February 23, 2007
The No. 2 Texas A&M softball team suffered its first loss of the season to No. 4 Arizona in front of 672 fans on a chilly night at Hillenbrand Stadium.
With the 5-0 loss, the Aggies drop to 12-1 on the season while the Wildcats improve 10-2.
?Overall I thought (Taryne) Mowatt threw great. She kept our hitters off balance, hit her spots and deserved to win?, said A&M head coach Jo Evans. ?I talked to our team about how this game is just one game, we have two more games in this series and I don?â„¢t think any of our kids are hanging their head at all. It?â„¢s fun to play the game and you?â„¢re not always going to win and you have to have a great approach everyday. I think we have that. I really look forward to seeing our kids come back tomorrow. I came here saying we?â„¢re going to learn some things about our team and the first thing we learned is that now we know we can lose a game, so let?â„¢s move forward. I?â„¢m anxious to see how we come out tomorrow and am looking forward to it.?
Amanda Scarborough (6-1) earned the start in the circle for the Aggies and recorded strikeouts for the first six outs of the game. She allowed five runs on seven hits and struck out nine in six innings of work.
?I thought Scarborough pitched a pretty good game,? Evans said. ?She got herself in some trouble with the two walks in the third inning. I was telling her this is a game of inches, the ground ball that goes to (Jamie) Hinshaw, an inch over and she has a chance to make a play, she throws a nice change-up to their three-hole hitter and doesn?â„¢t get a strike, and she ends up getting a hit.?
Mowatt (6-2) pitched a one-hitter for the Wildcats coaxing 13 k?â„¢s from the Aggie hitters in seven innings of work.
A&M?â„¢s best chance to score came in the top of the sixth when Macie Morrow reached on an error by second baseman Chelsie Mesa. Hinshaw was hit by a pitch to move Morrow to second. Scarborough sent a fly ball to the right fielder, moving Morrow to third. Hinshaw stole second before Gibson ended the inning with a sharply hit ground out to Kristie Fox at shortstop.
Arizona?â„¢s damage was done with a three-run third inning sparked by two walks and back-to-back-to-back Wildcat singles. They added another run in the fifth off singles by Caitlin Lowe and Fox.
The Wildcats capped the win with a solo home run by Callista Balko in the bottom half of the sixth inning.
The two teams will meet for game two of the three-game series on Saturday at 8 p.m. Fans can listen to the game live locally in Bryan/College Station on KZNE 1150 The Zone.