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Updated 8:20 AM on Sunday, May 20, 2007

Ags come out swinging after loss to Houston

By LARRY BOWEN and ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Sports Writers

Texas A&M's hitting went from shaky to scary, and its pitching turned from suspect to sensational Saturday, sending the Aggie softball team into the championship of the NCAA Tournament's College Station Regional.

The Aggies extended their season at least to Sunday with an emphatic 11-0 beating of Sam Houston State in an elimination game played before a crowd of 1,284 at the Aggie Softball Complex late Saturday afternoon.

A&M bounced back from an 8-1 loss to Houston in Saturday's opening game.

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Buy this photo Eagle Photo/Butch Ireland Houston's Jessica Valis holds onto second base as Texas A&M's Macie Morrow tries to apply a tag in the Cougars' 8-1 win Saturday in the College Station Regional. Valis advanced on a passed ball.

Seeded first at the regional and No. 4 in the nation, the Aggies (42-11) will play Houston (44-16) at 1 p.m. Sunday, needing to beat the Cougars twice to advance to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Aggies will go into the championship round with great confidence, suggesting that they didn't lose their belief in themselves while their pitching struggled in the regional opener and their hitting went bad against Houston.

"I expect to win this regional," A&M coach Jo Evans said. "I have a lot of confidence in our players. I think they understand how much talent we have, so they really trust that. They believe it's hard to keep them down for more than a game or so."

A&M depends on Amanda Scarborough and Megan Gibson to pitch and bolster the heart of the batting order, and both juniors had hard times in the Aggies' first two regional games. Gibson allowed five runs in the first inning of the opener and struggled at the plate. Scarborough committed a crucial error and took the loss against UH.

But Scarborough and Gibson - the players Evans called her team's security blanket - set a happy tone against SHSU, which was coming off a 2-1 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in Saturday's second game.

Gibson, who had one hit in the previous two games, belted a two-run homer in the top of the first inning and went 3 for 4 with three runs batted in. Scarborough struck out the first five Bearkat batters and nine of the first 11 in her one-hit shutout.

"When Megan hit the home run, I breathed a sigh of relief," Evans said. "We really needed her to come around in that game. We needed one of our pitchers to have a complete game and really look comfortable, and that's what Scarborough did."

Sam Houston ended the season at 38-26 and had to settle for the victory over 23rd-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette in its first trip to the NCAA Division I playoffs.

"I felt like maybe I'd just as soon not have to play the Aggies twice this weekend," SHSU coach Bob Brock said. "I felt like A&M would be real mad [after losing to Houston]."

Evans reacted to the loss by changing her normal between-games routine. She told her players to do whatever they needed - go home or grab a bite to eat - and report to the field 45 minutes before the next game ready to play.

"If it was up to us, we probably would have wanted to play right after that loss, because we were really itching to get back on the field," Scarborough said. "We came out and made a statement."

Scarborough (23-8) allowed only an infield single by No. 9 batter Kendra Spivey to start the sixth inning. Spivey was the only Bearkat runner to reach second base, and she was stranded there as Scarborough retired the next three batters.

SHSU did not get a ball past the Aggie infielders.

A&M leadoff hitter Sharonda McDonald tormented the Bearkats by going 4 for 4 and scoring three runs. McDonald was on base for Gibson's home run in the first inning and scored again in the second, smacking a two-out double and scoring on Jamie Hinshaw's single.

The Aggies added three runs in the fifth, getting an RBI single from Joy Davis and a two-run single from Macie Morrow with two outs. A&M started its five-run sixth with four consecutive hits, and Morrow finished it with a two-run double.

"I felt like it was important for us to go out and make a statement to ourselves," Evans said. "I heard one of our players talk about a run rule early in the game, and I like them talking about taking charge and owning a game."

A&M players and coaches remember that they swept a doubleheader from the Cougars in Houston in early March, winning 3-0 and 4-3.

"I think we're all pretty confident," McDonald said. "We know that we beat Houston twice in one day earlier in the year, so we know we can do it [Sunday]."

In Saturday's middle game, Bearkat sophomore Brandi Crnkovic of Caldwell pitched a four-hitter and SHSU scored in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Ragin Cajuns 2-1.

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A&M drops first game of the day to Houston

COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL SATURDAY'S GAMES: Houston 8, Texas A&M 1; Sam Houston State 2, Louisiana-Lafayette 1; A&M 11, Sam Houston 0 SUNDAY'S GAMES: A&M vs. UH, 1 p.m.; A&M vs. UH, 30 minutes after first game (if necessary)

Houston's Laura Durham, who transferred from A&M two years ago, capped a six-run fourth with a grand slam that helped the Cougars score the most runs by an Aggie opponent this season.

Durham, who was 3 for 3 in Houston's 4-3 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday, had been 0 for 13 against her former team until she lofted a 1-2 pitch over the right-field fence, silencing the partisan Aggie crowd and sending the No. 4 national seed into the losers' bracket.

Durham knocked out A&M starter Scarborough (22-7), who contributed to a shoddy defensive performance that made all of UH's runs unearned. Scarborough cleanly fielded Katie Bush's two-out grounder in the fourth with no one on, but she threw the ball away.

Durham and UH made the Aggies pay dearly with four hits and a walk. Amanda Grote singled in Bush. Elaina Nordstrom walked, and Christa Raley singled in Grote. Haley Valis then singled to load the bases.

"We've been plagued with leaving runners on base," UH head coach Kyla Holas said. "It was key people at key times stepping up, showing a lot of maturity in their at-bats, and a lot of composure to be able to capitalize on those moments. I guess it's one of those things that is better late than never."

A&M's defense had been shaky in the third as UH scored twice without hitting the ball out of the infield.

Former Brenham High standouts Bush and Grote led the way. Bush reached on an infield hit, ending a nine-game hitless streak. A&M botched Grote's sacrifice bunt, leaving runners on the corners.

Morrow knocked down Nordstrom's line drive and just missed throwing her out at first base as Bush scored. Raley moved the runners up with a sacrifice bunt, which paid off when a passed ball allowed Grote to score.

Hinshaw singled in A&M's lone run in the third, plating McDonald, who had tripled.