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Updated 7:30 AM on Saturday, May 19, 2007

Aggies come back for first-round victory

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Sports Writer

The youthful Sam Houston State Bearkats had a first inning to remember, but Texas A&M's Amanda Scarborough made sure it didn't turn into an afternoon to forget for the Aggie softball team.

Scarborough allowed only one hit in a dazzling six-inning relief effort to help the Aggies rally for a 9-5 victory in first-round action of the College Station Regional on Friday at the Aggie Softball Complex.

Enlarge photo

Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Gabriel Chmielewski Texas A&M's Alex Reynolds (No. 5) is congratulated by her teammates after hitting a three-run home run in the Aggies' 9-5 win Friday.

Scarborough picked up fellow junior right-hander Megan Gibson, who was roughed up for five runs in the first inning.

Scarborough (22-6) struck out five, walked one and induced 11 groundouts. Lauren Burns' single against the center-field fence was the only well-struck ball off Scarborough by the Bearkats, who often swung weakly at her dropball.

"Scarborough was terrific," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "I thought she showed great poise and was in control. When she was behind, she made pitches to come back. That was vintage Scarborough right there today. That's what we've seen out of her when she's been at her best. I think Sam Houston saw her at her best."

SHSU, making its first appearance in an NCAA Division I Softball Tournament, was at its best early. The Bearkats had a 2-0 lead after just five pitches on Mandy Collier's two-run double, silencing the home crowd of 1,064.

"They got Gibson on her heels a little bit," Evans said. "I think Megan was really pumped up. I think her adrenaline was going, and she was probably a little too hyped up. I think she was so pumped up, she was overthrowing a bit, and when she overthrows, she has decent speed, but her ball flattens out a little on her. She was getting too much of the plate."

That led to Bearkat baserunners reaching the plate. SHSU added three more runs after two outs, scoring on a wild pitch strikeout, an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk.

"Doggone, we got out there and fought pretty hard, and I feel pretty good about that," said veteran SHSU head coach Bob Brock, who was A&M's head coach from 1982-96, winning three national titles.

Brock starts five freshmen and a sophomore.

"They are fun, and they do respond," Brock said. "I have quite a few freshman in the lineup, and they think they can come in here and beat anyone."

SHSU couldn't build on the emotional start against the national fourth seed.

Caldwell native Brandi Crnkovic (19-12) pitched around two walks in the first inning, but she couldn't dodge SHSU defensive mistakes in the second and fourth innings.

COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL Friday's scores: Houston 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 3, 9 innings; Texas A&M 9, Sam Houston State 5 Saturday's games: UH, 43-16, vs. A&M, 41-10, noon; La.-Lafayette, 46-17, vs. SHSU, 37-25, 2:30 p.m.; UH-A&M loser vs. La.-Lafayette-SHSU winner, 5:30 p.m. Radio: A&M games will be on KZNE, 1150 AM.

A&M's Macie Morrow just missed a two-run homer, settling for an RBI triple when her fly ball bounced off the top of the fence and back into play. SHSU had a chance to get out of the inning after Sharonda McDonald's infield single, but catcher Casey Everitt dropped the throw from first baseman Amy Brown, allowing Morrow to score. Jamie Hinshaw followed with an RBI single.

A&M took control in the fourth.

Lisa Gorzycki walked, and McDonald reached on an error by Brown. Hinshaw loaded the bases on a fielder's choice when SHSU unwisely threw to third. Gibson popped up, but Scarborough singled sharply off Brown's glove, knocking in a run, and another scored when second baseman Janaye Richardson kicked the softball away.

Jami Lobpries grounded out for what should have been the inning's third out, but Alex Reynolds followed with a booming three-run homer over the right-field fence.

"[Crnkovic] had been living on the outside corner," Reynolds said. "So when I got up into the box, that's the pitch I was looking for, and there it was, so I went with it."

Reynolds had two of A&M's 10 hits, which came in four innings.

Brock's defense hadn't been tested like that in winning the Southland Conference Tournament, when Crnkovic struck out 25 in 23 innings.

"A&M did a good job of putting the ball in play continually," Brock said.

SHSU pitchers didn't strike out a batter.

"I thought our hitters looked great today at the plate," Evans said. "I liked the fire in our belly that we came out with. I told our kids I was really proud of them for not getting on their heels or feeling bad for themselves or getting uptight because we were down five runs in the first inning. I thought our kids showed a lot of maturity and a lot of poise."

None showed more poise than Scarborough, who had warmed up in the bullpen before the game as part of her normal weekly routine. This time, the routine came in handy.

"I just had a great frame of mind," she said. "I said, 'They're not going to get any more runs, and we're going to win this game.'"

Brock said he was hoping for any kind of hit to get another run home with the bases loaded in the first, because he knows how quickly the complexion of a game can change.

"One thing about being young is it's hard to adjust," Brock said.

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Houston 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 3, 9 innings: Houston, which squandered a 3-1 seventh-inning lead, grabbed a 4-3 nine-inning victory in the regional's first game on Haley Valis' walk-off homer.

Valis' hit followed a double play by the Ragin' Cajuns, who scored two runs with two outs in the seventh inning on a throwing error by UH shortstop Amanda Grote.

Valis' sister, Jessica Valis, the two-time Conference USA Player of the Year, missed her seventh straight game after a season-ending injury.

UH's Angel Shamblin (30-7) was the winning pitcher, striking out 10 and walking three.

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NOTES -ÊSenior Sharonda McDonald and juniors Megan Gibson and Amanda Scarborough were named to the 2007 NFCA Midwest All-Region first-team, the selection committee announced this week.