Softball splits with Aggies
Both softball teams benefited from unusual plays.
Published April 24, 2007
The MU softball team split with a top-five team at home for the second weekend in a row. This time, it was the fifth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. The Tigers now have a 9-2 record in conference play, second only to Baylor's 11-2 mark.
The first 4 1/2 innings of game one on Saturday started a pitchers' duel between Tiger junior Jen Bruck and Aggie junior Megan Gibson as neither pitcher surrendered a run.
"I knew going into the game that the whole game was going to be a pitchers' duel," Bruck said. "And with this team, it's going to be the same way tomorrow."
The pitching streak ended when the Tigers came up to bat in the fifth inning after an odd play kept the inning alive. The Tigers had senior Alli Kennewell on third base and senior Kathy Masterson on second base with two outs in the inning.
Freshman Julie Silver was at the plate and struck out swinging, but there was a passed ball on the third strike. Despite movement by both Kennewell and Masterson on the two-out pitch, the Aggies were unable to make a play in the field and the bases were loaded. Junior Amanda Renth, the next at-bat, cleared the bases with a three-RBI double off the right field wall.
"It was a huge situation," Renth said. "And I've been struggling at the plate, and I got down in the count. But I battled back and was able to hit a ball pretty hard out here to right field. So it felt great."
Coach Ehren Earleywine said a mistake such as the Aggies' is a critical error against a team of the Tigers' caliber.
"I think we can be considered a good team now," he said. "If you give a good team four outs or five outs in an inning, generally, it's going to come back to bite you. And that's exactly what happened."
Bruck was able to finish the complete-game shutout, and the Tigers added two more runs in the sixth inning to put the final score at 5-0.
But the roles reversed on Sunday. It was the Aggies' Amanda Scarborough who pitched a complete-game shutout, and Bruck who gave up the runs in a 7-0 affair. The Aggies scored five of their runs in the fourth inning. Like the Tigers the day before, their offense benefited from an unusual play.
Aggie second baseman Joy Davis was on third and pinch runner Bailey Schroeder was on second when designated player Lisa Gorzycki grounded the ball to shortstop Kennewell, who had Schroeder caught between second and third. In the middle of the rundown, Kennewell realized Davis was trying to score and threw for home. The throw for home was late, Davis scored and Schroeder was safe at third base. Gorzycki reached second base on the play.
"I think that play was kind of indicative of our day," Earleywine said. "Physical mistakes are going to happen, but we just made too many defensive mental mistakes."
During the second game, the Tigers made five errors.