The stands of Davis Diamond were filled for a Sunday afternoon Texas A&M softball game, as the Aggies and the Crimson Tide took the field for the third time this weekend on April 24. The maroon and white fell short 4-2 after two-straight victories over No. 2 Alabama in the three-game series.
Although the Aggies didn’t manage a sweep over the ranked Crimson Tide, coach Jo Evans boasted about her team’s performance over the weekend.
“We are good enough. We are a talented team, and I’ve known that,” Evans said. “We haven’t always gotten the outcomes we wanted, so I think people have doubted us thinking maybe we’re not talented enough, and I think our kids should know that that’s not the case.”
The maroon and white played hard throughout the seven innings but did not quite have an answer for the Crimson Tide.
Freshman right fielder Jenna Lord gave Alabama a strong start in the first inning by hitting a homer to left field to score a point. The Aggies finished the first inning scoreless after a single by sophomore third baseman Trinity Cannon and a strikeout from senior right fielder Morgan Smith.
The Aggies showed strength in defense at the top of the second inning as Alabama had three groundouts, finishing the inning with no hits. Attempting to build momentum for A&M was sophomore catcher Mayce Allen with a single to right field and a stolen base to second. Freshman center fielder Cayden Baker followed with a single of her own, allowing Allen to blitz past third and home to score for the Aggies.
At the bottom of the third inning, the Aggies struggled after senior pitcher Makinzy Herzog allowed a walk to Alabama senior Savannah Woodard, which led to a second point for the Crimson Tide. The maroon and white were unable to score and finished the inning with Smith and Cannon left on base.
Alabama had two walks to start the fourth inning but was unable to convert the strong start into points after Herzog pitched the first strikeout of the game for the Aggies. Freshman Katie Dack answered for the maroon and white with an explosive homer that flew right over the Davis Diamond sign. The crowd erupted as she ran all bases and was embraced by teammates at home base to celebrate.
The game was tied 2-2 at the top of the fifth inning, but not for long. The Crimson Tide came out aggressive as senior third baseman Ashley Prange was first up to bat and hit a beautiful homer to left field, collecting another point for Alabama. Herzog answered by pitching two strikeouts, but the Aggies were unable to score offensively to finish out the inning.
The Crimson Tide continued to outplay the Aggies in the final innings of the game. At the top of the sixth inning, freshman Megan Bloodworth singled down the left field line to collect another point for Alabama. The Aggies went completely scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning and had two groundouts along with a strikeout to complete the seventh inning.
Of course, this is not the ending that the Aggies had planned for the series after victoriously taking the first two games, but they are not defeated as coach Evans shared.
“It is definitely a confidence boost. We feel like we’ve been snakebit; we’ve lost games we feel like we should’ve won and didn’t take care of business on our end, so to be able to go out there and just have commanding performances Day 1 and Day 2, this is something we can really put in our back pocket and run with it.”
The Aggies return to Davis Diamond on Wednesday, April 27 to face the Lamar Cardinals with the first pitch set for 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
