Baylor Softball Ends Kansas’ Season with 7-3 Win in Big 12 Tournament

The Baylor Bears softball team lived to see another day with a 7-3 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the opening round of the 2025 Big 12 Softball Tournament.

The pair traded blows throughout the first four innings before a barrage of Baylor home run hits in the fifth inning put the game out of reach for Kansas.

While the game featured some explosive offense from the pair, the first inning remained quiet with each defense getting the job done. The same could have been said for the second inning, had it not been for an error by Kansas’ second baseman Campbell Bagshaw, who allowed the Bears to break into the scoring column.

Kansas responded accordingly, with a powerful solo shot from Natalie Marshall in the top of the third. Responding to Baylor’s separation became the theme of the game for the Jayhawks as the Bears continued to pile on runs.

In the bottom of the third, Kansas dealt with some adversity, as Baylor smacked around senior pitcher Katie Brooks, loading the bases with no outs. A well-timed double-play kept things within reach, allowing just one run to score, leaving a baserunner on third, with two down.

The Jayhawks would not get out of the inning unscathed, however, as freshman outfielder Karynton Dawson stepped up to the plate and delivered an RBI triple to put the game at 3-1 in favor of Baylor.

In the next two innings, Kansas would chip away and crumble Baylor’s lead, scoring a run in the top of the fourth and the top of the fifth. The first run came on an RBI from Bagshaw, followed by Aynslee Linduff, who tied the game up with an RBI single.

The bottom of the fifth inning was where the gap became too much for Kansas to come back from as Shaylon Govan, Turiya Coleman, and Karynton Dawson connected on back-to-back-to-back jacks. Govan’s went down as a two-run blast while Coleman and Dawson recorded their own solo home runs to put the game at 7-3.

Kansas failed to score in the final two innings, ending their season and sending Baylor to the second round of the Big 12 Tournament. With the win, the Bears look ahead to a Thursday afternoon date with the top-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders at 1:30 p.m. central.