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Updated 7:04 AM on Sunday, May 6, 2007

A&M falls to Baylor

Lady Bears clinch at least share of title

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Staff Writer

Texas A&M made the Baylor softball team work extra for its first Big 12 softball championship.

Chelsi Lake scored on a two-out passed ball in the 10th inning to give the 10th-ranked Lady Bears an improbable 5-4 victory over the sixth-ranked Aggies on Saturday at Getterman Stadium in a regular-season finale.

The Lady Bears (45-12, 14-3 Big 12), who clinched at least a share of the Big 12 title while locking up the league's No. 1 seed, needed a run in the seventh to force extra innings, then scored another run in the ninth to tie A&M and force the 10th.

That foiled some clutch hitting by A&M. Jami Lobpries and Alex Reynolds had RBI singles to give A&M a 3-1 lead in the fourth, and Joy Davis had an RBI single in the ninth. But the Aggies couldn't finish off the Lady Bears.

"We certainly had our chances," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "You've just got to be able to make that one big pitch, get that one big out. We had our chances ... it was frustrating.

"I thought we came out and played with a lot of fight. Baylor's a good team, and they had to do everything they could to beat us. We're going to see good teams like this down the stretch. And you see our team, we're going to compete. We're not going to lie down for anybody. A lot of people said there wasn't much on the line here, but we feel everytime we play, there's something on the line, and we're going to play the game hard."

Win or lose, the Aggies (39-9, 12-6) knew before the first pitch that they'd finish fourth in the Big 12, because Missouri (37-20, 13-3) had beaten Nebraska early Saturday to move into a tie with Baylor.

Oklahoma (49-6, 14-4) had completed its schedule and needed Baylor to lose and Missouri to lose one of its last two to win the title.

The 3-hour game grew more intense in the 10th when the teams began using the international tiebreaker.

A&M was in great shape to start the 10th with its leading hitter, Megan Gibson, batting and speedy Macie Morrow at second. Gibson worked Baylor pitcher Kirsten Shortridge for a 12-pitch walk, bringing up Amanda Scarborough, who was 2 for 4.

Baylor's defense then foiled the brewing rally.

Baylor freshman catcher Courtney Oberg, a former A&M Consolidated standout, picked off Morrow at second base. The elated Lady Bears closed out the inning by getting Scarborough to fly out and Jamie Hinshaw to ground out.

Baylor seemed to have a huge edge, but the three hitters due up in the bottom of the 10th were a combined 1 for 12.

The Lady Bears also had to put designated player Lake at second base to start the inning to avoid pulling her from the game. BU already had pinch run for Lake, who started at catcher and moved to designated player when BU brought in Oberg to catch.

It seemed a moot point when Scarborough struck out the first two hitters, including Alex Colyer who couldn't bunt Lake to third.

Colyer had the game-winning suicide squeeze bunt with two strikes in the ninth inning the first time the two teams met this season.

But before Scarborough struck out Tiffany Wesley, Lake moved to third on a wild pitch. Then with Oberg batting, Scarborough uncorked a dropball that sailed, glancing off catcher Beverly Rowan's glove and allowing Lake to score easily, setting off a wild celebration for the partisan sellout crowd of 1,455.

Baylor, which is hitting . 318 with 52 homers and 65 doubles, scored in the 10th without even hitting the ball.

"You couldn't script an ending any better," Baylor head coach Glenn Moore said. "We have had a lot of walk-off hits and walk-off home runs, so this game fit right in."

The ninth inning was almost as exciting.

A&M caught a break when Baylor left fielder Tiffany Wesley broke in on Lobpries' line drive, which went over Wesley's head for a double.

Reynolds bunted Lobpries to third, and Lobpries scored on Davis' ground-ball single to left field through the drawn-in infield. Lisa Gorzycki followed with a single, but Kirsten Shortridge retired the next two hitters.

Baylor was in position to win in the bottom of the ninth after Shortridge and Miriam Romero reached on infield hits.

Ashley Moncreaux grounded out, moving up the runners. Shortridge was thrown out at the plate on Nicole Wesley's grounder to third baseman Hinshaw.

Brette Reagan, who had been 0 for 3, laced a 3-1 pitch into left field to tie it. Lake's line-drive bid to end the game was run down by A&M center fielder Sharonda McDonald in the right-center field alley.

The teams combined for 18 hits, but pitching was solid as Shortridge (16-3) bested Scarborough (20-6) in the battle of relievers.

Shortridge allowed only three hits and a run in 6 2/3 innings after replacing Lisa Ferguson, who was knocked out by Reynolds' two-run single.

Scarborough allowed six hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking none. She had been touched for 10 hits in Sunday's 6-2 loss to Tech.

"I like the way Scarborough came back," Evans said. "She came out and looked a lot, lot better. She really did a better job."

Baylor scored in the first when Lake singled in Nicole Wesley, who had singled and stolen second, barely beating the throw.

A&M strung together four hits for a 3-1 lead in the fourth. Ferguson struck out Gibson, but Scarborough and Hinshaw singled. Lobpries singled in Scarborough, moving Hinshaw to third. And Lobpries moved up to second when the throw from center fielder Romero sailed over the cutoff. Reynolds singled sharply to center, scoring both runners.

Baylor scored an unearned run in the fifth to cut A&M's lead to 3-2.

Shortridge reached on an error with one out. Romero's grounder forced Shortridge at second.

Romero stole second and scored on Moncreaux's catchable double that bounced off the bottom of the center-field fence.