No. 11 JMU Closes Season with 1-0 Loss to No. 17 Baylor in Waco Regional Final

Sunday, May 21

Waco, Texas

2 p.m.

James Madison University

52-8

#17/13 Baylor

46-12

Baylor

James Madison

No. 11 JMU Closes Season with 1-0 Loss to No. 17 Baylor in Waco Regional Final

5/21/2017 5:51:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score

WACO, Texas – No. 11/12 James Madison softball (52-8) rose from the losers' bracket into Sunday's Waco Regional final and battled No. 17/13 Baylor in tightly-matched pitchers' duel inside Getterman Stadium, but the Lady Bears held on for a 1-0 victory to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.

The Lady Bears (46-12) lone run of the contest came off a wild pitch during an intentional walk to Baylor first baseman Shelby Friudenberg, who launched the game-winning home run during the programs' first meeting of the Waco Regional.

Junior Megan Good made the start in the circle for the Dukes and tossed a gem. Over seven innings, she allowed five hits and one run. Only one of Baylor's four hits came over the final four innings as Good retired 11 of the last 14 batters she faced. She struck out only one with three walks, all of which were issued to Friudenberg.

Baylor's Gia Rodoni tossed her second no-hitter of the Waco Regional. She allowed only three Dukes to reach base via a walk and two hit by pitches. The Dukes put the ball in play with just two strikeouts, but couldn't get anything to drop, marking the first time JMU has been no-hit in a contest since May 9, 2013 against Hofstra.

Over the first two innings, Baylor put runners into scoring position and the defense held strong, but the Lady Bears broke through in the top of the third. Back-to-back doubles put Lady Bears on second and third with no outs. Senior infielder Madyson Moran fielded a ground ball and threw to first for the first out before the Dukes elected to internationally walk Friudenberg. A pitch in the sequence went wild and allowed Lindsey Cargill to score from third to give Baylor a 1-0 lead.
The Dukes brought the heart of its lineup to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Representing the tying run, Good got on board with a hit by pitch to bring senior outfielder Taylor Newton to the plate. Newton roped a fly ball to the outfielder but Baylor center fielder Jessie Scroggins made the play to rob the potentially game-tying hit before Rondoni recorded a strikeout to end the game.

QUOTING COACH DEAN
"When you looked at the Regionals, we knew this one would be the most competitive. I knew coming into this weekend that there weren't going to be any blowout games because the four teams were so fundamentally strong. Every team had good pitching. Some had great pitching. The hitters don't strikeout much on any team, so we knew it was going to be a very competitive Regional. We didn't hit a lot of balls hard off of her [Gia Rodoni], and when we did that center fielder [Jessie Scroggins] chased them all down, but I felt like we were going to win the game all the way through."

THANK YOU SENIORS
Seniors Taylor Newton, Niki Prince, Madyson Moran, Casie Hill, Mimi Morris and Tahli Moore closed their record-breaking careers this afternoon. Today, Newton made her 234th career start to set JMU's career record for games played and games started. Newton also closed her career as JMU's record holder for career RBIs with 181. Prince leaves JMU with the runs scored (168) and hit by pitch (37) records. The senior class is the winningest class in program history with a 195-39 record, breaking the program's single-season wins record four years in a row after a program-best 52 wins in 2017. They led JMU to four NCAA appearances, three Colonial Athletic Association titles and the program's first NCAA Regional title in 2016.

TWEETS OF THE GAME

THANK YOU @JMUSoftball for an exciting series here in Texas!! You fought hard and made us proud!! #GoDukes!! https://t.co/m0MZsjJbM0
— DFW Dukes (@DFWDukes) May 21, 2017

52-8 is NOTHING to hang your head about. Know the ultimate goal wasn't reached, but still one heckuva season for @JMUSoftball #GoDukes ????????
— Justin Tarbell (@JustinWTarbell) May 21, 2017

PHOTO OF THE GAME - VIEW GALLERY

A packed Getterman Stadium watches as No. 11 JMU battles No. 17 Baylor for the Waco Regional Title.

QUOTING MEGAN GOOD
"I couldn't have asked to have felt any better coming into today's game. It's very disappointing, because it feels like every year we come up just a little short. Baylor is a great team, and we can only control what we can control. In the box, we were looking to hit our pitch and swing as hard as we could. Things just didn't fall today."