Thirteen large banners, stretching from one foul pole to the other along the outfield fence, proclaim Baylor's softball state championship tradition.
With the way the Lady Red Raiders are playing heading to next week's Spring Fling, they may need to make room for another. Baylor, which has won the past five Division II-AA state titles and eight of the past nine, clobbered visiting Briarcrest 12-0 and 18-1 in a pair of three-inning decisions Friday to sweep its way back into the state semifinals.
"We challenged our kids at practice that they've only got a handful of games left to play, so it shouldn't matter who's in the other dugout," said Baylor coach Kelli Smith, whose team had not played in 11 days. "They definitely answered that challenge and came out and got after them early. With what was at stake, I was glad to see how we took care of business."
As impressive as the Lady Red Raiders (24-1) were in the first game - scoring five runs in each of the first two innings - they were even more so in the final game as they hammered five home runs in the first inning to jump out to a 13-0 lead.
Of Baylor's 27 combined hits in the two games, 15 went for extra bases. Ace Sellers had three homers and two doubles for her five hits Friday, when she drove in seven runs. She was also the winning pitcher in the second game, allowing one hit.
Raven Jones, who gave up two hits while winning the opener, had a combined four doubles and four RBIs in the doubleheader against Briarcrest (6-16), and Katie Raper added a three-run homer and an RBI triple. Junior ace Syd Berzon was not needed in the circle but did have a three-run homer in the first game, and Morgan Sharpe and Addie Yates added homers in the series clincher, with Sharpe driving in four runs.
Baylor has faced rival GPS for the past six DII-AA championships, with the Bruisers' title in 2014 preventing the Lady Raiders from having won nine straight. Those two traditional powers with a combined 21 state titles appear to be headed for another collision course after GPS advanced to the Spring Fling on Thursday by sweeping Pope John Paul II by a combined score of 23-0.
GPS will open the DII-AA semifinals against St. Benedict at 11 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday in Murfreesboro, and Baylor will follow against Chattanooga Christian School at 11:30. The Lady Red Raiders swept their two regular-season meetings with CCS, which advanced by beating Brentwood Academy 5-2 on Friday after splitting a doubleheader Thursday.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.