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A&M softball team wins two games

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Staff Writer

Alissa Schroeder works at Texas A&M's campus in Qatar. The technology that put her in the Middle Eastern country also gave Schroeder the opportunity to watch her daughter's first collegiate home run.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Butch Ireland Illinois' Molly Lawhead collides with Texas A&M first baseman Megan Gibson in the Aggies' 6-2 win Friday at the Texas A&M Invitational. Lawhead was out on the play.

Freshman Bailey Schroeder hit one of A&M's four home runs to power the fourth-ranked Aggies (16-2) to a pair of victories Friday at the Texas A&M Invitational.

Schroeder's solo shot in the fifth inning gave A&M a 2-1 victory over the Syracuse Orange to conclude the first day at the Aggie Softball Complex. In earlier games Syracuse beat McNeese State 9-2, while Illinois outlasted McNeese 8-4, and A&M beat Illinois 6-2.

Schroeder's line drive easily cleared the left-field fence despite a 13-mph wind blowing in. That capped a 3-for-5 batting day for Schroeder, who also had a double against Illinois, which was her first Aggie RBI.

Thanks to A&M's on-line video streaming, Schroeder's mother watches most of her daughter's games.

"She wakes up every morning at about 4 o'clock," Schroeder said. "She loves watching it. If she can't watch it, she looks at the stats."

Schroeder, who was 1-for-7 batting before Friday, has started five straight games since starting right fielder Ronda Smith jammed her left shoulder at Arizona.

"She really did a great job in the at-bat where she hit the home run," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "She fouled off some pitches. She went with one pitch to the right side, hitting it hard foul, then turns around and hits one over the left-field fence. That tells you she's right on the ball."

A&M's other timely hit against Syracuse (2-10) was a home run by Megan Gibson, who improved to 8-0 pitching by striking out a career-high 11. She stranded eight runners, pitching out of jams in the fifth and sixth.

Fellow junior pitcher Amanda Scarborough (7-2) was touched for two runs on four hits in the first inning against Illinois (9-8) but retired 18 of the last 19 batters. She also hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the third.