Texas A&M
Arizona
No. 3 Softball Tops No. 1 Arizona and Notre Dame in Day Two Action of the Kajikawa Classic
Feb 16, 2008 | Softball
February 16, 2008
Texas A&M All-Americans Megan Gibson and Amanda Scarborough teamed up in the circle to bring home two wins for the Aggies (8-1) against the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon in Tempe, Ariz.
?Great job today by our defense,? A&M head coach Jo Evans said. ?We went out there today and took care of business. I saw a few things we can improve on, but overall we looked solid. Megan and Amanda were in total control on the mound today; they both did a really good job of working the corners and mixing up their pitches, keeping the opposing hitters off balance. Erin Glasco was great for us behind the plate.?
A&M and Arizona (0-2) faced off in the early game at Farrington Field on the campus of Arizona State. The Aggies attacked the Wildcats early, plating a run in the first inning. Second baseman Natalie Villarreal, in leadoff fashion, drew a walk to start the bottom of the first. She moved to second on a wild pitch by freshman Lindsey Sisk. Callista Balko, the Wildcats veteran catcher surrendered a passed ball moving Villarreal to third. Gibson gave herself some breathing room on the mound by logging a one-out RBI single into left field.
The Aggies?™ 1-0 lead lasted until the top of the fourth when Arizona sophomore Stacie Chambers launched a solo homerun that more than cleared the right-centerfield fence. However, the Aggies quickly countered bringing home two more runs in the bottom half of the frame. With Jami Lobpries reaching on a walk and designated player, Alex Reynolds sacrificing her to second, Kelsey Spittler hit a single up the middle. With two outs and runners on second and third, Macie Morrow hit a ball into shallow leftfield where a mis-communication between Brittany Lastrapes and Adrienne Acton caused the ball to drop and two Aggie runners to score.
Arizona tried to mount a comeback in the fifth, but was only able to push one more run across. Lauren Schutzler started the inning by hitting a bloop towards first base. Two walks and a single later and the Wildcats were within one of tying the Aggies.
In the seventh Arizona had a runner on second with just one out when Schutzler took off on the crack of the bat and a heads-up play by Gibson in the circle gunned the freshman down at third base, erasing any Wildcat scoring threat.
Gibson recorded her fifth straight win in the circle only allowing the Wildcats to score two runs on six hits. She struck out five batters and provided Arizona with four free passes.
Sisk recorded the first loss of her college career, working all seven and surrendering three runs, no of which were earned on eight hits. She walked three and stuck out two.
?We won a ball game (against Arizona), but I was frustrated with our kids,? Evans said. ?We stranded a lot of runners in scoring position. It was great that we got on the board in the first inning, but I would say that three or four innings, at least, we had runners in scoring position and couldn?™t score them. I just didn?™t think we were very aggressive at the plate when we got our pitch. We need to work on taking charge of a game. We need to go out and shut the door on teams when we have the opportunity.?
The second game of the day pitted the Aggies against the Fighting Irish (1-2). The first four innings were a pitcher?™s dual as neither Scarborough nor Brittney Bargar allowed a hit.
It was A&M who eventually struck first, in the fifth inning, like in game one, Lobpries led off the inning with a full count walk. Reynolds, again in the designated player role, laid down a sac bunt on the first pitch to move Lobpries over to second. With one out A&M?™s freshman left fielder Spittler hit the ball just to the right of the pitcher?™s circle, logging an infield single to move Lobpries to third. Spittler stole second, setting up Villarreal for a two-RBI double into the left-centerfield gap.
Scarborough would retire the next three Norte Dame batters in order to, getting herself to the plate for the Aggies in the top of the sixth. With two balls and no strikes, Scarborough rocketed her second homerun of the season over the right-centerfield wall, pushing A&M to a 3-0 lead and increasing her total RBIs on the season to nine.
?Amanda did a nice job of making a couple of adjustments at the plate. Her homerun was a big boost not only her but for the whole team,? Evans ended.
The Aggies?™ senior third baseman, Jamie Hinshaw followed up Scarborough?™s homerun with a double down the right field line. She stole third base and strolled home on a lofted throw into left field by ND catcher Sadie Pitzenberger.
Notre Dame put three runners in scoring position in their half of the sixth. They were the Irish?™s first baserunners since the first inning when Katie Laing reached on a walk. Pitzenberger drew a two-out walk and came home for ND?™s only run of the game after Katie Fleury and Laing each logged hits. Fleury?™s single into leftfield brought Scarborough?™s possible no-hitter to a close.
However A&M held on to the 4-1 lead for its eighth win of the season. It was Scarborough?™s third win in the circle. She worked seven complete, allowing just one run on two hits. The All-American struck out four batters and walked three.
Bargar moved to 1-1 on the season after giving up four runs, three earned to the Aggies. In seven innings of work, she gave up five hits, walked four and struck out nine.
The Aggies will close out play in the 2008 Kajikawa Classic on Sunday. A&M will complete the game that was delayed on Friday against Northwestern at 9 a.m. before taking on the Washington Huskies at 10 a.m. Fans at home can listen to both games live on Sports Radio 1150 the Zone.
