COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Monmouth University softball team took a tough
6-5 loss at No. 21 Texas A&M on a walk-off, bases-loaded hit-by-pitch that
forced in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh to open 2012 Aggie
Invitational action Thursday afternoon at the Aggie Softball Complex. Kaitie
Schumacher (San Diego, Calif./Scripps Ranch) and Vanessa Cardoza (Santa Ana,
Calif./Ocean View) both went 2-for-3 with two RBI's on the day, as the Hawks
fell to 3-2 on the season. Texas A&M moved to 15-7 with the victory.
Changed to a doubleheader at mid day due to an unpromising Friday weather
report, Game 2 was washed out due to rain.
Schumacher smacked her third
home run of the season, a two-run shot in the top of the fifth inning to even
the score at 5-5. Cardoza paced the Hawks with two runs scored, while Tish
Derer (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Basil Academy) went 2-for-4 with a run scored in
her season debut.
Getting her first start of
the season in the circle, Jordan Barnett (Eads, Colo./Eads [Garden City C.C.])
took the loss, allowing six earned runs on eight hits, five walks and a
hit-by-pitch. Barnett struck out three Aggies in 6.2 innings pitched. Mel
Dumezich took the win for Texas A&M, pitching seven innings of relief after
the Hawks touched starter Lindsey Sisk for three runs, two earned, on two hits,
two walks and three wild pitches before the senior hurler could record an out.
Dumezich limited the Hawks to two earned runs on four hits and a walk, striking
out 11.
The Hawks struck for three
runs in the top of the first. A Christine Scherr (Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth Area)
walk, Derer bunt single and a wild pitch put runners on second and third for
Cardoza, who singled both runners in and advanced to second on Sisk's second
wild pitch. Kayla Weiser (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) then reached on an
error, pushing Cardoza to third. Cardoza crossed home on Sisk's third wild pitch.
A walk to Kayleena Flores (Atwater, Calif./Buhach Colony) signaled the end of
the day for Sisk. But Dumezich quickly restored order with three-straight
strikeouts to end the inning.
A&M got one run back in the
bottom of the inning, when Natalie Villarreal doubled with two outs and scored
on Meagan May's single to left. The flood gates opened in the third, when
Dumezich knocked a two-out three-run home run and Cassie Tysarczyk made it
back-to-back blasts, leaving the yard to left center. The Aggies' homers put
Texas A&M ahead, 5-3, after three.
Cardoza set the table in the
fifth with a leadoff walk and a stolen base, before Schumacher came to the
plate with two outs. The sophomore went deep to left, tying the game at 5-5.
After Barnett kept the Aggies
off the scoreboard in the fourth, fifth and sixth, the junior pitcher got the
first out of the seventh, before Villarreal singled up the middle and May
walked to put runners on first and second. Barnett induced a groundout that
pushed the runners to second and third with two outs, before walking Dumezich
and hitting Tysarczyk to force in the game-winning run.
The Hawks return
to 2012 Aggie Invitational action tomorrow, when they face Liberty at 3:30
(ET)/2:30 p.m. (CT). With inclement weather expected, stay posted at www.GoMUHawks.com for all the latest
developments.
