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Adversity brought out the best in the Texas A&M softball team, and this time it was of championship proportions. The Aggies ended a 19-year hiatus from the Women's College World Series with a 2-0 victory over the Florida Gators on Saturday at the Aggie Softball Complex before 1,330 drained, but appreciative fans. A&M toyed with their emotions by taking a 2-0 first-inning lead in Game 2 of the best-of-3 series, but it squandered chances to put the game away. That allowed the Gators to rally for a 3-2 victory on Lauren Roussell's mammoth seventh-inning walk-off homer. That quieted fans, bringing back bad memories from the last two seasons - 2005 ended with back-to-back home losses to Alabama in the Super Regionals and 2006 concluded with two losses to unheralded Lehigh at the Amherst (Mass.) Regional. But this team had shown this year might be different. Last week the Aggies bounced back from an 8-1 loss to Houston in the College Station Regional to win the next three games by a combined 29-2 score. "We just regrouped and I reminded our team of how great we are after a loss [10-2] and that our longest losing streak of the season was two games," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "That wasn't going to happen today. No one was going to come onto our field, in our house, and beat us twice. I'm just very proud of the way our kids came out in the second game. I thought they played a lot looser. I thought they were really focused, but they were out there having a good time." The players managed to replace the memories of the last two seasons with heartwarming new ones. Junior right-handed pitcher Scarborough (26-8), who was touched for Roussell's homer, pitched a five-hitter, striking out seven and walking two. She was thinking about Game 3, not Game 2 by the time she reached the dugout. "That was the only hard hit they had off me," Scarborough said. "I just felt really comfortable. That was one pitch, one swing. And I wasn't going to let that happen again. One pitch does not define the whole ballgame." The Aggies had several defining moments, two by role players. Jami Lobpries gave A&M a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a line drive that Florida pitcher Stacey Stevens couldn't handle. Lobpries, who had missed 14 games with a back injury, was hitting .208, but she also had a two-run double in Saturday's first game. "I may not have the highest average but I'm going to do what I can to help the team," Lobpries said. "And if that's take walks or play great defense, I'll do whatever I have to." All catcher Patti Wunderlich has is her glove and arm, which helped foil Florida's fifth-inning rally. Florida's Kristina Hilberth singled and was replaced by Ashley Harris, who was recruited off the Gator soccer team just to steal bases. She was 21 of 24 and the team was 128 of 150, including eight straight against the Aggies. Harris' steal in the first game helped Florida tie the game in the fifth, setting the stage for Roussell. This time Wunderlich threw out Harris as Scarborough pumped her fist toward her catcher. "They had been being really aggressive on the first pitch and wanting to steal so I said, 'Patti, I'm going to do a pitch out,'" Scarborough said. "'You just stand up and catch it and you get her out at second.' "Patti had an amazing throw and I think that was probably one of the biggest outs of the game for us." It was remarkable that Wunderlich was even playing. The sophomore, who was inserted into the lineup six games ago but doesn't bat, took a foul tip in the mouth during batting practice Tuesday. She lost a tooth, had 30 stitches in her mouth, and a few more stitches outside the mouth. She missed practice Wednesday, but returned to catch every inning this weekend, finally slowing down the aggressive Gators. "I thought that was the biggest key in the game," Evans said. "I thought that really turned things in our favor." A&M made it 2-0 in the home half of the fifth on Alex Reynolds' two-out RBI single, scoring Megan Gibson, who had blooped a double down the right-field line. Gibson, the All-American bookend to Scarborough, had three of A&M's eight hits. Florida (50-22) managed a hit in each of the last two innings, but couldn't get a big hit off Scarborough, who was the center of the team celebration after senior second baseman Joy Davis threw out the last Gator batter. "I can't describe the feeling," Scarborough said. "It's just something that I've never felt before. Yeah, you've won a conference game or a tournament in preseason but it's absolutely nothing compared to what it feels like right now. Every thing you put in every minute of practice, every [batting swing] that you've stayed after or did during practice means so much right now. It was actually worth going to the World Series." Scarborough, Gibson and third baseman Jamie Hinshaw are three-year starters. They were part of that amazing 2005 freshman class that helped A&M to a 42-4 start, only to lose six of the last 11 that year as Scarborough (concussion) and senior center fielder Sharonda McDonald (knee) suffered injures. Last year A&M wasn't plagued by injuries, just inconsistency. "We're a year older and we have a lot of leadership this year," Lobpries said. "That's a big thing we lacked last year. We have a great senior class and a great junior class and I think our underclassmen have done a great job of stepping up too. [Shortstop] Macie Morrow doesn't play like a freshman at all. I think a big thing is just leadership and experience." The biggest thing is they're headed to Oklahoma City where fourth-seeded A&M (46-16) will play fifth-seeded Tennessee (59-6) on Thursday in the WCWS.
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The fifth inning had fireworks after Wunderlich threw out Harris.
Kim Waleszonia bunted for her second hit of the game and she attempted to steal second with a 1-2 count on Roussell.
Home-plate umpire Mike Cavello called Roussell out on a third strike on a pitch that Scarborough and Roussell said afterward looked like a ball.
"I thought it was a ball, to be honest," Roussell said.
Florida assistant coach Jennifer Rocha was infuriated by the call and rushed toward Cavello, but third-base umpire Jerry Bark intervened, and threw out Rocha.
"I give my assistant coach a lot of credit," Florida coach Tim Walton said. "She's got a lot of intensity and she was going to stand up for the kids."
NOTES - A&M was 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position in the first game after Lobpries' double. Two singles, an error by Morrow and a Roussell groundout scored Florida's first run. Waleszonia's single tied it in the fifth after Hilberth's single, Harris' steal and a bunt. That chased A&M starter Gibson for Scarborough. ... Florida was 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position in Saturday's second game. ... The start of the first game was pushed back 2 hours by weather. ... Hinshaw had a career-best 11-game hitting streak stopped in the second game.
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