Aggies power past Oklahoma State

A tweak of the batting order and a return to form by Rhiannon Kliesing powered Texas A&M to a 7-3 record-setting victory over the Oklahoma State Cowgirls in Big 12 play Sunday at the Aggie Softball Complex before 901 fans.

Kliesing crushed a three-run homer to cap a five-run fourth inning that erased a 3-2 OSU lead. Cassie Tysarczyk and Brittany Walker, who swapped places in the batting order, also reached base and scored in the inning as the 22nd-ranked Aggies (39-13, 11-5) clinched at least a tie for third place behind Texas (45-7, 14-3) and Missouri (43-7, 12-3). A&M won its 22nd straight home game, breaking the record set by the 2005 team.

"We're excited about the streak, but we're more excited about the way we're playing at exactly the right time," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "We're coming into the end of conference and the beginning of postseason. We feel good about ourselves, [but] we're not overly confident."

A&M has won six of its last seven games against ranked opponents after starting the season 1-9 vs. Top 25 teams.

The Aggies finished a two-game sweep of the 16th-ranked Cowgirls by sending nine batters to the plate in the fourth with Tysarczyk, Walker and Kliesing playing key roles.

Tysarczyk, batting ninth, was hit by a pitch to put two runners on with two outs. Tysarczyk, who was dropped from the No. 2 spot, had homered in the previous inning.

"I had a nice chat with Cassie before the game and talked to her about who I think she is as a player and how her approach isn't that person and that hitter," Evans said. "For her to step in there and take what I had to say as constructive criticism in helping her get better was great.

"I thought she was much more of a controlled hitter today and more comfortable at the plate."

After Tysarczyk reached, Walker gave A&M the lead with an infield hit two batters later. It was the second straight hit for the sophomore who transferred from Florida.

"She is just supposed to get herself on and figure out how to make it go," Evans said. "She had two hits and we've needed that in the two-hole to keep us going."

Kliesing validated how important it was for Walker to reach with a liner over the fence in left-center field for her team-leading 16th homer of the season.

It was also an important at-bat for the senior first baseman who had been mired in a slump. Kliesing, who was batting close to .400 entering league play, was batting .182 in Big 12 action when she went the opposite field against left-handed reliever Sarah Odom.

Evans said during Sunday's pregame show on the radio that Kliesing looked like the Rhi of old in Saturday's 4-2 victory with two well-struck fly balls and a grounder.

"The last two days, I've been way more comfortable at the plate and confident, feeling like my old self," Kliesing said. "I've been struggling a little bit and my confidence got down, but I've been really working hard at practice the last two weeks with my hitting and it's allowed me to be much more confident at the plate."

It was hard to tell whose smile was more radiant -- hers or Evans' -- as Kliesing rounded third base.

"Yesterday I told her, 'You look exactly like you. That's what I'm used to seeing from you, even though you didn't get a hit,'" Evans said. "And then she goes out today and goes [opposite field] and hits one out. That was huge, obviously."

It was the fifth homer of the weekend for the Aggies, who are among the nation's top 20 in home runs with 69. The smiling Kliesing initiated the team's customary celebration for a homer as she approached the plate, but it also seemed she was relieved that her slump was over.

"You could look it at that way, too. That's what it felt like," Kliesing said.

A&M's batting order could be jelling at the right time.

Catcher Meagan May, who missed 11 games with a fractured middle finger in her throwing hand, had a two-run homer Saturday and also walked before the walkoff homer by Amber Garza, who is having a banner freshman season with seven homers and 36 runs batted in. Senior Kelsey Spittler, who was the league's player of the week last week, started A&M's scoring Sunday with a home run.

Leadoff hitter Natalie Villarreal, who leads the team in hitting at .356, had two weak at-bats Sunday, but came back with a game-tying single in the fourth.

"She's just too good to get fooled too many times," Evans said.

Now if Walker can continue to produce hitting second along with production from Kliesing and Tysarczyk, the Aggies will have a potent offense. Kliesing and Tysarczyk had been a combined 14 for 70 with only two homers since the last time the two homered in an 11-5 victory over Iowa State on April 3.

The offensive production made the last few innings easier for A&M starting pitcher Melissa Dumezich who had a tough start by hitting Mariah Gearhart, who extended her NCAA record for getting hit by pitches in a career to 86. Left fielder Spittler made a running catch of a foul ball, but forgot about the runner, which allowed Gearhart to reach second. Alysia Hamilton doubled home Gearhart. Shortstop Walker shot-hopped a throw to first for an error and OSU eventually added another run on a wild pitch.

A&M's lifeless start after Saturday's thrilling victory was hard to explain, but it didn't last.

"We just had to sort of elevate our game," Evans said. "I thought our team did that. I was just really pleased with us not pressing."

The teams changed roles as the Cowgirls (37-4, 8-7), who came into the weekend a half game back of the Aggies, left with their first three-game losing streak of the season.

OSU head coach Rich Wieligman was pleased with his batters' approach early against Dumezich, but the Cowgirls left five runners stranded in the first two innings. The Aggies made OSU pay with five straight batters reaching in the fourth after two were out.

"They had some big hits this weekend," said Wieligman who was A&M's batting coach in 2005. "And we just couldn't answer."

Dumezich, 25-8, wasn't razor sharp, but gutted out a 136-pitch performance. She struck out five, but walked six and gave up five hits including a booming solo home run by catcher Ashley Boyd. The sophomore right-hander beat OSU for the fourth straight time, but A&M had junior Lindsey Sisk warming up a couple of times. Dumezich, though, got better after the fourth until the seventh, when Ari Morrison and Hamilton singled. But cleanup hitter Chelsea Garcia grounded into a double play and Dumezich worked around a walk. She's pitched A&M's last seven games.

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NOTES -- Baylor (39-12, 10-7) could tie A&M by beating Texas coupled with A&M losing two games to Texas Tech (40-12, 5-11). OSU could tie A&M by beating Missouri and taking two games from Nebraska (35-12, 5-9) along with A&M losing to Tech. ... A&M also has a mathematical chance of catching Missouri, which ends the regular season at home with two games against Iowa State (21-24, 3-11).