Special to The Eagle
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- It was a tough Saturday for the Texas A&M softball team which lost both its games to bow out of the NCAA Gainesville Regional, ending its season in the process.
The top-ranked Florida Gators knocked the Aggies into the losers' bracket with a 7-1 victory, then the Lehigh Mountain Hawks beat A&M 3-2 before 1,583 at Pressly Stadium.
A&M, which was the national runner-up last season, ends at 32-22.
"Obviously, we're really disappointed," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "We showed good intensity and played hard against Florida, and we needed to bring that same kind of intensity against Lehigh and we came out flat. It's an expectation our program has to play on championship Sunday, and not being here for that is disappointing. Every time we play Lehigh, they do a great job. We have a lot of respect for their program and their coaches."
Lehigh earned that respect by upsetting the 13th-seeded Aggies twice at the Amherst Regional in Massachusetts in 2006, becoming the first Patriot League team to win an NCAA Tournament game.
A&M earned a bit of revenge in Friday's opening game at the Gainesville Regional, beating the Mountain Hawks 1-0.
But Saturday, it was the other teams paying back the Aggies.
Florida (57-3) scored five runs in its last two at-bats to break open a close game.
The Aggies ended the Gators' season two years ago at the Super Regional in College Station. And last year, A&M beat Florida 1-0 in nine innings at the Women's College World Series to advance to the championship round.
"All wins mean the same," Florida head coach Tim Walton said. "This one isn't extra important because of our history with them. It doesn't really matter who we are playing. As long as we keep doing what we need to be doing, we should be fine."
A&M pounded out nine hits against Florida All-American Stacey Nelson, who was the SEC pitcher of the year. Shortstop Macie Morrow had four hits and losing pitcher Rhiannon Kliesing celebrated her 20th birthday with two hits. Natalie Villarreal also had two hits.
"They found ways to get on base," said Nelson, who allowed a season-high in hits and four doubles for the first time. "They got hits to both left and right field. As a pitcher, I'm not happy about nine hits and a run. But the offense scored seven, which made up for it."
A&M's offense managed only three hits against Lehigh's Lisa Sweeney (23-9). who struck out two and walked two. A&M's biggest blow was Kelsea Orsak's two-run double in the fifth.
But Lehigh never trailed. The Mountain Hawks scored two in the first on a throwing error by first baseman Kliesing and an RBI single by Jen Colquhoun, who then added an RBI double in the third.
A&M freshman Rebecca Arbino (12-8) lasted only two innings, giving up three hits and walking three. Arbino pitched a four-hit shutout Friday, striking out six.
Kliesing pitched four innings, allowing three hits, striking out six and walking none. She worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth with a strikeout and catch of a fly foul ball by third baseman Alex Reynolds who caught it over her shoulder while diving to her knees.
A&M catcher Erin Glasco and right fielder Holly Ridley were the lone seniors. Last year, the Aggies lost three All-Americans.
"We're a really young team, so we're going to have a lot of returning starters who now have a year or two under their belt, and that bodes well for our program," Evans said. "I'm looking forward to the future, and I think it's a bright future for us. As disappointing as this is, we have to recognize that we can come back next year with more experience and more depth and have a really good season."
Lehigh, which defeated Florida A&M to earn the right to play the Aggies, will have to beat Florida twice Sunday to reach the Super Regionals.
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The blame game
