There isn’t much margin for error against a top-15 team.

So even though McNeese State had no intention of going away against No. 14 Baylor on Thursday night at Cowgirl Diamond, the Bears were able to capitalize on just enough miscues to pull away late for an 8-5 win.

The score was tied after five innings, but Baylor (29-7) took the lead on Shelby Friudenberg’s RBI single in the sixth and added a pair of insurance runs that reached base via McNeese errors in the seventh.

“It was a good softball game,” said Cowgirls coach Joanna Hardin. “We had a couple mistakes; they had a couple mistakes. But we didn’t let the mistakes carry over. I felt our offense had a great approach. We had a couple free passes pitching, but they were borderline — against a quality team, if you put it over the plate, they hit it out of the park.”

Cowgirls pitchers Rachel Smith, Jamie Allred (6-7) and Emily Vincent combined to issue a season-high nine walks. Baylor had eight hits, all singles.

“Free passes and playing clean have been a little bit of our Achilles heel,” Hardin said. “But the kids have been working on it. Overall, we played a lot better tonight. We’re moving on the right track. Fortunately, it’s skills we can work on and adjust. The effort and attitude is great.”

One obvious plus for the Cowgirls (26-15) was their inability to be intimidated by the Bears.

McNeese fell behind 4-1 in the top of the second but bounced back to tie the score with a three-spot in the bottom of the inning. Catcher Erika Piancastelli provided the big blast, a two-run homer that brushed the branches of the oak tree over the center-field wall. It was her 15th of the season.

When Baylor scored in the top of the fourth, McNeese had an answer in the bottom half with a Taylor Goree RBI hit. She ended up stranded at third as Baylor pitcher Sarah Beth Toben (7-0) got Lauren Langer on a sharply hit liner to left for the final out of the inning.

“The good about this game is that we came out very aggressive,” said Vincent, who was 2-for-4. “It’s our plan to be aggressive, but we strayed away from that this past weekend. This is a big step for us to play a strong game. Every inning we got runners on base somehow. We could have easily backed down after they got that first lead.”

The Cowgirls are scheduled to play three games against Southland leader Northwestern State this weekend and have a doubleheader against No. 1 LSU next Wednesday.

“I think this gives us a lot of confidence,” Vincent said. “Having a rough weekend last week, coming back like this shows we can compete with anybody in this country.”

(Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press)