Aggie softball slips in Waco
WACO -- During extra-inning games, visiting teams can feel as if they're walking a tightrope, and the Texas A&M softball team's perch against 17th-ranked Baylor was wobbly because of the Aggies' hitting woes.
One slip and it was over, as Baylor third baseman Megan Turk connected with the 172nd pitch by A&M's Melissa Dumezich for an 11th-inning home run that lifted the Lady Bears to a 2-1 victory at Getterman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
A stadium-record crowd of 1,460 watched Dumezich and Baylor left-hander Whitney Canion control the hitters during the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams. Dumezich and her defense escaped several jams, while Canion gave A&M a gift run in the third inning and not much else.
The 22nd-ranked Aggies (27-8) managed four hits, all singles, and never more than one in an inning. A&M pushed just two runners as far as second base during the last eight innings.
Although there was a good contingent of Aggie fans, the Baylor supporters had more to yell about as their team threatened several times before Turk's finishing blow with one out.
"It's tough when you're on the road in games like that," A&M coach Jo Evans said. "When you're at home you feel the crowd behind you and get some momentum. One swing ended the game, but our kids played hard."
Turk, a junior who bats third in the lineup, did not get the ball out of the infield in her previous trips to the plate and came into the game with no home runs in 99 at-bats this season. In her first two years, she hit three homers in 272 at-bats, with her first being a walk-off shot against Texas as a freshman.
There was little doubt about the ball's destination when the right-handed hitter launched a high fly to left field. The uncertainty came after the game, when Baylor coach Glenn Moore said Turk got a pitch she was looking for on the inside drop ball from Dumezich.
"I have no idea [what the pitch was]," Turk said. "Glenn's going to hate me for saying that, but I really have no clue. I swung where it was pitched for the first time today, and it was great."
It was a tough end for Dumezich, who allowed five hits and spent much more of the hot afternoon pitching under pressure than did her counterpart. Baylor (27-4) put runners into scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings, then left the bases loaded in the 10th.
A leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt put a runner at second. The Aggies appeared to have erased the lead runner when Dumezich snared a comebacker and threw to third for what would have been an easy out, but the third-base umpire ruled that shortstop Brittany Walker interfered with the runner, who was safe on a call that brought Evans out of the dugout to argue.
Dumezich (14-5) retired the next batter on a line drive to second with the infield in, but then hit the No. 9 batter. Walker ended the inning by making a nice play to retire Kathy Shelton.
Other than Walker (2 for 3), the Aggies never figured out the hard-throwing Canion (14-3). The Aggies were 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position.
"Whitney honestly didn't have her best performance," Moore said. "Even when you don't have your best stuff [and] you hold a team like that down to four hits, that says a whole lot for you. She's a big-time pitcher."
Baylor scored in the bottom of the first. Former Franklin High School star Kayce Walker had a one-out infield single and moved to second on a bunt by Turk. Walker took third on a wild pitch as cleanup hitter Dani Leal walked, and then the Lady Bears tried a double-steal. Evans said A&M second baseman Natalie Villarreal didn't come in far enough to take the throw from freshman catcher Nicole Morgan, allowing Walker to score before the Aggies could retire Leal.
The Aggies tied it in the third. Brittany Walker had a leadoff single, moved up on a bunt by Villarreal and scored when Canion fielded a squibber off the bat of Cassie Tysarczyk and sent her throw far over the first baseman's head.
The series will conclude when the teams play a single game at the Aggie Softball Complex at 3 p.m. Sunday.