Tanner's Nine-Strikeout Outing Leads Baylor Softball Past Northwestern State 9-1

Sunday, February 8

Waco, Texas

2:00 PM

Baylor

4-1

Northwestern State

0-5

Northwestern State

Baylor

Tanner's Nine-Strikeout Outing Leads Baylor Softball Past Northwestern State 9-1

2/8/2026 5:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

The sophomore is the first BU pitcher to card 9+ strikeouts in a game since 2024

WACO, TX -- Sophomore Peyton Tanner dominated on Sunday, striking out nine Northwestern State hitters over four innings of work to help lead the Baylor Bears past the Demons 9-1.

In addition to her nine strikeouts, Tanner (1-0) threw four innings, giving up one run on five hits and walking two for the Bears.

RUNDOWN

The Bears got the scoring started early, putting three runs on the board in the bottom the first inning highlighted by a Gianna Gusman bases-clearing double, that pegged the Bears to a 3-0 lead.

After quick work by Tanner in the second, Baylor scored three runs in the frame, buoyed by a junior Leah Cran whose two-run two-bagger brought the score to 6-0 in favor of the Bears.

Northwestern State scratched one across in the third, before the Bears stretched the advantage to 9-1 in the fourth inning with three more runs, cruising to a 9-1 win and a 4-1 start.

GAME NOTES
• Baylor is now 63-15 all-time in the Getterman Classic
• The Bears are now 491-195 at Getterman Stadium
• BU's 4-1 start is its best since starting 2023, when it began 4-1 en route to an NCAA Tournament Appearance
• Baylor has now opened a season at 4-1 or better for the 15th time in the Glenn Moore era
• Peyton Tanner struck out a career-best nine Demon hitters
• Tanner is the first Baylor pitcher with 9+ strikeouts in a game since Aliyah Binford struck out 10 batters at the Big 12 Tournament (5/10/24).
• Senior Brooklyn Carter stole two bases on Sunday, to up her career total to 73, which ranks second among Power Conference players
• Baylor pitchers limited Northwestern State to just 2-for-11 (.182) with runners in scoring position
• Faith Piper extended her hitting streak to six games, dating back to a season ago
• Amber Toven finished the weekend 5-for-11 with five hits, two homeruns and a 1.091 slugging %
• Jayden King and Harper Haas recorded their first-career hits today, joining Olivia Buettner, Gianna Gusman and Kaygen Marshall, who also collected their career-first hits this weekend

QUOTABLE

Head Coach Glenn Moore on a comfortable win — "Well, it was nice to finish this way," he said with a laugh. "The other the other wins will pay dividends down the road. When you come out on top. Sometimes you win a game that you shouldn't, and it hurts you a little bit because you think you can keep doing that. That's my fear. You keep doing that eventually it might bite you. The fact that we did come back in those games was probably valuable in the sense that we know that we can always have hope. But it was certainly, nice to take control of one early on and be able to play some people too."

Moore on Peyton Tanner's Impressive Outing — "Yeah, it's baby steps, but she's going in the right direction and she's a fighter, man. She's just wants to be out there and compete. I love that heart of the lion that she has. She threw way too many pitches; we ran her pitch count up too quick. We've got to get a hold of that eventually, but I'm not asking for a miracle, I just want her to keep going in the right direction. I know she's happy with that performance, and the strikeouts. I said earlier, we may not have a double-digit strikeout game this year, and we didn't today, but we were knocking on the door of it. Especially in a shortened game."

WHAT'S NEXT

Baylor returns to action at home when it hosts South Dakota State at 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening. Coverage is available on ESPN+, while stats are available all season at BaylorBears.com/Stats.

Follow @BaylorSoftball on X, Instagram and Facebook for additional updates.