Oklahoma State 3, Nebraska 2 (9 Innings)

May 2, 2003

Stephanie Nicholson's two-out double in the bottom of the ninth plated Stephanie Hodges and gave No. 2 seed Oklahoma State a 3-2 victory over No. 6 seed Nebraska in the Big 12 Tournament's last game of the night at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Hodges scored all the way from first base to propel the Cowgirls to a 5 p.m. semifinal contest Saturday against the winner of Saturday morning's Oklahoma vs. Baylor game.

OSU scored the game's first two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as Brooke Siebel doubled home pinch runner Erika Ennis and catcher Ryan Realmuto with two outs. Nebraska responded with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth when Sheena Lawrick drove home Lisa Wangler and KoKo Tacha with a single to left field.

Oklahoma State ace Lauren Bay gave up one earned run and tossed a complete-game five-hitter to improve to 24-7. Nebraska's Peaches James took the loss to drop to 21-10. Bay registered 15 strikeouts and James fanned 17. The game lasted three hours and five minutes.

The Huskers' loss means they will take on No. 5 seed Texas A&M Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Oklahoma State Head Coach Margaret Rebenar
On being one win from the title game:
"It's a great place to be. We are excited and we earned it. This is what the Big 12 Tournament is all about."

On the double play ending a Nebraska rally in the seventh:
"(Catcher) Ryan (Realmuto) did a great job on blocking that ball. Setting up that double play was obviously not an intentional play but it worked out that way."

On potentially playing Oklahoma on Saturday at 5 p.m.:
"It would be a lot of fun. It would be good for the state of Oklahoma, that's for sure."

On pitcher Lauren Bay:
"She keeps getting herself out of jams. Sometimes she puts herself in those a little bit by walking the lead off. Overall, my hat is off to her as I have said all year long as she has worked out of those jams."

On Stephanie Nicholson's game-winning double:
"Nick is kind of an unsung hero sometimes. She's a solid ball player through and through."

Nebraska Head Coach Rhonda Revelle
On the game:
"We played our guts out. We fought to come back and tie it up. Peaches tried. You could tell in the last three innings she was out of gas and she was just pitching from the bottom of her gut. She gave us everything she had and we had opportunities. We live and die by our aggressiveness and we were trying to make some things happen. If we put the ball in play, the score is probably 3-2 the other way. We fought hard and kept fighting."

On pitcher Peaches James:
"You couldn't really have asked for a grittier pitching performance. I think that if there were any doubters about what kind of pitcher Peaches James is, she proved that today in 15 innings of work."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma State 3, Nebraska 2 (9 Innings)

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