Texas A&M
Houston
No. 19 Texas A&M Upsets No. 18 Houston
Feb 21, 2009 | Softball
Feb. 21, 2009
HOUSTON - The 19th-ranked Texas A&M softball team earned a 4-3, come-from-behind win against No. 18 Houston on the Cougar's home field at the Marriott Houston Invitational on Saturday night.
Sophomore Rhi Kliesing (6-3) and the Aggies (9-6) hung on for their second wins of the day. Houston's record fell to 6-6 after its second extra-inning loss this weekend.
Texas A&M's win earlier in the day came from a 3-0 shutout of McNeese State.
"We were due to win a game like this," said head coach Jo Evans. "We've been snake bitten in the last innings in so many games prior to this, and I'm really excited that we got out there and held our own. We had people stepping up all night, finding holes and hitting the ball hard. Kelsey really came into her own tonight and it was a huge RBI that she had in the last inning."
The Cougars' got out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. A one-out double to the center field fence by Haley Valis scored Christa Raley after she reached base on a walk.
The Aggies answered in the top of the third as freshman Macie Morrow found the same hole as Villarreal and plated her from second to go ahead, 2-1.
In the bottom of the fourth Laurie Wagner evened the score with a solo home run just inside the foul pole in left field.
Villarreal led off the top of the fifth with a walk before senior Holly Ridley ripped a one-out double to right center. Senior Erin Glasco then launched what would have been a two-run home run, but the ball tailed off just outside of the left-field foul pole and the Aggies ended the inning up by one run, 3-2.
"Our kids answered right back every time," said Evans. "We hit the ball hard all night. Everybody understood their at bats were great at bats. Tonight was the best approach we've had at the plate."
In the bottom of the sixth, Houston tied it up 3-3 after a two-out double by Valis, a wild pitch and an A&M error.
A scoreless seventh moved the game into extra innings and in the top of the eighth the tiebreaker rule went into effect, placing Glasco on second base. Junior Alex Reynolds sacrificed the Johnston City, Ill., native to third and she scored on a game-winning single to left field by Spittler.
In her second complete game victory of the day, Kliesing allowed seven hits, three runs (two earned) and four walks while striking out nine.
"Rhi was terrific today," Evans said. "She did everything we needed her to do. She was in total control in the McNeese State game and really kept their hitters off balance. You could see on her face total confidence and composure all day.
"For us to finish like we did is going to give us great confidence going into the game tomorrow and into the rest of our season. You can really see how the tides are turning for us and it's going to be really fun to play for a championship in the tournament tomorrow."
The Aggies have won four straight and play their final game of the Marriott Houston Invitation at 11 a.m. on Sunday against Illinois (9-4) who is also 4-0 at the tournament.
