The No. 20 Texas A&M softball team will play without its starting shortstop Macie Morrow in its game Wednesday against the Baylor Lady Bears in Waco.
Morrow, who took a foul ball to the face in a game earlier in March, will undergo surgery on Friday, causing her to miss the rest of the season, said A&M Head Coach Jo Evans.
“It’s a devastating loss for our team,” Evans said. “But the encouraging thing is that Holly Ridley has done a great job filling in for Macie at shortstop.”
With Ridley moving to shortstop, Evans said, the Aggies will place a sophomore into the open roster spot, either Andrea Tovar or Bailey Schroeder.
Schroeder saw brief starting time before Morrow’s brief return over spring break, but suffered a torn shoulder muscle while sliding into second during A&M’s visit to Florida.
Tovar also got some playing time when Schroeder left the line up in Florida. Tovar hit a game-winning single in the seventh inning against Liberty University.
“Bailey, who would typically start in the open spot, may or may not play depending on her injury,” Evans said. “But if she can’t go, Tovar will play. Either way, we have playing experience out there.”
The Lady Bears are riding a seven-game wining streak starting March 12, following a seven game losing-streak earlier in the month.
Baylor has been led on the mound in 2009 by left-handed freshman Whitney Canion. Canion is 14-8 this season with 210 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.65.
Junior third baseman Alex Reynolds said the team is prepared for the southpaw hurler Canion.
“Her dominant pitch is the rise ball, so that will be our main game plan,” Reynolds said. “We’ll be looking for pitches to hit, taking advantage of her mistakes, and making her throw us pitches we will be successful with.”
Another freshman making a big splash for the Lady Bears is outfielder Kayce Walker. Walker leads Baylor starters in on base percentage and batting percentage with .468 and .424 respectively.
“Walker is a lefty-slapper with great speed that really makes the team go,” Evans said. “For us, our defense has to be quick and get rid of the ball in a hurry.”
Baylor, which bats .325 as a team and has held opponents to a .209 batting average, is undefeated at home in 2009.
The game marks A&M’s third Big 12 Conference competition this season after splitting its first two matches against Nebraska during Spring Break, including a 3-2 extra innings loss Sunday.
“I’m disappointed in our loss against Nebraska, it really was a tough loss,” Evans said. “I think we were in a position to win that game, and I think our kids are obviously disappointed as well.”
Despite the loss and recent injuries, Evans said that the team is keeping a winning mentality and staying focused on what is ahead of them.
“We’ve certainly had our share of trials and challenges,” Evans said. “We have to bring a mentality of taking over teams and the dominance that you want to have on the field to really shut down opponents.”