Texas 2, Nebraska 0 (Final)

May 3, 2003

It took 41 outs, but the scoreboard finally came to life after Sarah Wieszczak ripped a two-run homer well over the left field fence to give top-seeded Texas a 2-0 win over sixth-seeded Nebraska in Saturday's nightcap at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium. The victory puts the Longhorns in Sunday's championship game against the winner of the 10 a.m. Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State contest.

Wieszczak stepped to the plate with two outs in the seventh and Amber Hall on second after hitting a double. Wieszczak launched a 3-1 Peaches James pitch over the fence for her second career homer and first of the season. Cat Osterman pitched her 14th shutout of the season for Texas. The sophomore Big 12 Pitcher of the Year allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out 11 Huskers.

The Longhorns escaped a major threat in the top of the sixth when Nebraska loaded the bases with no outs. But Nicole Trimboli lined out to shortstop Chez Sievers who then tagged second to double up Anne Steffan. After Kim Ogee stole second to put runners at second and third, Osterman induced an Amanda Buchholz groundout to third baseman Wynter Turner.

James, who pitched the entire game for the Huskers, was also brilliant in the circle. The junior gave up four hits and no walks while striking out nine. Osterman improved to 25-4 on the season while James dropped to 21-11.

Eliminated from the Big 12 Tournament, Nebraska now has a 36-15 record this year and is 1-2 against Texas. This marked the first time Texas beat Nebraska in the Big 12 Tournament non-title game.

Texas Head Coach Connie Clark
On Sarah Wieszczak's game-winning home-run:
"She has power potential. She usually puts up doubles and triples. She just had a tremendous at-bat with working the count. She had looked good early on. I felt she could handle Peaches' type of stuff. She does a good job with the middle-out stuff. She also does a tremendous job with off-speed stuff so we kind of felt that at some point in time she was going to get hot. But to see her hit one out in the fashion, I don't know that I was thinking that we were going to see that. But I was thinking that she could still hit one up the middle and score a run."

On escaping the sixth-inning jam:
"I'm a little biased but I feel we have the top pitcher in the country. They had tremendous footspeed at third and second and we just felt we had a better opportunity to load them up with Ogee because she's been hot in this tournament. (Nicole) Trimboli hit that ball well at Chez (Sievers) and Chez made a really heads-up play out of it. And then we got out of the inning. I think Cat was a little relieved. Sometimes you've got to put 'em on and play high percentage and trust your defense."

Nebraska Head Coach Rhonda Revelle
On what she told her team following the game:
"I told them to hold their heads high and that we have a lot to be proud of. Coming into this weekend we were about a mile from where we needed to be and now we are inches. We played four very tough games here, against very good competition and yes, of course, we'd like to turn the tide and win one of those. In last night's game (loss to Oklahoma State) and tonight's game we were a completely different team than we were on the bus ride here."

On NCAA regionals:
"I am excited about having a week and a half of practice. I am excited about hosting regionals, getting better and, quite honestly, getting out of conference a bit."

On the change she sees in her team:
"The feeling in the dugout, the feeling in the clubhouse, the look in their eyes are all different. I know it comes down to execution but Nicole's (Trimboli) ball is an inch different and all those runners could have scored. That is the difference in that game."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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