March 03, 2006
The 14th-ranked Texas A&M softball team (13-7) lost to BYU, 8-0, before handing the College of Charleston their seventh loss of the season, 7-1, in front of 802 fans on Friday in day two of the St. Joseph Texas A&M Invitational.
?I like how we came out in the second game,? commented A&M head coach Jo Evans. ?We could have easily gone out there and felt sorry for ourselves [after the first game], but we didn?â„¢t. Our kids went out there and really swung the bat and a lot of them hit the ball hard. I was really pleased to come out and see us make adjustments [between the games].?
Against the College of Charleston (10-7), Jamie Hinshaw hit her second homerun of the season to start the Aggie scoring in the bottom of the third inning. Megan Gibson followed up with a walk and Amanda Scarborough lined a double into right-centerfield, scoring Gibson.
Hinshaw recorded her second RBI of the game in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly that scored a tagging Jami Lobpries from third. Lobpries reached base on a leadoff double.
In the top of the sixth the Cougars scored their only run of the game. Shondra Schlichenmay reached on a throwing error and later scored on a single by Jayme Durand.
Hinshaw added two more RBI in the bottom of the sixth on a single to rightfield, scoring Holly Ridley who reached on a fielder's choice and Lobpries who walked. Earlier in the inning, Joy Davis entered as a pinch-runner for Ronda Smith and Kristine Test entered to run for Patti Wunderlich. Both scored to increase the Aggie lead 7-1.
Gibson improved to 7-2 on the season. She threw seven complete innings allowing one unearned run to score on four hits and she struckout seven.
The Aggies dropped the first game of the day to BYU (12-6), 8-0 in five innings.
Ashlyn Russell hit her first homerun of the season, scoring Ianeta LE?â„¢I, in the bottom of the fourth and giving BYU a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth the Cougars scored an additional six runs, only one earned on five hits and two throwing errors to hand the Aggies their seventh loss of the season.
Scarborough dropped to 5-4 on the season with the loss. She threw four and a third innings giving up eight runs, three earned, on seven hits. Scarborough walked one and struckout one.
Hinshaw was named State Farm Player of the Day going 2 for 2 in game two with a homerun, two sacrifices and four RBI.
?Jamie [Hinshaw] looked great,? Evans said. ?I?â„¢m really excited for her. She works hard at it. I think she gets frustrated sometimes, but I think she?â„¢s a tremendous hitter and I want her to believe in herself. I want her to come out every game and not get cheated up there; really get her hacks and let it fly.?
The Aggies will face the College of Charleston again Saturday at 2:30 p.m. with a game against Texas Southern to follow at 4:45 p.m.
Live stats of all tournament games will be available at aggieathletics.com along with live game audio of Texas A&M's contests. Fans attending the games can listen to the broadcast inside the stadium on 89.9 FM.
Tickets for the St. Joseph Texas A&M Invitational, and all home games, are available at the gate and by calling 1-888-99-AGGIE.
NOTE: With a steal against College of Charleston McDonald has stolen 72 consecutive bases, one shy of tying the NCAA consecutive stolen base record (73).