By ROBERT CESSNA

Eagle Staff Writer

The Texas A&M softball team didn't want to share the Big 12 title, and Jamie Hinshaw showed how committed the Aggies were to keeping it all to themselves.

Hinshaw bowled over Texas second baseman Kelly Melone to earn the Aggies an extra out in the sixth inning. Then she scored on a short fly ball to give A&M a 2-1 victory over the Longhorns in the regular season finale Wednesday night at the Aggies Softball Complex.

Hinshaw's dash home on pinch-hitter Macie Morrow's sacrifice fly capped a perfect game for the senior third baseman. She was 3-for-3 batting with a home run as fifth-ranked A&M (46-7, 17-1 Big 12) denied seventh-ranked Oklahoma (43-11, 16-2) a share of the Big 12's regular season championship.

"We came in so hyped up," Hinshaw said. "Coach [Jo Evans] had to settle us down. We already knew we had a share of the championship, but we didn't want to share it with anyone."

Texas gave Oklahoma a glimmer of hope as Meagan Denny locked up with A&M's Megan Gibson in a dandy matchup of senior right-handers. Each struck out seven and pitched well, working both sides of the plate. But both were victimized by home runs aided by a 23 mph wind.

Hinshaw's homer cleared the fence in straight-away center field, just over the glove of a leaping Kori Cook.

"I thought she'd caught it," Hinshaw said. "I didn't know it [was a homer] until I got to second and heard our crowd, and then I looked and saw the umpire signal."

A smiling Hinshaw said she was blowing toward the ball as she ran between the bases to help it clear the 8-foot, green-padded fence.

UT catcher Kacie Gaskin answered in the fifth, hitting a 2-0 pitch just over the left-center field fence. The former A&M Consolidated standout ended a 17-inning scoring drought for the Longhorns (25-20, 9-9), who have managed only seven hits in their last three games.

Gibson, 30-1, settled down to allow only one more hit, which was matched by Denny, 18-8. The difference was Gibson had the better defense, and A&M had no one thrown out on the bases.

Hinshaw opened the sixth with a liner to center field, which was hit much harder than her homer. Holly Ridley followed with a bunt, but before UT could make a play on it, Melone paid the price for being in Hinshaw's path. The gritty Hinshaw -- her father was an assistant football coach under Ken Hatfield at Air Force, Arkansas, Clemson and Rice for 23 years -- plowed right through Melone like a blitzing linebacker.

"It still hurts right here," said Hinshaw, pointing to her chest. "I was just trying to get a quick jump. I had my head down, but I looked up just as we were about to hit."

Evans said you couldn't blame Melone, who had to play in because of the bunt.

"A part of it was just the quickness of Hinshaw," Evans said. "I think she got off the bag so quickly that their defender didn't even have time to react."

Glasco bunted the runners forward, then Morrow skied a fly ball just behind shortstop, which the wind pushed a little further out. Left fielder Amy Hooks caught the ball instead of Cook, but she had to right herself to throw home and wasn't able to get anything on the throw as Hinshaw easily scored.

"The thing I love about Hinshaw is that is she is just so aggressive," Evans said. "I let our kids make that decision. She has it in her mind unless that ball goes to the pitcher or the third baseman 'I'm going.'"

A&M wasn't able to get an insurance run, but it didn't matter as Gibson retired the side in order in the seventh with the help of UT's third baserunning mistake.

Melone singled with one out, but she was called out for leaving first base early on an 0-1 pitch to Gaskin. That got the capacity crowd of 2,055 -- the second largest in school history -- revved up, and when plate umpire Keith Kearney called Gaskin out on strikes, the whooping and hollering started.

The players hugged each other with Gibson hoisted by catcher Glasco. The players donned Big 12 championship T-shirts and celebrated around the mound as they were presented the Lone Star Showdown trophy for winning a half point and giving A&M a point lead (8.5 to 7.5) in the 19-sport competition.

A&M athletics director Bill Byrne then presented Evans and the players with the Big 12 championship trophy. Evans also took the microphone and thanked the crowd.

"I love that we had such a great crowd tonight, and I love that we got to hoist up the trophy in front our fans," Evans said. "Everything fell into place tonight. It couldn't have been a better scenario than to come back here and win at our place against Texas."

Texas might have prevented -- or at least delayed -- the celebration with better baserunning.

Gibson retired the first nine batters, throwing a first-pitch strike to each. But she walked Desiree Williams to start the fourth, and Williams stole second on the next pitch. Gibson bounced back to strike out Loryn Johnson, who had homered off Gibson in A&M's 3-1 victory in Austin on April 9.

Glasco caught Williams leaning too far off second base on the third strike to Johnson for a double play. Tallie Thrasher followed with a single to left, but Gibson struck out Melone.

Williams also drew a one-out walk off Gibson in the sixth but was doubled off on Johnson's popup to Hinshaw. Williams, who was running on the pitch, couldn't find the ball and was an easy out.

"Our mental mistakes were the difference-makers tonight because A&M capitalized on our miscues," UT head coach Connie Clark said.

Hinshaw said Evans was pumped up from the double play as she huddled the team, and the players shared that enthusiasm.

NOTES -- A&M outfielders made two great catches. Center fielder Jami Lobpries crashed into the fence to rob Williams of extra bases leading off the game. Left fielder Kelsey Spittler made a diving catch just inside the left-field line on a ball hit by Brittany Barnhill right after Gaskin's leadoff fifth-inning homer. ... A&M's next game won't be until 1:30 p.m. May 10 at the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City. ... A&M's 17 league victories matches OU's 17-1 record in 2000, which was matched by UT in 2002. ... The crowd included 366 A&M students. ... A&M's record for attendance in softball is 2,341 for A&M's 5-3 victory over Texas on April 27, 2005. That game included bleachers around the fences at the Aggie Softball Complex, which is no longer possible.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.