HONOLULU, Hawaii – The No. 21 Texas A&M softball team (16-8) fell to No. 1 California (22-0) in a 3-0 shutout on day one of Hawaii’s Chevron Spring Fling Tournament at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
“[Cal pitcher Jolene Henderson] did a great job out there,” head coach Jo Evans said. “I thought she did a great job of mixing her pitches. I thought we could have done a better job with two strikes from the plate. We saw a really tough pitcher and we saw a great team today. I liked our effort, I liked our attitude. Offensively I don’t think we did a good job of making adjustments from the plate. I think we came to play. I saw that, but did we execute? No.”
The Aggies only had one hit on the game, in the form of a bunt single by sophomore Emily Albus. Four Aggies reached base and three were left stranded against Cal.
A&M struggled in the top of the fifth after holding the Golden Bears to just one hit through the first four innings. Cal drew two walks and had three base hits and a double to score three runs and take a 3-0 lead after the top of the inning.
The Aggies were unable to get a hit until the bottom of the sixth inning when Albus bunted and beat the throw to first for a base hit. The left fielder was left stranded, however, and was the only A&M player to connect for a hit.
Junior Mel Dumezich (11-5) threw seven innings and gave up three earned runs on six hits while walking six batters and striking out seven. Henderson (13-0) earned the shutout victory after giving up one hit, walking one batter and striking out 11.
The Aggies will return to action later today for a 9:30 p.m. game against Marist. Tomorrow A&M’s tournament play will resume with a 4 p.m. CST game vs. Winthrop. Listen to the game live on 95.1-3 The Zone HD. To learn more about Texas A&M softball, log on to AggieAthletics.com.