The Texas A&M softball team came into Saturday’s doubleheader against Campbell and No. 19 Tennessee on a seven-game winning streak.
However, after graduate transfer Kelsey Broadus pitched a no-hitter against Campbell, the Aggies went on to lose to Tennessee 3-2 in the second half of the doubleheader. A&M is now 10-3 on the season.
A&M coach Jo Evans said she was proud Broudus was able to throw a no-hitter and notch her 400th career strikeout.
“I’m really excited for Kelsey,” Evans said. “When you think about how her season started, her first time in an Aggies’ uniform, it didn’t go so well for her. I think she’s shown a lot of maturity in how she has managed every opportunity since then. That’s her first no-hitter of her career. She’s pitched in a heck of a lot of games, so for her to come here and do that when our team was so bad offensively. We needed every strikeout she gave us and every out she created for us. We literally do not win that game unless Kelsey Broadus just puts us on her back. [I’m] really proud of her performance.”
In addition to having a no-hitter, Broadus also was able to strike out 12 batters.
“I’ve just been really trusting my stuff and I [have to] give credit to [assistant] coach [Kara] Dill,” Broadus said. “My mentality has changed and I feel like I am here for a reason.”
Broadus also said she was happy to tally her 400th strikeout and have a no-hitter on the same night.
“It honestly made me pretty emotional,” Broadus said. “I think as a fifth-year senior, I’ve strived to do as best as possible and I feel like a no-hitter is a really awesome thing to do. I’ve been waiting for that moment. It’s my last year and why not do it now.”
Offensively, Makinzy Herzog was the only Aggie able to record a hit. A&M got its lone run when Rylen Wiggins scored on Kelbi Fortenberry’s sacrifice bunt.
Evans said she was happy with the way the team performed against Tennessee despite the loss.
“I liked our fight as the game went along, referring to the second game,” Evans said. “I didn’t think we had a lot of quality at-bats early on, and Rogers is a good pitcher. [I] felt we made some adjustments as we went along. Obviously, great to see Herzog and [Trinity] Cannon get out there and put us right back in it. To me the story of the game was our pitchers being able to manage pressure situations. Defensively, I thought we did a very nice job. We made plays we needed to make. [I was] really pleased with the way we managed ourselves out there. I think offensively, we need to be better.”
The first three innings of the second game were scoreless. However, the Volunteers were able to take the lead off of two solo home runs off of A&M pitcher Grace Uribe.
A&M bounced back in the bottom of the fifth with solo home runs from Herzog and Trinity Cannon. The score was tied at 2 going into the sixth inning.
Tennessee took the lead once again on a Uribe wild pitch. Starting pitcher Uribe was able to pitch five solid innings and only gave up three runs while striking out two batters. Herzog came on in relief and threw two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
Offensively, the Aggies weren’t able to generate any offense outside of the two home runs in the fifth. They only had 3 hits in the game and Tennessee pitcher Ashley Rogers struck out 10 Aggie batters.
Up next for the Aggies is a Sunday afternoon game against Lamar. First pitch at Davis Diamond is at 2 p.m.