Coming into the seventh inning down by two, the No. 2 Florida Gators came from behind to defeat the No. 15 Texas A&M softball team, 5-4 in game one of the Gainesville Super Regional Thursday night.
The win came after a solo home run by Amanda Lorenz and a walk by Janell Wheaton with bases loaded late in the seventh.
What seemed to be a big win for A&M on Florida’s home turf turned into Florida capitalizing on errors made by the Aggies and leading them to a win in game one.
Junior outfielder, Amanda Lorenz brought the Gators within one run of the Aggies with a solo home run. With two outs on the board from previous at bats, Kayli Kvistad was walked by A&M pitcher, Trinity Harrington. She was soon accompanied by freshman, Jordan Matthews and reached second off an error by Kristen Cuyos.
Cuyos made another grounding error in the next play and forced bases loaded. Harrington then walked the next batter, which tied up the ballgame.
A&M sophomore, Payton McBride came in as relief for Harrington but quickly closed out the game after walking Florida senior, Janell Wheaton who gave her team the last push they needed to take the win.
A&M head coach, Jo Evans said her team had a lot of confidence coming into the game and thought they put up a good fight against Florida. Evans also complimented Harrington on her ability to give her team a chance to win.
“I liked our fight tonight. We came here to win. We had full confidence in our ability to win. I thought Trinity went out and threw a heck of a game. She gave us a chance,” Evans said. “We told our pitchers to give us a chance by throwing strikes and going after their hitters. She gave us a chance to win the ballgame. She threw two groundballs in that seventh inning to give us a win and we just didn’t execute.”
Despite their win, Florida didn’t lead the game until plating their last run. A&M controlled the game from the third inning when they put up three runs.
The Aggies loaded the bases in the third after junior Florida pitcher, Kelly Barnhill walked Samantha Show. Sophomore outfielder, Sarah Hudek put A&M on the board with a single to right field that brought home two Aggies. A&M’s third run came from Show who reached home off a passed ball by the Gators.
The Aggies would score their last run in the fourth inning due to solo home run by junior infielder, Kaitlyn Alderink. Alderink homered to right field and gave A&M a 4-1 lead going into the halfway point.
During their time at bat, Evans thought her hitters had a strong performance which made their loss that much more disappointing.
“I was proud of our hitters on being aggressive. We took a page out of Florida’s book in terms of getting our walks and coming up with timely hits. Sarah Hudek had a big hit for us early on. Kaitlyn Alderink had some quality at bats for us tonight and hit that home run. It is a very disappointing loss for us,” Evans said.
The two teams will face each other in game two tomorrow at the Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN.