Wildcats Win Five Straight, Continue to Shine in Gulf Shores

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Winning five straight games to close out the tournament, the Baker softball team took advantage of three shutouts from pitcher Kira Baker and posted a 5-1 record at the Gulf Coast Invitational this past weekend, held in Gulf Shores, Ala.

After falling to (RV) Texas A&M Texarkana in the weekend opener, the Wildcats went on to outscore its next five opponents, 30-5 and chalk up wins against Central Baptist (3-1), No. 12 William Carey (8-0), Morningside (2-0), Thomas (7-4) and LSU Alexandria (10-0).

TAMUT 8, BU 0
The Eagles benefited from a shutout performance from its starter and scored five runs in the first two innings to squelch a hot Baker lineup coming into the contest. The Wildcats were only able to muster up a couple of hits against the Eagles' lefty, while Texas A&M Texarkana scattered a combined 12 hits off of BU pitchers Makayla Akin and Sydney Goss.

Akin struck out three in her six innings of work, but gave up consecutive RBI doubles in the top of the first before a two-run single in the following inning pushed the Eagles' lead to 5-0. The Eagles tacked on three more runs in the top of the seventh to give the Wildcats just their second loss of the season, 8-0.

BU 3, CBC 1
Facing a solid Central Baptist team, a late-game rally put the Wildcats back on track and come away with a 3-1 victory over the Mustangs in Friday's nightcap. Savannah Bray and Mary Grace Hess each collected a pair of hits in the game with Bray's RBI single in the sixth inning sparking BU's comeback bid.

Despite having her 28.1 scoreless inning streak snapped in the first inning against Central Baptist, the lefty Baker bounced back and blanked the Mustangs for the next six innings – the start of what would be another 20+ scoreless inning stretch for the freshman hurler after the tournament. In her fourth start of the season, she fanned 12 batters in total, including back-to-back punchouts with the tying run at second base to seal the game.

After only recording two hits through five innings to start the game, the Wildcats used a leadoff walk and a CBC error to set the stage for the game-tying hit from Bray. Then, Morgan Loggins followed with a ball to the shortstop that was able to score the speedy Emma Ancira and put Baker on top, 2-1.

Kerstyn Finch added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, scoring Hess on a sac fly after she led the inning off with a single down the right field line. In a tense bottom of the seventh, the Mustangs put runners on second and third after a BU error and a two-out double, but Baker came through with her 12th and final strikeout.

BU 8, WCU 0 (5 inn.)
Bray and Hailey Hatfield cemented Baker's 8-0 win over the 12th-ranked Crusaders in an emphatic way with the Wildcat sluggers connecting on back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to trigger the run-rule and give BU its third victory against a top-25 opponent this season.

In the circle, Baker was electric yet again with 14 of her 15 outs in the game coming by way of strikeout. She allowed just two hits and two walks, while striking out the William Carey side in each of the first four innings.

The Wildcats roped four of their six hits for extra-bases with Ancira and Loggins each smacking a double to go along with the Bray and Hatfield homers. Rylee Seymour scored a run and added an RBI in the contest as it was her first-inning single that kickstarted Baker's four-run opening frame.

Ancira capped the big first inning with an RBI double to right field and, following a couple of quiet innings, came around to score on Loggins' double in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-0 in favor of Baker before its game-sealing fifth inning.

BU 2, MU 0
In the Wildcats' Saturday finale, the pitcher Baker delivered another dominant performance out of the circle, throwing a one-hitter for her second straight shutout as BU came out on top of the pitcher's duel with a 2-0 win over Morningside.

The Wildcats capitalized on one of the game's rare scoring chances in the bottom of the fifth as pinch-runner Bailey Shuman entered for Bray who drew a leadoff walk. Shuman was an instant terror on the base paths, first swiping second base before sprinting home on a double off the bat of Akins to break the scoreless deadlock.

Loggins made it a two-run cushion on the next at-bat with an infield groundout that was able to score Akin from third and that's all the run support Baker would need as she sent down the Mustangs' final batter swinging for her 15th strikeout of the game.

BU 7, TU 4
Baker exploded for seven runs in the first two innings and kept the Thomas lineup in check enough to hold on for a 7-4 victory over the Night Hawks in Sunday's opener. Bray went a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish and notched her second multi-RBI outing of the weekend with run-scoring hits on her first two at-bats of the game.

Skylar Gorrell drew the start for the Wildcats and went 4.1 innings, striking out four and allowing just two hits. Akin worked the final 2.2 innings in relief and added three more K's to the BU total, coming in for Gorrell in the bottom of the fifth and working out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve the Baker lead.

The Wildcats got RBI-hits from Seymour, Bray and Sydney Goss in the first inning to go along with a pair of runs scored by way of a bases-loaded hit by pitch and an RBI-sac fly from Gorrell before Ancira scored Baker's sixth run of the opening frame by stealing home.

The Night Hawks finally cracked the scoreboard with a run in the fourth inning, then followed with a two-run top of the fifth inning. They added another run in the seventh, but Akin got the potential game-tying hitter to roll over on a soft grounder to close out the game.

BU 10, LSUA 0
Baker stamped its terrific weekend in the Gulf Shores with its second double-digit victory of the season, defeating LSU Alexandria, 10-0. The Wildcats had nine different players contribute to their 12-hit outing, including a 3-for-4, four-RBI performance from Finch and Bray closing out her hot-slugging tournament (10-for-16) with two more base hits.

The Wildcats scored four runs in both the second and fifth innings with Parker Straight's bases-loaded single resulting in a Generals error and bringing three runs across for BU. Finch collected RBI knocks in consecutive at-bats between the second and fourth inning, while Seymour and Riley Phillips got in on the scoring as well with a couple of RBI singles to make it 7-0.

Kira Baker started her fourth game of the tournament and tallied 13 strikeouts to bring her season total to 110 K's in 52.1 innings of work. Straight plated another run with a sac fly in the top of the fifth and Finch capped Baker's offensive onslaught with a two-run laser up the middle to wrap a bow on the Wildcats' fifth straight win.

Baker will host its home opener on Wednesday, March 8 with a doubleheader against Kansas Wesleyan slated to start at 2 p.m. in Baldwin City, Kan.

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