Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M
Aggies Stop SFA Streak
4/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 6, 2010
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack softball team saw its season-best seven-game win streak end Tuesday night in the team's first shutout loss since Feb. 21. No. 17 Texas A&M took a 7-0 win over the Ladyjacks.
SFA was only out-hit by one, 6-5, but the Ladyjacks left seven runners stranded in the game to move to 20-9 on the season. The Aggies improve to 31-9.
Texas A&M got out to a red-hot start with a five-run first inning. The Aggies got a three-run homer from Rhiannon Kliesing, then a two-run single by Melissa Dumezich to give starting pitcher Rebecca Arbino a big cushion.
She cruised through the remainder of the game, scattering five hits. SFA's biggest threat came in the fifth inning, when the Ladyjacks loaded the bases with two out. Karissa Jones led off with a single, then Bethany Brown added a base knock two at-bats later. After Kendal Harper went down on strikes for the second out of the inning, Jessica Arana drew a walk to load the bases for Briana Bishop. But Arbino got her swinging for one of her six strikeouts in the game.
The Aggies all but slammed the door with two more runs in the bottom half of the fifth. After A&M got two runners aboard with a single and a walk, Monika Covington came in to relieve SFA starter Angela White. The first batter she faced grounded out to the right side, advancing Alex Reynolds and Andrea Tovar to second and third, respectively. Covington was then called for two consecutive illegal pitches, bringing both runners home to set the final score.
Brown, Harper, Bishop and Jones each hit safely once, as did Ashley Struchtemeyer.
White was charged with seven earned runs on five hits and seven walks in 4.1 innings pitched. She struck out three while falling to 11-4 on the year. Covington worked one-and-two-thirds innings, allowing one hit and striking out one.
The Ladyjacks will be back in action this weekend, when they travel to Arlington to take on UTA in a three-game Southland Conference series. The set with the Mavericks will begin Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
-- SFA --
