No. 4 Baker Closes Out 2024 Season with Loss to No. 3 LSU Alexandria in NAIA Opening Round

CHICKASHA, Okla. - No. 4 Baker softball fell to No. 3 LSU Alexandria by a final score of 7-1 on Wednesday afternoon in an elimination game of the NAIA Softball Opening Round, bringing the Wildcats' 2024 season to a wrap.

After losing a heartbreaker to top-seed USAO on Tuesday, BU couldn't find its footing against the Generals as LSUA never relinquished the quick 5-0 lead that it built and stymied a Wildcats offense that had scored at least three runs in both of their first two games of the Chickasha bracket.

Overall, the Wildcats tallied seven hits in the game, but with none of them going for extra bases, they could only translate that into one lone run. With the LSUA starting pitcher going the whole game without a strikeout, the BU lineup had a handful of hard-hit balls that landed in unfortunate spots against a mistake-free Generals defense.

Meanwhile, LSUA racked up 11 hits and took advantage of three BU errors to have all seven of their runs go unearned against Baker pitchers Breana Barchak and Tess Eubank.

Six different players recorded a hit for BU with Reese Curry notching the only multi-hit game with singles in her first two at-bats of the day. Driving in the Wildcats' run, Mary Grace Hess earned her team-best 40th RBI of the season to give the senior from Burlington, Kan. over 60 RBI for her career.

The Generals started things off by loading the bases in the bottom of the first using a hit, an error and a walk to set up a two-run single that gave LSUA an early 2-0 lead.

LSUA followed with a three-run inning in the second after stringing together four hits in the frame, including an RBI double that was sandwiched between its run-scoring singles.

Entering for Barchak in the third, Eubank immediately reeled off three straight strikeouts and finished with a total of six Ks in her four innings of relief. She logged scoreless frames in the third and fourth before the Generals broke through for a couple more runs in the fifth.

The Wildcats looked to chip away at LSUA's lead in the top of the fifth with Curry and Ashlee Jackman opening up the inning with consecutive hits to the outfield. Eventually moving up to second and third, Jackman scored on Hess' RBI groundout to make it a 5-1 deficit for BU.

After seeing their shutout get broken up in the top-half, the Generals came back with a two-run bottom of the fifth to put the final nail in the coffin. Both runs would go as unearned though as an error and a sac fly scored both runs in the inning and settled the scoreboard at 7-1.

With the result, BU finishes off another terrific spring with a 34-15 overall record, winning 30 or more games for the second straight season and earning back-to-back NAIA appearances for the second time in program history.

The Wildcats went 17-7 in conference play and closed out the regular season by winning nine of their last 10 games to earn the No. 2 seed for the Heart Softball Conference Tournament. BU had five players earn All-Heart honors with Kira Baker and Savannah Bray joining Hess on the first team, while Madi Ball and Riley Phillips were second-team selections.

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