MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — A Baylor softball dugout that had been excited by a five-run top of the fifth inning could have easily become deflated when St. Benedict answered with six runs in the bottom of the inning.
Instead the Lady Red Raiders went right back to work offensively the next inning, scoring five more runs and holding on for a 12-10 victory in its Division II-AA state tournament opener.
“We never got down on ourselves after we lost the big lead,” said Lauren Lybrand, who had two hits and three RBIs. “We just went right back out and tried to do the same thing we had done the inning before.
“It was big for us to score again right after they had gotten the lead though. We didn’t want to be behind as the game got late. Now we can get a little rest before our next game.”
Baylor will now play GPS in the winner’s bracket today at 1 (Eastern) at Starplex Field 3.
“We both score a run in the first and then it goes scoreless until the fifth and then all of a sudden things just break loose,” Baylor coach Kelli Howard-Smith said. “We felt good when we took the big lead but they just kept pecking away until they got the lead from us.
“It would have been real easy for these girls to get down after that, but they fought right back and made sure we got out of her with a win.”
Haley Andrus and Tory Helton each had RBI singles in the fifth and Lybrand followed with a two-run double to stake the Lady Raiders to a five-run lead in the fifth. After St. Benedict rallied to take the lead with six runs in the bottom of the inning, Baylor countered with five more runs in the sixth to reclaim the lead.
St. Benedict scored three in the bottom of that inning to pull within one run but Baylor added an insurance run in the seventh, and Tory Helton made that lead stand.
“It may sound funny in a game with so much scoring, but that one run we got in the seventh was huge,” Smith said. “There is a big difference in how you approach the last at-bat when you’ve got a two-run cushion instead of that one run. We just kind of manufactured that one.
“Winning this first game makes a world of difference, too. You get the rest of the day off and you’re not put in a place where you feel like you’re back on your heels fighting back the rest of the way.”