Tech Takes Series Over Baylor In Walk-Off Fashion
By: David Collier
Updated: April 22, 2012
Courtesy of Texas Tech.
LUBBOCK, Texas - After the first two games of the series were determined by who struck first, it was only fitting that Sunday's rubber match between No. 24 Texas Tech and No. 25 Baylor came down to the final at-bat.
LUBBOCK, Texas - After the first two games of the series were determined by who struck first, it was only fitting that Sunday's rubber match between No. 24 Texas Tech and No. 25 Baylor came down to the final at-bat.
Facing
a two-run deficit in the seventh, Logan Hall connected on a two-out,
two-run double to the gap in left field and Mikey Kenney scored her
immediately after with
a bloop single to send the Red Raiders to a 6-5 walk-off victory at
Rocky Johnson Field.
"You're
never out of it when you've got this group of seniors," Tech head coach
Shanon Hays said. "You get a break here or there and I told our team
afterward that
we never really got it going this weekend. A&M and Baylor both
played well against us, and we were very fortunate to get this game with
Baylor today, but on the other hand, we kind of earned it too."
While
the Tech bats won it in the end, it was Baylor in the field who put the
Red Raiders in position for the victory as the Bears opened the final
frame with back-to-back
errors.
Raven
Richardson began the inning with a hard ground ball to short that was
misplayed enough for the senior to reach second. Holley Gentsch followed
with a pop up
to shallow right that was dropped after Kathy Shelton and Kaitlyn
Thumann collide to put the tying run on base.
Ashley Hamada bunted the runners into scoring position for Hall, who delivered her Big 12-leading 15th double of the season to tie
the game.
Kenney
followed with a single to shallow left field that gave Hall just enough
time to scamper home from second. The pair both finished 2-for-3 at the
plate with Kenney
driving in a pair of runs thanks to a fourth-inning solo home run while
Hall finished with three RBI.
The
walk-off win was the second for Tech (37-13; 10-8) this year as Adriana
Perez broke up a 3-3 tie against Iowa State on April 1 with a two-run
homer. The series
win was Tech's third of the year and the first over Baylor (28-16; 5-10)
in Lubbock since taking both games in 1998.
Baylor
scored its first three runs in the game off the bat of Sarah Crockett,
who had a run-scoring groundout in the first and then a two-run single
in the fourth
as part of a 2-for-4 day.
The
Bears got to Tech starter Cara Custer again in the seventh as Baylor
loaded the bases for Thumann to drive a two-out single up the middle,
bringing around what
appeared to be the winning runs.
Thumann's
single, her second of the game, helped Baylor retake the lead for the
third time after Tech scored two in the fifth off a RBI single from
Emily Bledsoe and
a run-scoring groundout from Hall.
Baylor
starter Courtney Repka (15-8) could not hang on for the win, however,
as the right-hander tossed her second-straight complete game with six
runs given up, only
three of which were earned following the two errors in the seventh.
Repka recorded every out in the series as she tossed 19.2 total innings
on the weekend.
Custer
(23-8), meanwhile, picked up her second win of the series after the
freshman gave up the five runs, three of which were earned, in her 16th
complete game of the year. Baylor had 11 hits against the right-hander, who also walked three and struck out three as well.
The
win gives Custer 23 victories this season, the most for a Tech freshman
since Amanda Renfro also recorded the same amount in 1998. It also
marks the second-most
single-season wins for a Tech pitcher in school history.
The
Red Raiders will take their final road trip of the regular season next
weekend as Tech travels to Kansas for a three-game series with the
Jayhawks that begins
at 5 p.m. Friday in Lawrence.
