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Updated 6:34 AM on Friday, June 1, 2007

Abbott no hits No. 4 A&M

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY - Once Tennessee record-setting pitcher Monica Abbott remembered how to inhale she took the breathe out of Texas A&M.

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Buy this photo AP Photo Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott delivers against Texas A&M in the second inning of an NCAA women's college world series softball game in Oklahoma City, Thursday, May 31, 2007.

A charged-up Abbott settled down after escaping a bases-loaded first-inning jam to no-hit the Aggies in a 2-0 Lady Vols' victory at the NCAA Women's College World Series on Thursday at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium before 6,812.

Tennessee, 60-6, advances to play the Arizona-Baylor winner at 8 p.m. Friday. A&M, 46-13, will play the Arizona-Baylor loser at 1 p.m. Saturday in the losers' bracket.

Abbott, 47-3, dominated the Aggies in the final six innings, ending with 16 strikeouts that gave her 665 for the season, setting another NCAA record. She also extended NCAA career records she holds for wins (186), strikeouts (2,381) and shutouts (109).

She struck out at least two per inning and every Aggie starter. But the senior's 23rd career no-hitter had a shaky start, which wasn't the case in her previous two trips to the WCWS when she pitched the Lady Vols to an opening-round victory en route to third-place finishes.

This time, the 6-foot-3 Abbott, USA Softball's Player of the Year, had trouble locating her riseball in the first inning, walking the bases loaded.

"I'd taken some time off early in the week, because I've pitched so much," Abbott said. "So, I just think in the first inning I forgot how to breathe. So when you forget to breathe, you kinda tense up, and it ended up effecting my pitches, and everything was going a little high."

That played into A&M's game plan, which was not to swing at Abbott riseballs sailing out of the strike zone.

A&M didn't offer at Abbott's first 12 pitches.

Sharonda McDonald and Jamie Hinshaw walked, and after Megan Gibson struck out on a full-count riseball, Amanda Scarborough walked.

Abbott had allowed three walks in a game this season in only three games.

"We had an opportunity early to get a timely hit, which changes the whole game, and she shot it done like the great pitcher she is," A&M coach Jo Evans said.

Abbott fielded a grounder by Jami Lobpries for a forceout at the plate, then struck out Alex Reynolds to end the 20-minute half inning as Tennessee players and coaches had seven conferences, most of them trying to calm down Abbott, who was averaging only one walk every 6.4 innings this year.

"All my teammates told me to calm down and take a deep breath, and to bear down and focus and get out of the inning," Abbott said.

She did, and A&M was in trouble.

Abbott started working ahead in the count, and A&M's hitters didn't adjust.

"That's where I was frustrated with our hitters for not being more aggressive," Evans said.

A&M, which last made the WCWS in 1988, was just a swing away from taking the lead because of junior right-hander Amanda Scarborough, who was almost as dominating as Abbott.

Scarborough, 26-9, struck out a career-high matching 12, including 11 through five innings.

She pitched out of a huge jam in the third inning.

Scarborough hit Kenora Posey, who stole second. Lindsay Schutzler singled Posey to third. Schutzler stole second, but Scarborough struck out the next two hitters, weathering a botched suicide squeeze when Tiffany Huff fouled off a pitch.

A&M opted to walk cleanup hitter Tonya Callahan to load the bases, even though the next hitter, Shannon Doepking, had singled in the first. This time Doepking harmlessly grounded out to second baseman Joy Davis.

"Amanda Scarborough was more than we wanted and I thought she was really outstanding," Tennessee co-coach Karen Weekly said.

The Lady Vols put runners on the corners in the sixth with two outs, but couldn't score.

Tennessee's pressure and speed broke through in the seventh.

India Chiles, who missed the Knoxville Regional with a torn ACL, blooped an RBI single into left field with one out to score Kenora Posey.

Left-handed hitting Posey reached by nubbing the ball off the end of her bat for an infield single. She stole second, Tennessee's fifth of the game, which set a WCWS single-game record. Posey moved to third on a groundout.

Tennessee added an insurance run with three straight singles, the last by Doepking.

"The difference in the game was that they were able to put the ball in play," Evans said. "They didn't hit the ball hard, but they found holes there in key situations to get a couple of runs across in the seventh."

NOTES - Tennessee was ranked No. 1 in the final regular-season poll by USA Today/NFCA, but was seeded only fifth for the tournament by the NCAA selection committee, a spot back of A&M. ... It was only the second meeting between the two. Tennessee beat A&M in 1997, 5-0, in a tournament in Grand Prairie. ... A&M was fifth in its last WCWS appearance, losing to Cal Poly-Pomona in its last game. ... Scarborough hit Liane Horiuchi in the back leg with an 0-2 pitch in the second inning with runners at first and second, but home-plate umpire Bryan Smith ruled it a ball because Horiuchi didn't make an attempt to avoid it. ... Southern Mississippi's Courtney Blades held the previous season record for strikeouts with 663 set in 2000. ... Abbott and Scarborough combined to set a WCWS record for combined strikeouts in a game with 28. The previous was 27 set by Texas and Michigan in 2005 and tied by Texas and Arizona State last year. ... Only seven Tennessee hitters put the ball in play against Scarborough in the first five innings, but had 12 straight batters put the ball in play in the sixth and seventh innings, including seven hits.