March 3, 2007

Final Stats

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Illinois senior Sydney Lisy hit the first home run of her career and made a spectacular catch in right field, but Aggies junior Amanda Scarborough spoiled the Illini upset hopes for the second straight day, as No. 4 Texas A&M defeated Illinois 7-5 on Scarborough's walk-off grand slam on Saturday night at Aggie Softball Complex.

The Illini led the fourth-ranked Aggies 5-2 going into the bottom of the seventh when a stadium full of 1012 fans came to life. Joy Davis started the home half with a single to left field on Vicky Brown's 3-1 pitch. Two of the next three batters singled to load the bases, but none of the hits extended past the infield, before Brown forced in a run with a walk to Megan Gibson, cutting the Illini lead to 5-3.

A day after Scarborough broke the teams' 2-2 tie with a two-run home run to help her own cause on the way to a 5-2 A&M victory, Saturday's first baseman saw one strike from Brown and sent the next over the right field fence.

Saturday night's sudden defeat took away from an otherwise strong performance from the Orange and Blue. Lisy took advantage of Lana Armstrong's leadoff walk and a 0-1 pitch from Gibson for a two-run home run in the fourth to tie the game. Illinois then took its 5-2 lead in the fifth on consecutive home runs from Makenzie Smith and Armstrong and an RBI-single by Molly Lawhead.

Until the ninth inning, it appeared as if Illinois had seen the last of Scarborough in the sixth when she led off with a fly-ball into right, triggering Lisy's sliding catch in right field. The Illinois senior finished Saturday's game against the Aggies 3-for-4 and enters Sunday's final game with six hits and four RBIs in 11 at-bats.

Lisy's recent performances come after she began Saturday with two RBIs and nine total bases in 14 appearances, whereas she played in five games last season, driving in a run on March 28 against Loyola. Previously, however, she broke Case Western Reserve's record for home runs in a season before transferring to Illinois.

Illinois used aggressive base-running and careful pitch selection to blank Syracuse 7-0 in Brown's first start of the day and fourth appearance in as many games during the Texas A&M Invitational. Hope Howell sped to third after a base-hit to left-center field, and Angelena Mexicano beat out a throw across the diamond before she stole second base to put the go-ahead run on for Shanna Diller.

Diller plated Howell, and Mexicano advanced to third moments ahead of an Orange wild pitch. The Illini scored their third run of the frame on a fielder's choice and could have had more if not for some overly- aggressive base-running. Orange starter Chanel Roehner issued a walk to Kisten Martin and set up a fielder's choice for Smith before hitting Lana Armstrong with a 1-1 pitch to load the bases.

Lawhead hit into another fielder's choice and Armstrong and Smith kept moving around the bases, but the Orange gunned down Martin and Smith on a wild play to end the inning.