The Texas A&M softball team fell 6-1 on the road to No. 12 LSU, snapping the Aggies’ 10-game win streak and dropped their record to 20-4 on the season.
A&M coach Jo Evans said the team’s lack of mental focus is what ultimately led to the loss.
“LSU did a good job in that first inning,” Evans said. “We had two outs and we’re thinking, ‘Hey, we’re just going to get a ground ball here or get her to pop up.’ We just couldn’t get it or make it happen. I will say it could’ve been more damage for sure. We got out of there with three and they were barreling up the ball and they weren’t missing anything. For us to get out of that with only three, was really important because at that point, we’re still in the game. We end up scoring a run in the third inning and gave ourselves a chance. We weren’t sharp today. You’ve got to be sharp if you’re going to beat a good team like LSU.”
LSU got off to a fast start in the first inning by scoring three runs off of A&M starting pitcher Kayla Poynter. A&M pulled a run back in the top of the third after Rylen Wiggens scored on an RBI single from Haley Lee. The Aggies trailed LSU 3-1 going into the bottom half of the third.
Evans said she was proud of the way Poynter settled into the game after a rough first inning to keep the Aggies in the game.
“I thought she did a great job,” Evans said. “She gives up three and they earn those runs hitting the ball hard. I thought she showed so much heart and maturity. She was able to get out there and make adjustments and make pitches to get outs. I tip my hat to that kid because that could have been a disaster. She gave us a chance and she kept us in the game.”
In the bottom of the fourth, LSU scored another run off of an A&M fielding error to increase their lead to 4-1 going into the fifth inning.
After holding the Aggies scoreless in the top half of the fifth LSU tacked on two more runs off A&M reliever Grace Uribe. LSU led 6-1 going into the sixth inning and this would also end up being the final score.
A&M has a great chance to bounce back from this loss and win the series tomorrow against LSU at Tiger Park at 6 p.m. Evans said A&M still has the opportunity to bounce back tomorrow in order to win the series.
“My talk to the team afterwards was, ‘Hey, we can play better and we know that,’” Evans said. “We came here to win a series and it’s set up for us to have every opportunity to win it tomorrow. We’ve got fresh arms ready to go and we’ve got a chance to take a step back and process what happened today. We’ve got a long time until tomorrow night’s game. I like our chances. I really do. I like the lineup we’re going to have tomorrow and I like what we’re going to throw out there. I feel really encouraged.”