The Texas A&M softball team has taken the first two games of its final series of the season, defeating the Ole Miss Rebels 6-1 on Friday and 8-6 on Saturday.

The Aggies (36-17, 10-12 SEC) came out with a sense of urgency on Friday, realizing that the SEC tournament and regional play are right around the corner. The Aggies, led by a one run complete-game performance by Rachel Fox, earned the convincing victory. Junior Cali Lanphear had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI.

The Rebels (30-23, 6-17 SEC) didn’t start off the day well on Saturday, allowing the first run of the game on a bases loaded walk forced by Ashley Walters. Head coach Jo Evans decided to change up her lineup a bit, inserting freshman Tori Vidales into the leadoff spot for the first time this season. She did not disappoint, spraying the ball to all areas of the field all day long. Evans spoke about the change of putting Vidales in the leadoff spot.

“We sat in our coach’s meeting telling the coaches that, ‘We had to get somebody right behind Tori to protect her,’ but coach Glasco was the one that said, ‘Why don’t we just lead her off,’” Evans said.

A&M continued its scoring with a two RBI double from Celena Massey to stretch the Aggie lead to three early on. The Rebels began to corral the Aggie offense as starting pitcher Lauren Lindsey began to settle into the game, not allowing a run until the fourth where April Ryan drove in Vidales on a groundout to first.

The Aggies continued to push their lead with a two RBI single from Hailey Rebar in the fifth, but the Rebels responded in the sixth getting four runs off of Aggie starter Katie Marks. The Aggies and Rebels exchanged two-run sevenths to attain the 8-6 Aggie victory.
The Aggies host their final game of the regular season tomorrow against Ole Miss. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.