Game 6: Texas A&M 6, Louisiana Tech 0
recap courtesy TAMU Sports Information
Back-to-back hits by freshmen Rhiannon Kliesing and Natalie Villarreal in the bottom of the fifth frame gave the fifth-ranked Texas A&M softball team (52-7) all the run support it would need to secure its spot in the NCAA Softball Super Regional as Megan Gibson tossed her second-career no-hitter to beat Louisiana Tech (37-29) 6-0 in Sunday’s championship game of the College Station Regional.
The Aggies posted a five-spot in the fifth as Jamie Hinshaw laced a bases-clearing single into rightfield scoring Villarreal and Gibson. Just one batter later, Holly Ridley blasted an opposite-field homerun on a 3-1 pitch to push the score 5-0 in A&M’s favor. The longball was Ridley’s sixth of the season. The first-time All-Big 12 outfielder logged her 25th and 26th RBIs of the season on the hit.
“I’m excited about the way our team played,” A&M head coach Jo Evans said. “We talked about it yesterday, about how we were going to come out with more enthusiasm and more intensity. You saw that in our team. It still took a little while for us to get rolling but I liked our energy.”
For the second straight game, Gibson started her outing by striking out the side. The two-time NFCA All-American fanned 11 batters earning her 13th double-digit strikeout performance of the year. With her 19th shutout of the season, Gibson moved to 36-1 on the mound with a 0.92 ERA.
“Of course, Gibson was fantastic on the mound and in control all game,” Evans noted. “Our defense, I thought, was very solid. We made all the plays we needed to make. It’s just nice to come out and win a championship at our place and do it in the fashion that we did.”
The only Lady Techster batter to reach base was Kylie Bassestt who manage to draw a walk in the second inning. Gibson was just the one walk shy of a perfect game, sitting down 17-consecutive batters.
Hinshaw finished the College Station Regional going 4-for-9 (.444) at the plate with two runs scored and four RBIs. The senior third baseman was also a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases. The 2008 Midwest All-Region selection was perfect in the field, not committing an error in three games.
In her last six starts Gibson has surrendered just one run, striking out 63 batters in 42 innings of work. A&M has outscored its opponents in 21-1 in 2008 postseason play (Big 12 Championship and College Station Regional).
“Megan was clearly dominating the entire weekend and has really done a good job helping us out,” Evans ended. “She’s just been unbelievable. It was nice to see kids stepping up in key situations. We were able to be aggressive on the bases, but have people step up and get some big RBIs.”
Krissi Oliver (18-15) harbored the loss for La Tech, working 4.1 innings before Wanda Malone was brought in for relief. Oliver allowed five runs on seven hits and two free passes. Malone was responsible for the Aggies’ sixth run of the game walking two more A&M hitters.
The Aggies will face the winner of No. 1 seed Stanford and No. 2 seed UMass in the College Station Super Regional set to begin next weekend at the Aggie Softball Complex. More information on the super regional can be found this week on aggieathletis.com.
Texas A&M Head Coach Jo Evans
Opening Statement…
“I’m excited about the way our team played. We talked about it yesterday, about how we were going to come out with more enthusiasm and more intensity. You saw that in our team. It still took a little while for us to get rolling, but I liked our energy. Of course, Gibson was fantastic on the mound and in control all game. Our defense, I thought, was very solid. We made all the plays we needed to make. It’s just nice to come out and win a championship at our place and do it in the fashion that we did.”
“Megan was clearly dominating the entire weekend and has really done a good job helping us out. She’s just been unbelievable. It was nice to see kids stepping up in key situations. We got to be aggressive on the bases but have people step up and get some big RBIs.”
Senior pitcher Megan Gibson
On whether or not she knew she was throwing a no-hitter…
“I made the mistake of looking at the scoreboard to see how many outs we had just to make sure right before the last batter came up to bat. That was the first time I realized it.”
On how it feels to win this regional championship …
“It’s special in the aspect that we are seniors. But I think we did a great job of coming out this weekend and taking care of business. We did what we needed to do to win ballgames this weekend.”
Senior third baseman Jamie Hinshaw
On how it feels to win this regional championship …
“This one just was nice because, like Coach Evans said, we came out yesterday and after the last game we thought of things we could improve on and things that we could to better. A lot of it had to do with our energy and our excitement. That’s something we really focused on today. You can see when you have that it does go over into performance-wise.”
Louisiana Tech Head Coach Sarah Dawson
Opening Statement…
“I’m clearly proud of the season that we had. Our girls did a great job of exceeding everybody’s expectations for our season. That’s not easy when you don’t have the foundation or the experience to go from. It shows how much character these girls have and how hard they were really to work. Every obstacle that we challenged them with, they did a great job of sticking together as a unit and getting out there and performing.”
On the defensive miscues…
“If you look at our stats, errors have been something that have been stumbling blocks for us. It’s something that we addressed all season long and I think that’s going to be something we fix before we expect to continue to compete at this level.
On Oliver’s pitching performance…
“She’s grown up so much in the last couple years. She didn’t get here over night. She and Coach Manson work really hard on her mental approach and being able to not only separate the defensive performance from her pitching performance but her hitting from her pitching performance. That’s one thing we’ve asked from Krissi. Like I said, every obstacle we’ve put in front of these kids they’ve been diligent and really working hard to get better at what their weaknesses may have been.
Junior Pitcher Krissi Oliver
On her pitching…
“Pretty much everything was working well. I was just trying to hit my spots and keep them off balance. I wanted to keep the ball of the plate but still throwing strikes. That one pitch that she (Holly Ridley) hit over, it was outside; she just hit a good pitch I was just trying to keep composure and hit my spots even when pressure is on.
