Texas A&M’s No. 21 softball team stole a game in extra innings Sunday, as the Aggies came away with a 5-4 comeback win over No. 10 Arizona.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, Arizona pitcher Lindsey Sisk gave up the game-winning run on a walk to A&M senior catcher Erin Glasco. The base on balls was Glasco’s third of the game.
“Because she wants to hit so bad, I was a little concerned that she might try to hit anything that came up there,” said Texas A&M Head Coach Jo Evans. “I’m pleased that she was patient and that the ball was down and out.”
The game seemed to be over in the seventh inning when the Wildcats were one out away from the win with the bases empty. Aggie senior Holly Ridley stepped up with a two-out double to keep A&M’s hopes alive. After Glasco walked onto, sophomore Kelsey Spittler hit a blooper up the middle that was dropped by Arizona second baseman Victoria Kemp. Three runs scored off the hit to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
Ridley continued her successful weekend with a 3-3 performance at the plate against the Wildcats. The right fielder went 8-16 against Arizona and Monmouth in the Texas A&M Invitational tournament.
“I just get in the zone that I know I’m comfortable in,” Ridley said. “It’s just clear. Nothing’s going on in my mind. Just to go all out every single game this weekend has been amazing. That’s the team that we are and its great to see us come out and play like we did this weekend.”
After pitching all nine innings in a win over Arizona on Friday, sophomore Rhiannon Kliesing took another game into extra innings against the Wildcats. Kliesing had six strikeouts and gave up two earned runs on only six hits.
“I just tried to relax a lot more today,” Kliesing said. “I just had a lot of confidence knowing that my team was going to score runs, so I was able to just go right at them.”
Kliesing said she was also glad she had another chance to return to the mound for the eighth inning after allowing two runs in the seventh.
“I was really happy,” Kliesing said. “I knew that I had to shut them down that inning because if we kept them scoreless I knew we could win.”
A&M moves on to 13-8 this season and 7-2 at home. Arizona suffered only their fourth loss of the year, and the Aggies won the weekend series 2-1. A&M finished 4-1 for the tournament.
Arizona’s Brittany Lastrapes cranked a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to give the Wildcats a three-run lead. Lastarapes’ shot came right after a crucial A&M error that could have ended the inning.
“It was a little frustrating knowing that we could have been out of the inning and would we should have been out of the inning,” Kliesing said. “They did a good job of hitting my mistakes.”
The Aggies’ offense finally got started in the sixth when Spittler smashed a leadoff triple off the wall in right center. Spittler would later score on a close play-at-the-plate following a single by junior Alex Reynolds.
Arizona catcher Stacie Chambers scored the first runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning off of her ninth homerun of the 2009 season.