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Updated May 12, 2007 7:41 AM

Aggies open Big 12 Tournament with a win

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Sports Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Texas A&M's seventh-ranked softball team kept threatening, and when the Aggies finally unloaded, they drenched the Nebraska Cornhuskers' chances of an upset.

A&M used late clutch hitting to grab a 3-1 victory in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium on Friday night.

Enlarge photo

AP Photo Texas A&M's Amanda Scarborough throws a pitch against Nebraska in the Big 12 softball tournament Friday in Oklahoma City. Texas A&M won 3-1.

A&M scored all of its runs with two outs, tying it with a run in the fifth and winning it with two in the sixth.

The Aggies' two biggest hits barely scuffed the ball. A&M tied it when Jami Lobpries beat out a slow infield grounder to shortstop, allowing Jamie Hinshaw to score.

"[Lobpries] is very quick out of the box," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "She hustles down the line. I've seen her get many a base hit on routine groundballs to shortstop."

Hinshaw reached on a one-out single and raced to third on Amanda Scarborough's two-out single to right.

Freshman Macie Morrow started A&M's two-run sixth with a swinging-bunt single, which ended an 0-for-33 slump.

"I was excited for Macie," Evans said. "We were kinda clowning around when she got the hit, because she didn't get any of it."

Lisa Gorzycki sacrificed Morrow to second. Left-handed hitting Sharonda McDonald grounded to shortstop Devin Porter, whose hurried throw to first was wild, allowing Morrow to easily score. Hinshaw, batting second in the order for the first time this season, followed with an RBI single.

That was more than enough support for A&M junior right-hander Amanda Scarborough (21-6), who pitched a three-hitter. She had four strikeouts and one walk.

A&M (40-9) advances to play Texas Tech at 11 a.m. Saturday. Tech beat regular-season champion Baylor 8-4 in 12 innings, hampering the chances for the ninth-ranked Lady Bears to get a top eight seed in the NCAA Tournament when the selection committee announces the 64-team field Sunday. Now two wins away from earning the league's automatic NCAA berth, Tech rallied for a 6-5 victory over Oklahoma State in Friday's first game.

The championship game at 3 p.m. Saturday will be televised by FSN.

Husker sophomore right-hander Molly Hill had a 1-0 lead through four innings, despite never retiring the side in order. A&M had a runner reach third with one out in the third and fourth innings but couldn't score. Hill struck out A&M's two most powerful hitters, Megan Gibson and Scarborough, to end the third.

A&M stranded seven runners in the first four innings.

"I know we stranded a bunch of runners early," Evans said, "but I love the maturity of our team not to panic and say, 'Oh, we missed our opportunities,' and get uptight. We weren't.

"We have the leadership to feel confident and comfortable that we're still going to score. That makes a huge difference, and you can see the maturity in our team."

Hill, who lost a one-hitter against A&M during the regular season, was touched for nine hits, but four of them never left the infield.

Nebraska lost a pair of 1-0 decisions to A&M in early April, but the Cornhuskers had the lead after only three batters Friday night. Meghan Mullin walked and scored on Porter's line-drive double into left-center field in the first.

"The adrenaline was running," Scarborough said. "It's the first game. I came out and felt really strong on the first batter, then you get a little more excited. Then I tried to do too much."

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NOTES - The Big 12 Conference presented Scarborough her co-pitcher of the year award before the game. Scarborough shared it with Oklahoma's Lauren Eckermann, the former Brenham all-stater.