Extra-Inning Troubles Spoil No. 11 Baker’s Season-Opening Tournament at Dordt

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – Making its 2024 debut, the No. 11 Baker softball team traveled to Sioux Center, Iowa this weekend to compete at the Dordt Softball Classic where a pair of extra-inning games and a top-15 matchup tripped up the Wildcats in their season-opening tournament.

The Wildcats dropped all four games in Iowa after going to extras in both openers of their doubleheaders against No. 15 Northwestern and Morningside. Savannah Bray finished the weekend with five total hits, two doubles, three walks and an RBI.

NWC 3, BU 1 (8 inn.)
The Wildcats took their first game of the 2024 season to extra innings, but couldn't overcome a two-run eighth inning by the Raiders as Baker dropped the top-15 matchup, 3-1.

Making her season debut after a sensational freshman campaign that saw her finish as an NAIA All-American, Kira Baker pitched all eight innings and tallied seven strikeouts, while giving up just two earned runs.

The BU lefty held the Raiders scoreless thru the first five innings and got a run from her offense in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double from Sydney Erlandson to give Baker a 1-0 lead. NWC tied things right back up in the top of sixth before plating the winning runs in extras.

NWC 4, BU 3
Baker let a 3-0 lead slip away from them and the Raiders used a four-run fifth to complete their comeback in the second game of the doubleheader.

Reese Curry broke open the scoring in the top of the fourth with a single to left that scored Mary Grace Hess. The Wildcats took advantage of a leadoff walk in the fifth with Bray smacking a one-out single to drive in a run before Curry came through with her second straight RBI on a single just over the glove of the NWC shortstop.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Raiders strung together five hits to score their four runs and erase the Wildcats' lead before Bray's leadoff single in the top of the seventh gave Baker a chance to tie things in the final frame. The senior slugger eventually made it over to third to put the tying run 60 feet away, but NWC got a strikeout to end the game.

MU 6, BU 5 (9 inn.)
Baker went to extra innings for the second straight day and ran into more late trouble in the opening game against Morningside after seeing another big lead get wiped out with the Mustangs winning, 6-5 in nine innings.

It was all BU thru the first five innings of play with Erlandson opening up the scoring once again with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth. The Wildcats came right back with a big four-run fifth inning to extend their lead out to 5-0 with Hess, Madi Ball and Riley Phillips all driving in runs for BU.

The Mustangs followed suit by spreading their five runs across two innings with their four-run seventh inning tying things up at 5-5 and pushing the game to extra frames. A sac fly RBI scored the game-winning run for Morningside as they dealt the Wildcats their second straight extra-innings loss.

MU 6, BU 4
The Wildcats tallied a run in four straight innings to chip away at the Mustangs' lead, but it wasn't enough to overcome their five-run deficit as Morningside took the nightcap by a score of 6-4.

Ball and Bray combined to go 5-for-7 at the plate with three doubles and an RBI courtesy of a two-out double by Ball in the fifth. Rilee Bell collected a couple of RBIs with a sac fly scoring Phillips in the fourth inning and then the sophomore catcher drove in a run in the seventh, looking to spark a late-game rally for the Wildcats.

After starter Breana Barchak pitched the first four innings, Tess Eubank entered in relief in the fifth and ended up tossing back-to-back scoreless innings with a couple of strikeouts.

Up next, Baker will head to the NAIA 2024 Spring Invite, held at Homefield Complex in Kansas City, Kan., on Feb. 17-18 with games against Oklahoma Wesleyan (12 p.m.) and St. Mary of the Woods (4 p.m.) on Saturday, before taking on Columbia (10 a.m.) and Bethel on Sunday (2 p.m.).

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