May 18, 2003
The No. 22 Texas A&M softball team (38-21) defeated the 20th ranked South Carolina Gamecocks 6-3 in an elimination game in the NCAA Regional after dropping their first game of the weekend to one-seed and national No. 1 Arizona 3-0. The Aggies opened the day with a loss to the Wildcats in the final of the winners bracket before rebounding to eliminate the Gamecocks from championship play. With the victory of South Carolina the Aggies live to play the Wildcats tomorrow in the Regional final.
The Aggies got in trouble early against the Wildcats as they allowed Arizona to score three runs in the first two innings off of five hits and one error.
Junior Jessica Slataper got the start for the Ags and pitched 4.2 innings striking out one and allowing three runs, two earned, off of seven hits and four walks. Junior Lindsay Wilhelmson entered in relief for Slataper in the fifth inning and worked 2.1 scoreless innings striking out three, walking none and allowing only one hit.
Despite putting runners on in the third, fifth and sixth innings, the Aggies could not mount a comeback against the nations top-ranked team as they were held to two hits and no runs in the game. Seniors Jennifer Davis and Cheryl Fowler recorded the only hits for A&M as Davis singled to left in the third and Fowler added the Aggies last hit in the sixth with a hard-hit single to left.
It was a different story for A&M against South Carolina as they downed the Gamecocks for the second time in as many days on the strength of a four-run fourth inning and 6.1 strong innings from Wilhelmson.
After finishing out the Arizona game the right-hander from North Richland Hills worked the majority of the contest, picking up where she left off the previous day, forcing the Gamecocks to hit ground balls that her teammates quickly gathered and delivered to first for outs. In Friday's matchup 15 of South Carolina's 21 outs came as ground balls and on Saturday 13 of the outs were grounders.
The fourth inning Aggie barrage began with a single by Rocky Spencer followed by a double by Jana James that scored her. James moved to third as the Gamecocks attempted to throw Spencer out at home and then promptly scored when Crystal Martin hit a single up the middle increasing the Aggie lead to 2-0. Martin scored the third run of the game on a Wilhelmson double up the left line that rolled all the way to the fence setting the table for Jennifer Davis to bring Wilhelmson home with another A&M single increasing their lead to 4-0.
South Carolina cut into the Aggie lead in the sixth as they scored two runs on a hit batter, two Aggie errors and two fielders choice, advancing to the seventh inning down 4-2.
A&M got their two runs back in the top of the seventh when Spencer hit a two-out single and moved to second when Collins drew a walk. Up by two with two outs and two on James stepped into the box and regained the Aggies four-run lead by driving a shot into the right-field gap scoring Spencer and Collins taking the Aggies into the bottom of the frame with an opportunity to advance to the final game against Arizona.
In the bottom of the seventh the Gamecocks scratched one more run across off of one hit and another Aggie error but could not overtake A&M as second baseman Adrian Gregory dove to her catching a line drive to end the game and give the Ags a second shot at the Wildcats.
Freshman Rocky Spencer was led the way for the Aggies at the plate as she went 3-for-3 with two runs scored. Spencer's hits were timely as they started scoring rallies for the Aggies in the fourth and seventh innings.
A&M and Arizona face off again tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. (CST) in the first of a possible two championship games. Having gone undefeated in the regional thus far the Wildcats only have to take one from A&M in order to advance to the World Series in Oklahoma City next weekend. The Aggies must take two from the Cats to gain a spot in next weeks championship. Live audio and stats for tomorrows contests will be available on AggieAthletics.com.