On Monday, April 18, Texas A&M softball wrapped up its three-game road series against the 14th-ranked Tennessee Lady Volunteers. Despite a notable decline in the number of runs surrendered by the Aggies, the Lady Vols took care of business to seal the sweep with a 5-1 victory.
After surrendering a two-run homer in the game’s opening inning, the Aggies got on the board in the top of the third. Senior catcher Haley Lee took advantage of a full count with a moon shot into right center field to cut the deficit to one.
Each of the squads failed to record a hit in the fourth inning, but the Lady Vols would wake up in the fifth. Freshman infielder Lair Beautae came home first, advancing on a wild pitch. Before the Aggies could catch their breath, a fielding error brought freshman infielder Anna Fox and sophomore infielder Zaida Puni to home plate to make the score 5-1. A&M failed to record a hit in the game’s final two innings to seal the final score.
Senior pitcher Makinzy Herzog started at the mound for the maroon and white, delivering five strikeouts and five runs off of five hits in 4.2 innings of action. Freshman pitcher Emiley Kennedy came in to finish things out, tallying a pair of strikeouts and leaving the hit column blank in 1.1 innings.
Following the sweep, A&M coach Jo Evans credited Herzog and Kennedy’s composure at the mound despite the disappointing weekend.
“I thought our pitchers threw really well tonight,” Evans said. “Makinzy went out there and attacked the zone, and she was throwing hard all night and looked sharp. I thought Emiley looked sharp as well, and she went out there and gave us what we’ve been asking for.”
The Aggies will move to a 24-17 record overall and a 3-12 record in the Southeastern Conference. The Lady Vols will move to 30-12 with an 11-6 mark in the SEC.
Next up, the Aggies will host No. 2 Alabama at Davis Diamond in College Station for a weekend series. The first match is slated for Friday, April 22 at 6 p.m.