Roller-coaster ride ends in victory for A&M softball

What seemed like rock bottom turned out to be a launching pad for Texas A&M's softball team Sunday afternoon, with freshman Nicole Morgan initiating lift off.

Morgan slammed a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning, boosting the Aggies to a 6-5 victory over Baylor before a crowd of 1,132 at the Aggie Softball Complex. A&M managed to split two weekend games against the 17th-ranked Lady Bears even though the No. 22 Aggies led once in 18 innings, when Morgan touched the plate before being mobbed by jubilant teammates.

The Aggies finished on top of a game filled with incredible highs and lows for both teams, most of them packed into the last three innings.

A&M forged a sky-high tie in the fifth on a shocking three-run homer by Melissa Dumezich. Baylor pitcher Whitney Canion had surrendered two runs to the Aggies in the 15 previous innings.

But the Aggies hit the depths quickly. A&M wasted a great scoring opportunity in the sixth inning, failing to cash in after loading the bases with no outs. That pain was still fresh when Baylor's Dani Leal hit a home run with two outs in the seventh for a 5-4 lead.

Dumezich opened the bottom of the seventh by drawing a walk. That set the stage for Morgan in her second start as the replacement for all-conference catcher Meagan May, who broke a finger on her throwing hand Wednesday.

Morgan drilled an 0-1 pitch to left field, about 10 feet over the wall.

"It's like the ultimate feeling of ecstasy," Morgan said. "You're at the top of your game. You step on home plate and your whole team piles on you. It feels so good."

Morgan said the game felt like a roller-coaster ride. Dumezich, who was replaced by a pinch runner, provided the sound effects after watching Morgan's drive leave the park.

"I screamed so much," Dumezich said. "I jumped. It was an awesome feeling because we were that team yesterday that lost by a walk-off home run and it felt absolutely horrible. That makes this feel even better."

On Saturday, the Aggies (28-8, 1-1) dropped their Big 12 opener at Baylor 2-1 when Megan Turk belted a homer with one out in the 11th inning. Sophomore left-hander Canion pitched a complete game, throwing 148 pitches. Canion also went the distance Sunday, pushing her two-day pitch count to 270.

"Under normal circumstances, Canion's going to come in and get three outs for you in a hurry," Baylor coach Glenn Moore said. "But she pitched 11 innings yesterday. You can't ask so much of a kid."

Think about changing pitchers, coach?

"I would have only taken her out if I felt there was an injury," Moore said. "That's how much of a leader she is and how much we need her in the circle.

"Morgan hit a pitch [for a solo homer in the fourth] that was outside and up in the zone. We threw her down [in the seventh] and she went down and got that, so you've gotta tip your hat to her. Sometimes you just get beat."

Baylor (27-5, 1-1) jumped on the Aggies from the start Sunday, scoring two runs in the first inning with four hits against Lindsey Sisk. A&M cut the lead in half on Morgan's long home run to right-center in the fourth, but Baylor answered emphatically when Leal blasted a two-run homer in the fifth that bounced into the parking lot across the street beyond the left-field fence to make it 4-1.

A&M's game-tying rally seemed to come out of nowhere. A one-out error on Leal and a walk put two runners on base, but Canion (15-4) got freshman cleanup hitter Amber Garza to pop up for the second out. Dumezich followed with her fourth home run of the season. It was a line drive to right that cleared the fence by a couple of feet, about how high Dumezich got off the ground when she jumped for joy just before slowing down to make sure she stepped on first base.

"It was crazy, a really emotional game," A&M coach Jo Evans said. "I'm really proud of our kids for competing. We were behind for most of the day and we figured out a way to not feel sorry for ourselves and found a way to win the game. I think we grew up a lot this weekend."

Morgan proved a perfect poster girl for the up-and-down series. Morgan went 0 for 4 Saturday, unable to get a ball out of the infield. She struck out in her first at-bat Sunday before hitting her sixth and seventh home runs of the season over the last four innings.

The injured May, who was the Aggies' vocal leader and most highly regarded player, provided Morgan with counsel and was a careful participant in the postgame celebration with her right arm in a sling.

"When Megan got hurt, I told her to stay in my ear and keep me in the game," Morgan said. "She helped me as much as she could."

Dumezich (15-5) relieved Sisk after Leal's home run and pitched the last three innings. The sophomore, who threw 172 pitches in Saturday's loss, allowed one hit. That was Leal's go-ahead homer, when final ignition was a few batters away.