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Softball Squeezes Past No. 4 Texas A&M
April 4, 2007
COLLEGE STATION, Texas --- The No. 11 Baylor softball rallied for a run in the seventh on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze and scored two more in the eighth to pick up a thrilling, 3-1 extra-inning victory over No. 4 Texas A&M in action at Aggie Softball Complex on Wednesday. With the victory, Baylor (35-9) won its ninth straight contest and tied the best start in school history in Big 12 play by moving to 5-0 (2004) in conference action. With the loss, Texas A&M falls to 29-6 overall, 3-3 in conference action. "What a great win," head coach Glenn Moore said. "I thought the team fought hard all night and we executed when it mattered most. (Amanda) Scarborough did a good job keeping the ball down; but, we were able to put up a few runs across the plate by keeping focus and staying aggressive." Trailing 1-0, Baylor would finally break through in the seventh on a gutsy suicide squeeze executed perfectly by Alex Colyer and Kirsten Shortridge. After Ashley Monceaux led off the seventh with a double, she was replaced by Shortridge at second base and eventually advanced to third base on a passed ball. Then, with one out and a 1-2 count on Alex Colyer, Moore called for the squeeze and Colyer laid a perfect bunt down the third base line as Shortridge came racing down to line to tie the score as the only available play for the Aggie defense was at first. Riding a wave of momentum, Baylor would break through for two more runs in the eighth to take the lead for good. After back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, Baylor eventually moved Tiffany Wesley and Nicole Wesley around to scoring position.
The Lady Bears would then take the lead as T. Wesley scored on a passed ball by Texas A&M catcher Beverly Rowan while N. Wesley gave Baylor a two-run edge as she came around to score on a throw to first after a dropped third strike to Brette Reagan. Baylor starter Lisa Ferguson would do the rest of the work in the eighth as she retired the Aggies in order in the bottom of the inning to win her sixth straight decision and improve to 16-4 on the year. For the contest, Ferguson allowed only one unearned run on six hits while striking out six in eight innings of work for her 72nd career win. The senior right-hander did her best work with Aggie runners on base as Texas A&M was only 1-of-13 with runners on during the contest. The Aggies grabbed the early lead as Sharonda McDonald scored from third on Megan Gibson's single to right to give Texas A&M the early one-run advantage. Before the seventh, Baylor's best opportunity to put a run on the board came in the sixth. After only having two runners reach base through the first five innings, Baylor threatened to break through in the sixth. Miriam Romero and Tiffany Wesley led off the inning with back-to-back singles to break up Scarborough's no-hit bid; however, the Aggies junior managed to retire the next three batters to allow the Aggies to hold onto the lead. Scarborough took the tough luck loss and fell to 14-4 on the year after allowing three unearned runs on five hits in eight innings of work. Baylor will return to action on Friday, April 6, as the Lady Bears open a two game series with Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas, at 6:00 p.m. |
