The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
Softball falls to No. 5 Texas A&M, 3-1, in Big 12 Championship semifinals
05.10.2008 | Softball
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The fourth-seeded Texas Softball team's third matchup of the season with top-seeded and fifth-ranked Texas A&M ended in much the same way the other two contests concluded, with the Longhorns dropping another narrow game to the Aggies, 3-1 in the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference Championship.
Texas finished tournament play with a 1-1 record and moved to 28-21-2 for the season, while Texas A&M advanced to the championship game and improved to 48-7 this season. Longhorns' senior righthander Meagan Denny (20-9) suffered the loss after throwing her second complete game of the day, allowing three runs on four hits, striking out three and walking three in 6.0 innings of work. Texas A&M starter Megan Gibson (32-1) earned the victory, tossing 7.0 innings, giving up one run on five hits and fanning 10.
The Aggies plated the game's first runs in the third inning, breaking a scoreless tie when first baseman Rhiannon Kliesing launched a two-run homer to right centerfield and gave A&M a 2-0 edge.
Texas cut the lead to 2-1 in the fifth, using a pinch-hit double to right centerfield by freshman Shelby Savony to score sophomore leftfielder Kori Cook who reached on a fielder's choice.
Texas A&M moved its edge back to two in the sixth when third baseman Jamie Hinshaw led off the frame with a walk and advanced to second on sacrifice. An RBI single by catcher Erin Glasco brought Hinshaw home and moved the A&M lead to 3-1.
Texas out-hit Texas A&M 5-to-4 on the night with five different Longhorns recording a hit in the loss.
The Longhorns now wait to learn if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship. The NCAA field will be announced at 9 p.m. Central on Sunday, May 11 on ESPNU.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Texas' loss moved the Longhorns to 22-14 all-time in 12 Big 12 Conference Championship appearances.
- Junior first baseman Desiree Williams' double in the first inning was the 30th of her career, a mark that ranks eighth all-time at Texas.
- Texas' loss moved the Longhorns' all-time mark against Texas A&M to 15-16.
- Senior righthander Meagan Denny's complete game against the Aggies was the 66th complete game of her career, moving her into second-place all-time in the Texas career record books.
TEXAS POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH Connie Clark
On the game: I thought our game against Texas A&M was a much better battle than our first game of the day against Oklahoma State. I thought we played a much cleaner game in game two. A&M is a good ball club. We've played them three times this year and the games have been almost identical and all three of them have been very close. We didn't get the outcome we wanted, but we have to tip our hat to them because they're a good ball club.
On Texas' play in the tournament: We played two games and I don't think we looked very sharp in the first game, but we were able to grind it out. I liked that we put game one behind us this evening and came into game two fired up and ready to go. Unfortunately we didn't get the outcome that we wanted. We're excited to see the NCAA selections come out tomorrow evening and I think we've taken care of what we needed to in order to get into the tournament.
