Tigers split with Sooners
Published April 17, 2007
The Tiger softball team lost its first-place position in Big 12 standings this weekend, but it split a Sunday doubleheader with the Oklahoma Sooners, the No. 2 team in the country.
Nerves ran high at the beginning of the game when the Sooners were the first to score. Junior pitcher Jen Bruck gave up an unearned run in the top of the first inning, but freshman right fielder Julie Silver responded with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning.
"It was amazing," Bruck said of the support. "It's nice to know that if you mess up, you have your other players there to pick you up, so it's a good feeling."
Bruck pitched the rest of the game and did not give up another run. A two-run home run by fellow junior outfielder Micaela Minner in the third inning and a solo home run for Bruck in the fourth inning provided insurance in the 5-1 win.
The second game did not go as well for the Tigers. Bruck started this game as well but gave up four runs in 3.2 innings.
"I thought (Bruck) was dominant in game one," coach Ehren Earleywine said. "You're talking about one run in the first inning, and that was unearned. She just ran out of gas."
Bruck said she was tired, but she had pitched more fatigued in the past.
Junior Amanda Renth had three hits in the second game, including a two-RBI single in the second inning and the team's other RBI on a double in the first inning.
"I feel better than I did in the first game," Renth said. "(Oklahoma pitcher Lauren) Eckermann just kind of fooled me on a couple pitches in there in the first game. I took a couple bad swings. (In the second game) I felt really good and hit the ball solid in my first at bat."
The problem for the Tigers was that senior infielder Alli Kennewell's single was their only other hit in the game, an 8-3 loss. Earleywine said he didn't know why there was a hitting disparity between the two games.
"The only thing I can think of is sometimes you hit a person really well in game one and you become leisurely and overconfident and think, 'Oh, there's nothing to this,'" he said.
The split with the Sooners moves the Tigers record to 6-1 in Big 12 play. Baylor remained undefeated in conference play by sweeping Oklahoma State, putting its 9-0 record in sole possession of first place. The Sooners have an 8-3 record and are in third. No. 4 Texas A&M, who will play a two-game series with the Tigers this weekend, has a 7-3 record.
"Since we've started conference play, we've really come together as a team," Minner said. "Not just hitting-wise. I think we've been hitting good all season. I think our pitching is what has really stepped up and defense and that's what's winning the games, not our hitting."