Oklahoma State University Athletics
Softball Travels To No. 7 Texas A&M
April 11, 2005 | Cowgirl Softball
Oklahoma State travels the length of the Big 12 this week, starting with trip to College Station, Texas, on Wednesday and then visiting Ames, Iowa, this weekend. The Cowgirls and Aggies will meet at the Aggie Softball Complex in a doubleheader slated to begin at 5 p.m. Live stats and a free radio broadcast courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics will be available for both contests on www.okstate.com
The Cowgirls are hoping for good weather, something that has not happened during the last two years when they play the Aggies. On the trip to College Station in 2003 the Cowgirls weathered a 1-1/2 hour lightning delay in the second game. Mother Nature once again had it in for the teams in 2004, forcing a two-hour delay in the first game and cancelling the second after two innings.
Texas A&M leads the all-time series 32-21 and but the Cowgirls hold a narrow 12-9 advantage since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996. The last time the Cowgirls won in College Station it was a two-game sweep following a pair of one-run wins (1-0 and 2-1). The Cowgirls are coming off a series split with Kansas. OSU won the first game, 5-4, in eight innings on Saturday when sophomore Shianne Cruce hit her first home run of the season to end the game. Kansas got the best of the Cowgirls in game two, scoring three runs in the second inning and holding on for a 3-1 win.
ABOUT TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M, currently leading the conference race, is coming off a series sweep of Iowa State in College Station. The result was never in doubt on Saturday with A&M winning 3-0 but it took extra-inning heroics for the Aggies to pull off the win on Sunday. A&M needed a walk-off home run from pitcher Megan Gibson to get past ISU 4-2 in game two.
A&M has a well-rounded offensive attack with 10 players hitting over .300 and the team ranking second in the league with a .343 average. Gibson's performance against Iowa State was not a fluke, the freshman leads the team with a .411 batting average and 14 home runs. The second-best hitter, Amanda Scarborough, happens to be a pitcher as well. The freshman has a .402 batting average and is second on the squad with 10 doubles.
Sharonda McDonald, the 2004 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, is dangerous once she gets on base, swiping a league-leading 39 bases this season. Speed is a common theme for the Aggies as three others have 15 or more to their credit.
The Aggies pitching staff has also performed well, tossing 15 shutouts and posting a 1.31 ERA. Scarborough leads the staff with a 0.44 ERA and 22-1 record in 142 innings. The two-time Big 12 Pitcher of the week notched wins against Baylor, Washington and two against Nebraska. Jill Weyand (8-1, 2.13 ERA, 52.2 IP) and Megan Gibson (7-1, 2.44 ERA, 51.2 IP) fill the reserve roles. Weyand is no slouch in the back-up spot, tossing a perfect game against Miami University on March 4.
2004 FLASHBACK
Weather played a huge part in Oklahoma State's softball games on Wednesday and after a rain delay lasting two hours and 15 minutes the Cowgirls fell to the Aggies, 3-2, in the first contest and were forced from the field after two innings in the second game due to lightning and storms moving into the area.
A&M took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning with a two-RBI double from Kristin Gunter. The Cowgirls narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the second when Stephanie Nicholson scored on a throwing error from A&M's third baseman. The Aggies scored one more in the fifth but couldn't pull away from the Cowgirls as OSU cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single from Megan Carey. Shanel Scott reached on a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice from Courtney Totte to get in scoring position.
Oklahoma State had chances to take the lead but couldn't get over the hump, leaving the bases loaded in the fifth and two runners stranded in the seventh. Hoppock took the loss for the Cowgirls, scattering six hits and giving up three runs off four walks and five strikeouts. Scott reached on a walk in each of her four plate appearances, tying a record for walks in a game set by Associate Head Coach Kim Ward in 1994.
The teams quickly took the field for the second half of the doubleheader but managed to play just two innings before weather intervened again. The score was tied 0-0 after two innings and the Aggies had two runners on base with one out when the game was called.
HEAD COACH MARGARET REBENAR
Margaret Rebenar is in her 26th season season as a softball coach at Oklahoma State and fourth as a head coach. Rebenar joined the Cowgirl softball program in 1980 after serving as a pitching coach at UCLA for one season. After filling the assistant coach role for 22 seasons, Rebenar was named the head coach in 2001.
Rebenar led the 2003 Cowgirls to a second-place finish in the Big 12 regular season race and their first NCAA Regional appearance in five years. Under her guidance, 23 players have earned All-American status 29 times, including Olympians Michele Smith, Melanie Roche and Lauren Bay. Rebenar brings a 123-79 record as a head coach into the Texas A&M series. Hitting the century mark was an exciting game for Rebenar as the Cowgirls staged a come-from-behind victory at UNLV, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh to earn a 4-1 win.
IN THE POLLS
Oklahoma State will face nine opponents ranked in the NFCA preseason Top 25, including three of the top four. In the most recently released poll, 10 of the Cowgirls opponents are ranked in the top 10. In addition, five Big 12 schools, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Baylor and Missouri are ranked.
LOOKING AHEAD
Oklahoma State goes from south Texas for a midweek game to Ames, Iowa for its weekend series. The Cowgirls and Cyclones are scheduled to kick off the series at 2 p.m. on Saturday and wrap things up at noon on Sunday.
