May 03, 2003
No. 20 Texas A&M was defeated by the Nebraska Cornhuskers, ranked 10th nationally, 6-4 Saturday in an elimination game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament at the Don E. Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Nebraska jumped on top of A&M early ,with five runs in the first two innings, and held off the Aggies late as A&M mounted a seventh inning comeback but came up short ending their tournament run and allowing Nebraska to advance to play No. 3 Texas on Saturday.
Junior right-hander Lindsay Wilhelmson (16-7) got the start for A&M and pitched a complete game as she struck out six and allowed only two earned runs in the effort.
Nebraska leadoff hitter Kim Ogee put her team on the board in the top of the first when she deposited Wilhelmson's 1-1 delivery over the left field wall to give Nebraska the early 1-0 lead. Ogee added to the Nebraska lead in the second when she stepped into the box with two outs and the bases loaded and hit a bases clearing double that raised their lead to 4-0. Ogee then scored off of a Nicole Trimboli single giving the Huskers a 5-0 edge. None of the four runs scored in the second were earned as the Aggies committed two throwing errors that extended the Husker inning.
A&M remained scoreless until the fourth when they scratched two runs across on a fielders choice by Jennifer Davis and a throwing error by the Nebraska third baseman. Davis stepped to the plate with one out and the bases loaded and hit a grounder to third that Jessica Yoachim fielded and threw to home trying to get lead runner Jana James. Husker catcher Amber Burgess was shielded from the ball by James and it hit her in the face bouncing off towards the third base dugout allowing James and Crystal Martin to score cutting the Husker lead to three.
The Aggies would mount another run in the seventh inning cutting the lead to 6-4 as they scored two runs off of three hits and a walk but could not plate enough runners to extend the game or earn the win. With one out in the inning senior Cheryl Fowler hit a single to begin the rally and then scored when Adrian Gregory hit a triple that sliced into the right field corner. After pinch hitter Nicole Robinson struck out for the second out, senior Selena Collins drew a walk setting the table for freshman Kristin Gunter. Gunter delivered by hitting a single to left that scored Gregory. With two on and the Aggies down by two James stepped in and hit a single to center that Ogee fielded and threw home trying to hold Collins at third. As the ball traveled to home it took a bad hop and skipped past Burgess prompting Collins to head for home. Burgess hustled to the backstop, grabbed the ball and tossed it to first baseman Lawrick who applied the tag to Collins ending the game.
A&M will head home on Sunday morning and await the selection of the field of 64 for the 2003 NCAA championship. Selections will be made on Sunday, April 11 at 9:00 p.m. (CST).