No. 12/12 Baylor softball (12-3) took control in the middle frames of a 5-2 win over No. 21/rv Long Beach State (16-5), notching its second-straight win over ranked competition on Tuesday afternoon at the LBSU Softball Complex.
BU was led in the circle by Gia Rodoni (7-2), with the junior ace going all 7.0 frames to pick up her second-straight complete game effort. Rodoni allowed just one earned run, striking out three, walking two, and limiting the 49ers to four hits.
For the Baylor offense, Jessie Scroggins got the scoring started in the top of the first, reaching safely on a one-out walk and stealing second.
With two-outs, Goose McGlaun drilled a double into the left center gap, allowing Scroggins to score and giving BU the 1-0 advantage after the top of the first.
In the home half, back-to-back walks and then two groundouts allowed the 49ers to draw back even at 1-1 after the first full frame.
LBSU took its only lead of the game on a sac fly RBI in the bottom of the second, with the Lady Bears responding in the next half inning.
Nicky Dawson worked a full count walk, leading into an RBI double off of the top post of the fence in left field, scoring Dawson and drawing the game back even at 2-2.
With Alyssa Avalos pinch running at second base, McGlaun skied a two-run shot over the wall in left, giving BU a two-run advantage, up 4-2 after three.
Looking to add on in the top of four, Dawson took another full-count walk with one out, with Scroggins reaching on a catcher’s interference.
Friudenberg gapped a single to right center, scoring Dawson from second to push the BU lead to 5-2 after the top of the fourth.
From there, the defense and Rodoni locked in to keep the 49ers from chipping back in, closing out the final two frames by retiring the final six LBSU batters in order.
