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Updated 6:33 AM on Thursday, April 5, 2007

Baylor squezes past A&M

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Staff Writer

The Baylor Lady Bears squeezed out a most improbable 3-1 victory over Texas A&M in eight innings Wednesday night at the Aggie Softball Complex.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Dave McDermand Baylor's Alex Colyer lays down a bunt with two strikes in the top of the seventh inning against Texas A&M. The suicide squeeze play brought in the tying run.

Baylor forced extra innings when a two-strike suicide squeeze bunt by Alex Colyer scored pinch-runner Kirsten Shortridge in the seventh. The right-handed hitting Colyer had only two sacrifice bunts in her previous 86 at-bats but firmly bunted the 1-2 pitch to A&M third baseman Jamie Hinshaw, who had no play at home on Shortridge, who was sliding in.

Colyer wasn't surprised when head coach Glenn Moore gave her the bunt sign from the third-base coaching box, even though she'd never suicide squeezed in her life with two strikes.

"I try not to think when I get the bunt [sign], because I don't bunt a lot," Colyer said. "I just tried to take my mind off it."

Hinshaw threw out Colyer, who was greeted by elated Lady Bears running out of the first-base dugout. Baylor had been chasing A&M since the first when Megan Gibson singled in Sharonda McDonald.

"I don't think there was one person in the park who wasn't surprised except for coach Moore and [Colyer]," A&M pitcher Amanda Scarborough said. "That was just a great call that caught us off-guard."

The successful gamble chilled a partisan, enthusiastic crowd of 1,068, which was a missed bunt away from celebrating a game-ending double play.

But how Baylor tied the game wasn't nearly as devastating to the fans as how the Lady Bears won it in the eighth.

BU's Miriam Romero singled off the glove of Scarborough. Tiffany Wesley, shunning a possible sacrifice bunt, singled over the third-base bag.

Moore called for a sacrifice bunt from Nicole Wesley, who has 10 for the year.

Nicole Wesley didn't bunt in the sixth when BU had its first two runners reach, striking out instead as Scarborough pitched out of trouble. This time, Hinshaw foiled Nicole Wesley's sacrifice attempt, fielding the bunt and throwing to shortstop Macie Morrow covering third base for the out to erase the lead runner.

The advantage was short-lived when a passed ball by catcher Beverly Rowan on the first pitch to Brette Reagan allowed the runners to move up. Another passed ball on the next pitch scored Tiffany Wesley with sister Nicole reaching third.

Scarborough struck out the dangerous Reagan on an inside pitch that Rowan didn't catch cleanly. Rowan recovered to throw out Reagan at first, but the fleet-footed Nicole Wesley, who had broke as soon as Rowan started to throw, easily scored an insurance run.

The deflated Aggies went down in order against BU senior right-hander Lisa Ferguson (16-4), who allowed six singles. She struck out six and walked one.

A&M's No. 2 through No. 4 hitters were 1 for 11.

"Lisa always has a really good curveball," Scarborough said. "She was just mixing it up, working it in and out, keeping us off-balance."

A&M's leadoff batter reached against Ferguson in the first four innings, but the Aggies wasted three of them. A&M also had McDonald reach second in the fifth with one out but couldn't drive her in.

"You gotta get a timely hit," A&M head coach Jo Evans said.

The 11th-ranked Lady Bears (35-9) won for the ninth straight time, a streak that includes a 5-0 start in league play. The fourth-ranked Aggies, picked to win the Big 12, dropped to 29-6 overall and 3-3 in league play.

Scarborough (14-4) was the hard-luck loser. She pitched a five-hitter, striking out 11 and walking only one. Baylor come in hitting .322 with 37 home runs, but the Lady Bears' No. 2 through No. 4 hitters were a combined 0 for 12 with five strikeouts as they struggled to do anything with Scarborough's dropball, which she mixed in with her screwball and curveball.

"I thought Scarborough was as good as she could be," Evans said. "She was terrific. She got some huge strikeouts when we needed them.

"I mostly feel bad for Scarborough, because she was spot on. She got herself out of a jam in the sixth."

All the game's runs were unearned because of passed balls.

McDonald, who opened A&M's first by extending her school-record hitting streak to 21 games, was sacrificed to second by Morrow. She moved to third on a passed ball. BU right fielder Nicole Wesley then failed to make a diving catch of Gibson's liner, and McDonald scored.

A&M's passed balls were more costly.

"It's pretty clear. We have four passed balls and gave up three runs," Evans said. "There's no other way to put it. [Scarborough] did everything she needed to do, and we should have walked away with a win tonight. That's a tough pill to swallow."

Especially the last two innings.

Baylor's Ashley Moncreaux doubled to open the seventh. Pinch-runner Shortridge moved to third on a passed ball with Courtney Oberg batting. Scarborough struck out Oberg on three nasty pitches, then jumped ahead of Colyer, but the squeeze bunt changed everything.

"I tip my hat to Baylor," Evans said. "They made a gutsy call in the seventh inning on the squeeze. She couldn't have executed it any better."

Still, A&M had a chance to win the game in the seventh.

Bailey Schroeder doubled off the base of the left-field wall with two outs, tattooing an 0-2 hanging curveball.

Slap-hitting McDonald bounced one over the mound, but second baseman Colyer made a nice grab and threw out McDonald on a close play as Schroeder was racing toward home.