Texas A&M
Florida
Aggies Suffer First Loss of Gainesville Regional
May 16, 2009 | Softball
May 16, 2009
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Texas A&M softball team battled Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the Year Stacy Nelson through five innings until the No. 1-ranked Florida offense came alive late to defeat the Aggies, 7-1, in the NCAA Gainesville Regional.
A&M (32-21) tagged Nelson for nine hits, four of which were doubles, to mark the most of each she has given up all season. A&M was within a run in the top of the fifth, but the Gators (57-3) plated five runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings to seal the victory.
Junior Macie Morrow had a career performance going 4-for-4 with two doubles against the two-time All-American pitcher. Sophomore Rhi Kliesing went 2-for-2 with a double and sophomore Natalie Villarreal added two hits, one of which was a two-bagger.
A&M will take on the winner of Florida A&M and Lehigh at 5 p.m.
UF's Kelsey Bruder started the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-out, RBI single up the middle that plated Kristina Hilberth from second base.
In the top of the second, Kliesing led off with a double off the left center wall, but was thrown out at third after a single from junior Alex Reynolds fell into shallow left center.
Florida added to its lead in the bottom of the second. Megan Bush led off with a double and scored on a two-out bloop single to left by Aja Paculba, for a 2-0 early advantage.
A&M put another runner into scoring position in the top of the third with back-to-back singles by Villarreal and Morrow. Villarreal hit a liner up the middle and advanced to third on a base hit through the right side by Morrow, but the Aggies could not push the run across.
The Aggies retired the Gators in order in the bottom of the third.
After a scoreless fourth, Villarreal and Morrow stayed hot with back-to-back doubles in the top of the fifth to push A&M's first run across and cut the Gator lead in half, 2-1.
Florida answered in the bottom of the inning scoring on an RBI double by Francesca Enea and a sacrifice fly by Bruder to make the score 4-1.
The Gators tacked on three runs off of four hits and an error in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-1 lead going into the seventh inning.
The Aggies put runners on second and third in the top of the frame, but Nelson fanned her 14th batter for the final out of the game.
Nelson improved to 36-3 with the complete game win. She allowed one run on nine hits, walked one and struck out 14. Kliesing fell to 20-13 after giving up seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits, walking one and fanning three.
For live stats and live audio of the 5 p.m. game, stay logged on to AggieAthletics.com.
