Coleman singled and scored on a Flores grounder to second base.
 
Ross ran into trouble in the seventh, giving up back-to-back singles and an RBI double by Morrow. Reinserted with two on and nobody out, Walker let an inherited runner score on Brittingham's sac fly, but then struck out Milkowski and retired Keila Kamoku on a grounder to short that ended the inning, the game and the series.
 
"I know what they're capable of doing," Moore said. "You get to the 3-4 spots in their lineup, and the ball can leave the park. They've got almost 40 home runs between the two of them. We kept the ball in the park over the weekend, for the most part. I was not comfortable with any lead."
 
Following the game, the Bears recognized their 11 seniors, including one-year transfers Walker and Coleman and two-time All-American Govan.
 
"Just thinking of how many years, they've put into the sport," Ross said of the seniors, "it was just awesome to see them get recognized for everything they've done for us."
 
 




WACO, Texas – Baylor Softball defeated BYU, 8-3, Saturday afternoon at Getterman Stadium on senior day. Baylor is now 25-24 on the season and 10-11 in Big 12 conference play. 
 
THE RUNDOWN
The Bears fell behind early in its series finale against BYU, as the Cougars plated two in the top of the first on a two-run home run. 
 
Shaylon Govan walked for the Bears in the bottom of the first and Faith Piper and Presleigh Pilon singled in the bottom of the third but that would be all for the Bears until the fourth inning. 
 
Getting the bats going in the bottom of the fourth, Govan led off the inning with a walk before Karynton Dawson singled and advanced on a wild pitch to put runners on second and third. Abi Flores then roped a one-out single through the right side which scored both runs and tied the game 2-2. Amber Toven and Ashlyn Wachtendorf also singled in the inning, but BU left the bases loaded. 
 
BYU regained the lead in the top of the fifth when one run came home after a double and a single. 
 
Down by a run Brooklyn Carter and Govan recorded back-to-back singles before advancing on the throw to put runners in scoring position. Coleman then singled up the middle to score Carter before Dawson singled to score Govan and put the Bears up 4-3. A two-RBI single up the middle from Amber Toven scored the Bears' third and fourth runs of the inning 6-3. 
 
Baylor allowed the leadoff runner to get on for the Cougars in the top of the sixth, but a 5-4-3 double play ended the threat. 
 
Tacking on some runs in the bottom half of the sixth, Govan walked and Coleman singled before they both advanced on a wild pitch and Govan came home to score on a sacrifice fly from Dawson. A groundout plated the Bears' eighth run and put BU on top 8-3. 
 
BYU tried to battle back in the top of the seventh, after three hits and a sacrifice fly plated two runs but that would it as Baylor took the series over BYU with the 8-5 win. 
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The Bears totaled 12 hits on the day with multi-hit performances from Turiya Coleman, Karynton Dawson and Amber Toven
• Abi Flores had a team high three RBIs
• Dawson and Toven each had two RBIs
• Shaylon Govan had one hit and drew three walks
• Sadie Ross pitched 5.0 innings picking up the win and only walking one
• Lillie Walker picked up the save in the circle
• The Bears are now 25-24 overall and 10-11 in conference play
• BU has now won 12 of its last 16 games

 
UP NEXT
The Bears will go on the road for their final conference series of the regular season at Iowa State Friday-Sunday, May 2-4.