Texas A&M softball secured its first SEC series victory after topping the No. 18 Arkansas Razorbacks 4-1 on Monday.
The Aggies, who hold a 27-22 overall record and 5-16 in the SEC, started out with an early 2-0 lead in the third, before adding two insurance runs in the sixth with all four RBIs credited to junior, Kelbi Fortenberry.
Fortenberry took the game by storm as she went 3-for-4 at the plate and ended with four runs, matching her career-high in hits and RBIs. This victory became the 15th multi-hit game of her junior season and the 24th of her career.
A&M head coach Jo Evans said she was pleased with Fortenberry’s performance and how comfortable she was at the plate.
“She was locked in,” Evans told 12thman.com. “Her first at bat she kind of rolled over that one, and then she just settled in. She didn’t try to do too much with it, and I thought she did a really good job staying right on the ball and go with the pitch. You saw how she went both sides of the field, and she’s so clutch.”
Defensively, junior pitcher Kendall Potts threw the first 6.1 innings of the game, allowing seven hits, one run, four walks and five strikeouts.
Potts said she had to adapt to the Arkansas hitters because of the different approaches in game one and two.
“We went in thinking Arkansas wasn’t going to swing at the first few strikes since they didn’t in the other games. I approached it as they were going to change their mind and look for the first strike to swing at, which some of the batters did and others didn’t. I was adjusting as I went through the lineup,” told 12thman.com
Junior pitcher Payton McBride reached her first save of the season after pitching 0.2 innings to close out the game. This save marks the eighth of her career.
“I thought that our team came to play, and defense was the difference this weekend. I felt like our pitchers were great. They’ve been good enough to win games before, but our defense hasn’t take care of business. Therefore, I thought defense made the big difference. Then, of course, our pitchers, Payton [McBride] and Kendall [Potts], were outstanding this weekend,” Evans told 12thman.com
The Aggies will next travel to Knoxville to take on the Lady Volunteers in a three-game series beginning Friday. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. and will be televised on the SEC Network.