No. 25 Texas A&M softball faced off against Sam Houston and No. 19 Baylor to begin the Ode to Joy Invitational in Waco, Texas, at Getterman Stadium on Saturday, March 4, in the first double header of the weekend.
The Aggies fell to Sam Houston in the first matchup of the day 4-0, in a shut out by the Bearkats. Offensively, A&M had 26 at-bats with only five hits and failed to accumulate any runs with the few runners it had on base.
Defensively, A&M held its own for the first three innings, only allowing one score until the bottom of the fifth inning. Unfortunately, a sudden resurrection of the Bearkats bats led to three more runs and a four run lead.
The runs, however, were not earned. Several defensive errors by A&M led to the increase of the deficit. Sophomore second baseman Tricia Yarotsky scored in the first inning off a passed ball and junior pinch runner Chandler Talbot scored off a pitching error in the fifth. Both sophomore left fielder Haleigh Carter and junior catcher Hannah Scheaffer earned their runs off an RBI from junior shortstop Emily Telg.
In the second game, A&M defeated No.19 Baylor 3-0 in a close contest that remained scoreless until the final inning.
The first inning started with a glance of hope offensively for the Aggies with two hits, the first being a single down the middle by sophomore shortstop Koko Wooley. Wooley stole second on the next pitch and was then pushed to third on the second hit by junior first baseman Trinity Cannon, who grounded out to second base.
To end Wooleys’ venture, Bears junior pitcher Dariana Orme struckout freshman catcher Gracyn Coleman which would leave a runner stranded and finish the inning scoreless for the maroon and white.
In the third inning, the Fightin’ Farmers picked up three more hits which started with senior right fielder Morgan Smith hitting a long bomb to the fence, almost knocking it out of the park. The hit earned her a double as she dived head first into second safely.
Following Smith, Cannon hit another groundout to second, letting Smith advance to third. To end A&M’s at bat, Coleman popped a fly-out to first. This resulted in another scoreless inning and another hitless inning from the Bears.
In the bottom of the fourth, sophomore center fielder Allie Enright made a diving catch to steal a potential Baylor run from junior right fielder Emily Hott. Then, with the bases loaded, a fly-out to center by junior catcher Sydney Collazos ended the fourth, keeping the score 0-0, a great defensive inning for A&M.
To finish the bottom of the sixth, the Aggie defense formulated a quick double play from a grounder by Hott, with Wooley who threw to second base where Govan was tagged out and then delivered to first base to get out Hott and end the inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, Smith was walked immediately by Bears freshman pitcher RyLee Crandall, then Cannon was hit by the next pitch.
Following Cannon, freshman pinch hitter Riley Valentine was walked by Crandall, leaving the bases loaded for pitcher Grace Uribe who was on deck.
Uribe hit a groundout to first for an RBI, allowing Smith to run through home for the first score of the game. After that, left fielder Keely Williams hit a double down the right field foul line to allow in two more Aggies, Cannon and Valentine, making the score 3-0.
The Bears tried to rally in the final inning but sophomore pitcher Emiley Kennedy had other plans. After striking out the first batter, the Woodlands native then pitched two flyouts to finish her first career no hitter.
“The first game was rough,” A&M coach Trisha Ford said. “I talked to [the team] in between games and said we have to flush. We did not play our game, either we can start pointing fingers or we can come together and get tighter, let’s scrap together and compete in the box, on the mound, and in playing defense. I thought we did that and I was very happy with how we responded.”
Next for A&M softball is its second and last double header of the Ode to Joy Invitational on Saturday, March 5, against Sam Houston at 10 a.m. and Baylor at 3 p.m.