Texas A&M
Lehigh
Aggies' Season Ends in Gainesville
May 16, 2009 | Softball
May 16, 2009
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Texas A&M softball team saw its season come to an end on Saturday evening with a 3-2 loss to Lehigh in the NCAA Gainesville Regional at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium.
The Aggies conclude their season with a 32-22 record, while Lehigh (38-17-1) advances to face No. 1 Florida in Sunday's championship game.
"Obviously we're really disappointed," said head coach Jo Evans. "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."
The Mountain Hawks got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first frame. Audra Wood led off with an infield single and scored on an Aggie error before Jennifer Colquhoun plated pinch runner Ali Torborg on an RBI single to right field.
To end the second inning, A&M turned its 15th double play of the year on a one-out line drive that sophomore Rhi Kliesing at first.
A lead-off walk in the third crossed the plate on an RBI double by Colquhoun to increase Lehigh's lead to 3-0.
In the top of the fifth, senior Holly Ridley and junior Bailey Schroeder reached base via a walk and single to lead off the inning. With two outs and both runners sacrificed into scoring position by junior Alex Reynolds, freshman Kelsea Orsak lined a two-out double down the left field line to bring the Aggies within one, 3-2.
Kliesing worked herself out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the inning by forcing a strikeout and a foul fly ball that Reynolds caught over her shoulder while diving to her knees for the third out.
The Aggies could not manage a run in the top of the seventh and seniors Holly Ridley saw their careers at A&M come to an end. A&M will return 10 position players and two pitchers in 2010.
"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," said Evans. "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."
