Baylor starting pitcher Whitney Canion has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the NCAA this season posting a 27-9 record with a 1.16 ERA coming into Saturday’s game against Georgia.

And in game one of a best-of-three series in the 2011 Athens Super Regional Georgia batters understood why as Canion not only proved her dominance on the mound but also at the plate as she led the Lady Bears to a 5-1 victory over Georgia (50-13) at Jack Turner Stadium.

The Bulldogs’ only run in the game came on Canion’s very first pitch as she allowed a lead-off homer to senior Megan Wiggins. But Canion was able to regain her composure as she went on to face the minimum, 10 batters, until with one out in the fourth she allowed a single to senior Alisa Goler on her way to a three-hit complete game win.

“I was just trying to throw a good pitch [to Wiggins] and obviously it was a little fat,” Canion said. “I had a bad attitude for a second but at the same time I just stopped it right there and said “this is it Whitney, you’re not going to let anymore,” and I think that change in my attitude there and turning [the game around] helped me throughout the whole game.”

“We were just missing pitches all day. We had great cuts all around,” Goler said. “[Canion moved] the ball well. Location is the name of the game. She had us a little bit off balanced tonight as you can see with all the foul balls and all of the slight mishits. So we just have to do our job and work on that and be ready for tomorrow.

Georgia starting pitcher Morgan Montemayor (26-4) was just as dominant as her counterpart for the first four innings until the fifth when Canion got the back the only run she allowed with a home run to tie the game at 1-1.

Unfortunately Montemayor wasn’t able to rebound like Canion did after giving up a run.

In the sixth, after two singles by Baylor, Baylor head coach Glenn Moore put relief pitcher Liz Paul into the game to pinch-hit. Paul took a 0-2 pitch right up the middle to bring in a run.

Then Baylor’s Kelsi Kettler got an RBI hit of her own to give Baylor a 3-0 lead as Montemayor was taken out of the game in favor of sophomore Alison Owen.

“I just needed someone to put the ball in play,” Moore said. “I’ve been a big fan of [Paul’s] bat all year and unfortunately I’ve haven’t used it much because of the fact I may need her in the late innings in the circle.”

Canion greeted Own with a ball driven deep but a leaping catch against the wall by Wiggins temporarily stopped Baylor.

However a strikeout-wild pitch kept the inning alive for the Lady Bears as Shelbi Redfearn was able to reach first and allow another Baylor run. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Kayce Walker drove in Baylor’s last run of the game to give it a 5-1 lead it would never give up.

“I think that we kinda get the short end of the stick when it comes to offense because we’ve been able to score runs this year,” Moore said. “We don’t blow teams away we don’t hit a ton of long balls but hitting is contagious with this team.”

Georgia now faces a tough road for the rest of the Super Regionals. It must beat Baylor twice on Sunday to advance to the Women’s College World Series. First pitch of game one is set at 3:30 p.m. with Canion set to go again for Baylor.