No. 12 Texas A&M faced the No 9. South Carolina Gamecocks Friday evening at the Aggie Softball Complex to kick off a three game series between the conference foes.
The Aggies would put on a defensive showcase in the evening’s match-up that ended in a shutout win for A&M by a score of 3-0. The Aggies now take command of the series, and will play two more games throughout the weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
Friday’s match-up started off with a defensive stalemate by both teams, with the first inning going scoreless. This would be a preview of most of the game, as both teams would battle to get a score on the board.
Senior pitcher Trinity Harrington earned the start as she went on to pitch the entire game, earning a 1.27 era, allowing no runs scored on four hits.
Harrington would also find help in her defense that made a slew of impressive plays, especially from junior third baseman Riley Sartain and senior short stop Kristen Cuyos who would both record multiple outs from the infield.
Harrington praised her defense’s performance, noting their heads up plays.
“I think they had a really good jump on the ball every time the ball came off the bat, and they were reading the ball off the bat very well. Even though the plays were very interesting sometimes they still got the out and they stayed under control, even in a situation that was very obscured”, Harrington said.
At the plate the Aggies came alive in the second inning, scoring two runs off of two hits and a Gamecock error. Junior designated player Samantha Show brought in senior catcher Ashley Walters on a single and Gamecock error, and was quickly followed by a groundout hit by senior centerfielder Erica Russell to bring in Riley Sartain to put A&M up 2-0 in the second.
The following innings would be rather slow, as both teams battled it out defensively. The action would spark up again however in the fifth inning, with sophomore right fielder Sarah Hudek hitting a double that was followed by a deep single that senior first baseman Tori Vidales drove into centerfield. This brought Hudek home to put the Aggies up 3-0 in the end of the fifth inning.
The game would come to a close in the seventh inning, securing the 3-0 shutout, and the Aggies would now have the first win of the series.
Aggie head coach Jo Evans said she was proud of A&M’s team performance on the night, noting her team’s solid hitting from the plate.
“We did a great job with timely hitting, we scored some runs with two out early, and it’s nice to see our kids get up there ready to hit”, Evans said.
The Aggies have now won two straight, improving to a 31-7 overall record on the year, and are 4-3 now in SEC play. Action resumes between the Aggies and Gamecocks as they continue this weekend’s series Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Aggie Softball Complex.