wire report
WACO -- Texas A&M freshman right-hander Rebecca Arbino tossed her second straight four-hitter and the Aggies rallied for runs in the last two innings for a 3-2 Big 12 softball victory over the Baylor Lady Bears before 1,289 at Getterman Stadium.
A&M (31-19, 8-9) ended the regular season with back-to-back road victories to give head coach Jo Evans her 500th victory as the Aggies' head coach. A&M, which had lost five straight league road games, grabbed a 6-1 victory at Texas on Saturday night.
"Our team played great today and I'm really proud of them," said Evans. "They came out here ready to play. The only thing better than beating Texas on a Saturday night is to come over and beat Baylor on a Sunday. We put together a great weekend. Our team played hard and they really fought for their lives in these last two games."
A&M was able to sweep the season series with Baylor, but the two teams will play again at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, Okla. Baylor finished in a third-place tie with Texas, but earned the third seed for the tournament via its regular-season sweep of UT. A&M, the defending champ, finished sixth.
Sunday, the Lady Bears (36-19, 11-7) were six outs from gaining a split with A&M after taking a 2-1 lead in the fifth on Tiffany Wesley's sacrifice fly. Megan Weldon had tied the game with a single, scoring Alex Colyer who had doubled for the Lady Bears who had been held to one hit through four innings.
A&M answered in the sixth.
Senior right fielder Holly Ridley, who had hits in her last two at-bats against Texas, completed a 4 for 4 day by lining a single to center. She stole second and scored on a double by hot-hitting junior Bailey Schroeder, who had a grand slam against Texas.
A&M then won it in the seventh.
Rhiannon Kliesing, who had a game-tying RBI single against UT, singled to the wall, scoring Natalie Villarreal who had singled and moved to second on a sacrifice by Macie Morrow.
A&M scored its first run in the first inning on a two-out single by Ridley.
Arbino (11-6) walked two and struck out three in besting fellow freshman Whitney Canion (23-15) who was touched for nine hits. Canion walked three and struck out 10.
Canion stuck out 11 in the first meeting, but A&M was able to parlay seven walks and four hits into a 5-4 victory.
*
*Iowa State 3, Kansas 1: Amanda Bradberry homered and Lauren Kennewell tossed a six-hitter as Iowa State (25-28, 7-11) set a school record for Big 12 victories in a season. ISU and the Jayhawks (21-30, 6-11) will meet again at 5 p.m. Friday at the Big 12 Championship.
*Oklahoma State 8, Texas Tech 0: Anna Whiddon and Sarah Odom combined on three-hitter for the Cowgirls (33-19, 8-10). Tech (15-41, 3-15) finished in last place.
*Missouri 5, Nebraska 0: Lindsey Ubrun hit a grand slam, her 14th homer of the season to power the Tigers (42-9, 12-6) over the Cornhuskers (34-16, 9-9).
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Posted by: tornadoalley On: 5/4/2009
Comment Title: Good finish!
Congrats Ags for finishing strong and best of luck in the Big12 tourney.
