Despite a three-run homerun by Tori Vidales that tied up the game at the top of the seventh, No. 10 Texas A&M softball team closed out their last regular season SEC series with a 5-4 loss against No. 17 Alabama Crimson Tide, after Alabama came back to win by one in extra innings.
Down by three entering the seventh, and final inning, the Aggies rallied behind senior teammate, Tori Vidales as she came up to bat with two outs on the board and two players on base.
With a 1-2 count against Vidales, she homered to left field barely missing the glove of Alabama left fielder, Merris Schroder. Vidales brought home Sarah Hudek and Kylie George along with her and forced a tied ball game.
Head coach, Jo Evans said Vidales’ at bat proved that she does well in high pressure situations and that she has done so all season.
“That has been Tori all season. I keep saying that when the lights are the brightest, she is even better,” Evans said. “She went out there in that situation expecting to get a big hit. I thought in that seventh inning we did a great job in that strike zone. Payton McBride had a terrific at bat to get herself on base. Sarah Hudek had another great at bat. It is nice to see our kids step up there.”
The Aggies defense was led by senior pitcher, Lexi Smith on the mound. She finished after pitching five innings with nine hits and two strikeouts. Smith stumped the Crimson Tide to four runs in five innings with one run in every inning except the second.
“I thought it was key that Lexi got us off the field with just one run scored. When you look at the scoreboard and there are no crooked numbers and that was the difference in us being able to fight and have a chance to win a ball game in the end. I thought all in all, she pitched pretty well out there and kept us out of the big innings, which is what we needed today,” Evans said.
Coming in as relief for Smith, Trinity Harrington ended up with the loss after finishing the game with one run and two hits for 2.2 innings.
With the series loss, A&M moves to 40-15 for the season (13-11 SEC), while Alabama moves their record to 32-17 (12-12 SEC). On the offensive side of things, the Aggies were led by Vidales and Samantha Show. Vidales went 2-for-3 with one homerun and three RBI’s, while Show went 1-for-3 with one RBI.
Alabama was led by Demi Turner on the offense and Alexis Osorio on defense. Turner went 4-for-5 with one RBI, while Osorio pitched for 6.2 innings and only allowed one run.
The Aggies will go back on the road to play in game one of the SEC tournament. A&M is placed as the sixth seed and will face the eleventh seed, Mississippi State at 11 a.m. on Wednesday in Columbia, Missouri.