March 02, 2003
Texas A&M, ranked No. 21 nationally, won the championship of the Stanford Classic in Palo Alt by beating No. 12 Georgia 3-1 in eight innings on Sunday. The tournament title is the third one in as many weekends for the Aggies as they won the St. Joseph's Aggie Invites I & II the previous two weekends.
In the championship game Lindsay Wilhelmson started on the mound for the Aggies and earned her third victory of the weekend, and seventh of the season, improving her record to a team best 7-2. The junior from North Richland Hills struck out eight, held Georgia hitless through five innings and did not allow a run during regulation play before coming up with the game winning hit in the top of the eighth.
With the international tiebreaker instituted the Aggies capitalized with patience at the plate and clutch hitting as they took the title from a powerful Georgia team. Having recorded the last out of the seventh inning junior Sherah Atkins was placed on second base at the beginning of the eighth with Jana James at the plate. James earned a walk and was moved over along with Atkins when senior Crystal Martin laid down a sacrifice bunt. Senior Selena Collins was intentionally walked for the third time of the game loading the bases and setting the table for Wilhelmson. With two balls and no strikes Wilhelmson hit a line drive past a diving Georgia third baseman that rolled all the way to the wall clearing the bases and giving the Aggies all the runs they would need to secure the title.
The Aggies overpowered their opponents at the plate in the tournament outscoring them 15-7 off of 24 hits including four home runs, one of which was a grand slam, three doubles and one triple.
Aggie pitchers overwhelmed the opposition as they posted a combined 0.96 ERA over 36.1 innings of work. Wilhelmson and Jessica Slataper struck out 30 batters and held them to a .189 average while walking 11. Slataper, a junior from Humble, Texas earned the teams first save of the year as she pitched the final 2/3 inning in Sunday's win over Georgia.
The Aggies take the field again on Wednesday at 5 p.m. as they travel to Arlington to play the Mavericks of the University of Texas at Arlington.