May 04, 2005
The No. 4 Texas A&M softball team (43-6, 14-4) finished the conference season with a 14-4 mark, the most league wins in school history, with a 7-1 rout of No. 7 Baylor (45-10, 11-7) in front of 1,434 fans, the fourth largest crowd in school history, at the Aggie Softball Complex.
"This was a great end to our regular season," commented A&M head coach Jo Evans. "We wanted to cap off our regular season with a big win and we were able to do that tonight. Our players came out with focused on confident and were able to execute both offensively and defensively."
Designated player Megan Gibson (Spring, Texas) was named the State Farm Player of the Game with a 3-for-4 three-RBI performance.
With the win, the Aggies stretched their streak of consecutive home wins to 17 dating back to February 19 against Ole Miss.
In the circle, Amanda Scarborough (Magnolia, Texas) improved to 26-1 allowing just one run on eight scattered hits and one walk.
In the first inning, Gibson gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead on their third-consecutive infield single scoring Jamie Hinshaw (Missouri City, Texas) from third and moving Jana James (Mesquite, Texas) to third. Scarborough then loaded the bases with a single through the right side allowing Rocky Spencer (Katy, Texas) to earn an RBI with a four-pitch walk plating Gibson. Adrian Gregory (Livingston, Texas) followed Spencer's lead with a walk of her own pushing Scarborough across chasing Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson. Reliever Tessa Lynam promptly put the Aggies up 4-0 with a full-count walk to Joy Davis (Austin, Texas) scoring Lindsay Park (Arcadia, Calif.).
Baylor threatened to score in the third by loading the bases with one out and Baylor's three and four hitters stepping in but Scarborough put out the would-be Lady Bear rally catching both batters on called strikes.
The Aggies added to their lead in the bottom of the inning when Spencer reached on a fielding error before scoring on a three-base throwing error on Lynam.
Baylor answered with a run in the fourth on consecutive doubles before Gibson put the Aggies up 7-1 with a double off the center field wall scoring Jamie Lobpries (Wharton, Texas) and James after they reached on singles.
The Big 12 Champion Aggies will begin conference action next Wednesday as the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City. They will square off against the winner of the No. 8 and No. 9 seed play-in game.
Live stats and audio of all tournament games will be available, free of charge, on AggieAthletics.com. Fans attending the game can listen live by tuning into 89.9 on the FM dial.