Monday, May 04, 2009
Hoping to ride into the Big 12 tournament with some momentum, Baylor witnessed another painfully familiar finish against Texas A&M Sunday afternoon.
With a sellout crowd of 1,289 hanging on every pitch, Rhiannon Kliesing ripped a run-scoring single in the seventh to lift the Aggies to a 3-2 win in the regular-season finale at Getterman Stadium.
It looked a lot like the Lady Bears’ 5-4 loss on April 15 in College Station when Texas A&M’s Natalie Villarreal blasted a game-winning homer in the sixth.
The Lady Bears (36-19, 11-7) will get another shot at the Aggies (31-19, 8-9) in the Big 12 tournament at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in Oklahoma City. Baylor will be seeded third while Texas A&M will be sixth.
“Hopefully, this will motivate us and pay off in the Big 12 tournament,” Baylor coach Glenn Moore said. “We didn’t compete well enough or hard enough. But sometimes a loss will tell you that you need to take care of the little things.”
Beating the Aggies won’t be Baylor’s only motivation next weekend. No player on the current Baylor squad has ever won a Big 12 tournament game. The Lady Bears have dropped six straight tournament games since a win over the Aggies in 2005.
“Our senior class hasn’t won in the Big 12 tournament, so we’ve got to do it,” Baylor first baseman Alex Colyer said. “We’ll be ready.”
With Baylor playing its first game since last weekend, ace Whitney Canion (23-15) had time to rest after a heavy workload. But she wasn’t at her sharpest as she allowed nine hits and three walks while striking out 10.
Meanwhile, the Aggies were coming off a 6-1 win over Texas Saturday night in Austin.
“They were coming off a big night and were still pumped,” Canion said. “They’ve got some great hitters, but I could have been better. I needed the time off, but a couple of my pitches were off.”
With the game tied at 2, Villarreal opened the seventh with a single. After Villarreal moved to second on Macie Morrow’s bunt, Erin Glasgow walked.
Kliesing then drilled a hard shot to Baylor centerfielder Nicole Wesley, but the ball bounced off her glove as she banged into the wall. Kliesing’s long single scored Villarreal with the go-ahead run.
Texas A&M pitcher Rebecca Arbino (11-6) gave up a leadoff single to Courtney Oberg in the bottom of the seventh, but she got the next three outs to finish off the win. She finished with a four-hitter while walking two batters.
“She did a great job of mixing up her pitches,” Moore said. “I thought we were the better team when we played them in College Station, but give them credit today because they beat us in front of a great crowd.”
Trailing 1-0, the Lady Bears finally broke through with both of their runs in the fifth.
Colyer opened the inning by drilling a double off the left-field wall. With one out, Oberg grounded to third baseman Alex Reynolds, but she waited too long to throw to first after she looked pinch-runner Sophia Lujan back to second.
Meagan Weldon pounded a run-scoring single up the middle before Arbino walked Jordan Vannatta. Pinch-runner Sydney Wilson scored the go-ahead run on Tiffany Wesley’s sacrifice fly.
But the lead didn’t last long as the Aggies answered with a run in the sixth as Holly Ridley singled, stole second and scored on Bailey Schroeder’s double to the right-field alley off Canion.
jwerner@wacotrib.com
757-5716
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