Aggies beat Longhorns 5-1

Texas A&M senior first baseman Rhiannon Kliesing could have recorded the last out of the Aggies' 5-1 victory over Texas after grabbing a ground ball by pinch hitter Karina Scott. Instead, she fittingly opted to flip the ball to second baseman Natalie Villarreal, allowing Villarreal to do the honors.

Villarreal's two-out, two-run single in the second inning spurred the 22nd-ranked Aggies to their 20th straight home victory, earning a split of the Big 12 home-and-home series with the third-ranked Texas Longhorns.

Villarreal's hit to left field erased UT's 1-0 lead. That put a charge into the partisan crowd of 1,765 which also put a smile on the face of Villarreal, who had to sit out last season because she was academically ineligible.

"I was real excited for this game," said the junior who sat in the stands last season at the Aggie Softball Complex as A&M beat UT 1-0. "I've been waiting a long time."

Villarreal, who leads the team in hitting at .355, thought she'd scored the game winner in the first meeting this season, but Texas scored two runs for a walk-off 4-3 victory.

This time, Aggies performed all the heroics.

Freshman Amber Garza added a two-run homer in fifth. Garza has fit in nicely at third base, adjusting to college pitching as well. She's hitting .288 with six homers and 34 RBIs. Wednesday's homer was the first by the left-handed hitter to the opposite field. She hit a ball out of the park foul down the right-field line in her first at-bat before striking out.

"I was just trying to put the ball in play, really not trying to hit it hard," Garza said. "I just wanted to get a cut on it. She threw me a changeup and I just wanted to get rid of it. I didn't try to do too much with it."

Garza was speeding toward second when she realized it had cleared the fence. Garza, the third member of A&M's infield who wasn't with the team last season, remembers where she was a year ago when the Longhorns came to A&M.

"I had a hitting lesson that night," Garza said. "As soon as I was done, I went home and turned on the computer to listen to the game."

She listened to A&M's Melissa Dumezich toss a two-hitter in outdueling Texas' Blaire Luna in a matchup of talented freshman right-handers. This time, Garza helped Dumezich do it again.

Dumezich, 23-8, recovered from a shaky start to allow only one hit in the final five innings. The struck out seven, walked three and allowed only four hits.

Texas needed only three batters to take a 1-0 lead as Dumezich was high with too many pitches.

"I was a little too pumped up," Dumezich said. "I think it was nerves. Before the game, my hands were a little sweaty and stuff. But after that first inning, I thought I calmed down a little bit."

Texas (44-6, 13-2) which saw its lead over Missouri (42-6, 11-2) shrink to a game couldn't come up with a clutch hit.

UT's Courtney Craig singled with two outs in the sixth and Torie Schmidt reached on an error, but Kim Briuns was called out on strikes. In the fifth, with A&M nursing a 2-1 lead, Taylor Hoagland walked and Thorn hit blasted two balls well out of the stadium before striking out on a changeup.

"That didn't bother me because they were foul," Dumezich said. "She could have hit those all day long as long as they are foul."

A&M did a much better job at the plate, banging out seven hits. The Aggies knocked Luna (26-4) from the mound for the second straight time as she dropped to 1-2 against A&M.

"I thought we were relaxed and hit the pitches we wanted to hit, we made her throw strikes," A&M head coach Jo Evans said.

A&M had hits from seven different players.

"All throughout the lineup, our kids just took what they could get," Evans said. "I thought our players were really smart at the plate."

The Aggies (37-13, 9-5) nudged ahead of Oklahoma State (37-12, 8-5) in the battle for third place. A&M will continue its regular-season ending five-game homestand against OSU this weekend.

Many were arriving for the nationally televised game as UT scored.

Dumezich left a 1-2 pitch up that Thorn laced down the right-field line to score Brejae Washington who failed to advance Hoagland who led off with a bunt single.

UT was in position to make it 2-0 when the throw in from the outfield on Thorn's double got away, allowing her to reach third. But Dumezich settled down and struck out Hooks and Taylor softly lined out.

A&M went ahead in the second.

Kelsey Spittler, who was 6 for 7 last week to earn Big 12 of the week honors, singled. Luna retired the next two batters, but Dumezich lined a single into center field. Texas' Washington threw to third trying to retire Spittler which allowed Dumezich to reach second.

No. 9 hitting Brittany Walker coaxed a walk, checking her swing on a close full-count pitch that UT head coach Connie Clark stepped out of the dugout seeking an appeal that confirmed the check swing.

"[Walker] did a good job of not swinging at bad pitches," Evans said.

Villarreal swung at a good pitch or bad pitch, depending on your point of view.

"I had two strikes, I was just looking to put the ball in play," Villarreal said. "It was going outside, I just stayed with it and didn't try to do too much with it."

A&M failed to take advantage of Luna's control problems and a leaky UT defense in the third.

Kliesing walked and with one out, UT second baseman Raygan Feight couldn't pull down a high throw from third baseman Nadia Taylor on Spittler's grounder. Pinch-runner Andrea Tovar popped up and sprinted to third even though the ball was only a few feet from second base.

Luna, though, bounced back to strike out Garza and Morgan. A&M also stranded two runners in the fourth, but Meagan May walked to start the fifth and after Spittler failed to sacrifice, Garza homered.

*

NOTES -- Villarreal's single was the only one of the game with runners in scoring position as the teams were a combined 1 for 17 -- A&M was 1 for 11. ... Former Texas A&M All-American Jennifer McFalls made her first trip to A&M as UT's assistant coach.