Texas A&M
Sam Houston State
Orsak's Walk-Off Gives No. 21 Aggies 4-3 Win Over Sam Houston
Apr 14, 2010 | Softball
April 14, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Texas A&M sophomore Kelsea Orsak's walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the No. 21 Aggies an exciting, 4-3 come-from-behind win against Sam Houston State on Wednesday night at the Aggie Softball Complex.
In front of 1,197 fans, Orsak plated freshman Mellissa Dumezich from third for the game-winner, but it was junior Rhi Kliesing who tied the game with A&M trailing by three runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Junior Kelsey Spittler led off the half inning with a line-drive double over the right fielder's head and the Aggies proceeded to rally with two outs to load the bases. From Pearland, Texas, Kliesing then laced a 1-1 pitch to right center for a bases-clearing double that evened the game 3-3.
Texas A&M (33-11) won their 36th straight game against the Bearkats (15-23) to improve its all-time record to against SHSU to 82-13.
"I'm really proud of our team and it's exciting to see us step up tonight," said head coach Jo Evans. "Kelsea (Orsak) is a great player who works so hard and wants it so badly. Rhi (Kliesing) was swinging the bat so well and how fun for Missy (Siegel) to score the tying run in the seventh. I like our fight tonight and I'm thrilled for our team to come away with a win."
The Bearkats jumped on the scoreboard in the top of the first off of an Aggie error to quickly take a 1-0 lead.
Texas A&M rallied with two outs in the bottom of the frame to load the bases, but could not push any runs across.
Shelbi Tucker added to the Bearkats' lead in the fourth by plating a pair of runs with a two-out, RBI single just into the grass in center field.
A&M had scattered two-out hits in the third, fourth and fifth frames and had several hard hits throughout the game, but finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh.
With Spittler on second via a double, freshman Sydney Shannon lined a two-out single up the middle before freshman Meagan May drew a walk to load the bases. Still trailing by three runs, juniors Andrea Tovar and Missy Siegel were brought into the game to pinch run and every bit of their speed was utilized as Kliesing's double scored all three runners to tie the game.
In the circle, Dumezich struck out two of three SHSU batters in the top of the eighth before scoring the winning run on Orsak's game-ending hit a bounce away from the left-center wall.
In three innings of relief work, Dumezich (9-1) fanned four and gave up just two hits and walked two for the win in the circle. Sophomore Rebecca Arbino started the game and threw five innings. She allowed six hits, three runs, all unearned, and one walk while striking out three.
Morgan Mikulin (10-15) suffered the loss after giving up four runs on nine hits, walking three and adding two K's.
Kliesing led all hitters going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Adding two hits apiece were May (2-for-3) and Spittler (2-for-4).
The Aggies head to Iowa State this weekend for a pair of Big 12 games against the Cyclones. Saturday's contest begins at 2 p.m., while first pitch on Sunday is set for 11 a.m.
