Texas A&M
Oregon State
No. 21 Softball Earns Pair of Wins in Aggie Classic
Feb 19, 2010 | Softball
Feb. 19, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 21 Texas A&M softball team opened the home portion of its season with a pair wins Friday evening on the first day of the Aggie Classic. A&M run-ruled Mississippi State, 9-0, before downing Oregon State, 6-4, in front of a home crowd of 1,471 at the Aggie Softball Complex.
A&M (7-1) used early scoring in both games to hand Mississippi State (5-1) its first loss and to send Oregon State (3-4) home with a 1-1 record on the day.
"I thought our kids looked really good today and they were aggressive at the plate," said head coach Jo Evans. "What I really liked in that first game and the second game as well, was the bottom of our order started swinging the bat and getting themselves on base. It's nice to see us hitting throughout the order."
As the visitors against Mississippi State, Texas A&M jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first. It was not a pretty inning, but the Aggies put runs on the board. Four players drew walks, senior Macie Morrow and junior Rhi Kliesing scored on errors, freshman Alex Reynolds with an infield groundout.
"There's nothing like getting that momentum and scoring in the first inning," Evans said. "You put the defense on their heels."
Kliesing racked up all seven of her K's in the first four innings and the Aggies played flawless defense.
In the top of the fourth, freshman Melissa Dumezich got on base with a walk and Orsak reached via an error before the A&M exploded with four straight hits that produced a five-run inning. Morrow and Kliesing each connected for RBI singles, while junior Kelsey Spittler and May laced back-to-back RBI doubles to put the game out of reach, 9-0.
Kliesing threw all five innings and improved to 4-0 with her first shutout of the season. She gave up five hits, walked one and struck out seven. The Bulldogs juggled between two pitchers, but Misty Flesher earned the loss and fell to 2-1.
"Rhi looks really comfortable right now, she's able to throw all of her pitches for strikes and she did a good job of staying away from hitters when she needed to," exclaimed Evans. "She was great in the circle and had great leadership."
The Aggies started scoring early against the Beavers as well. With two outs in the bottom of the first, an RBI single from Reynolds and a two-run single by Dumezich put A&M ahead quickly, 3-0. Morrow, Kliesing and Reynolds crossed the plate on the hits.
Oregon State led off the top of the second with three consecutive hits and took a run back when Audrey Roderfeld singled to left and scored Mary Claire Brenner from third.
The Aggies answered in the bottom half of the inning. Morrow walked before Spittler and May ripped two consecutive doubles in back-to-back games. From Spring, Texas, May drove in both base runners and increased A&M's lead to 5-1.
The scoring continued in the third when Brenner hit a two-run home run, her seventh of the season, to move within two runs, 5-3.
A&M again answered and added another score in the bottom of the third. Orsak singled with one down and stole second before freshman Lauren Schwirtlich tallied the first RBI of her career with a base hit up the middle.
"The thing that I thought we did really great was we answered back every time Oregon State scored," commented Evans. "When you see a team do that it makes you feel comfortable."
The next three innings went scoreless, but the Beavers did not go down without a fight, pushing one more run across in the top of the seventh off of an RBI double by Lea Cavestany.
The win in the circle went to sophomore Rebecca Arbino who improved to 3-1. She allowed four runs on eight hits, walked a pair of batters and added five K's.
On the day, Reynolds led the Aggies going 3-for-6 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Spittler and Kliesing each posted three hits, while Dumezich and May added two hits and two and three RBIs, respectively.
Texas A&M continues play in the Aggie Classic with two contests tomorrow at 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. The Aggies face Mississippi State in the early game before taking on ULM.
