The Texas A&M softball team got back in the win column to open up the Texas A&M Invite at Davis Diamond on Friday with an 8-0 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and a 9-1 win over Lamar.
The Aggies move to a season record of 11-6.
Sophomore Abby Smith homered in the bottom of the sixth against Lamar to bring in senior Riley Sartain and extend A&M’s lead to 7-1. Junior Kelly Martinez then doubled to put junior Payton McBride in scoring position and junior Blake-Ann Fritsch doubled allow them to score to seal the win for the Aggies.
After scoring once in the first inning, the A&M offense was explosive in the bottom of the second against Corpus Christi (2-16). The Aggies scored five times, starting with a homerun by sophomore Ashlynn Walls that brought in junior Kelbi Fortenberry and widened A&M’s lead to 3-0.
A&M head coach Jo Evans said the team had focused on specifics going into these games, and they had executed those things.
“We got very specific about the things we were going to focus on tonight,” Evans said. “We did those things. We threw strikes, we attacked hitters offensively and we did a better job of moving runners.”
Against the Islanders, redshirt freshman pitcher Hannah Mayo allowed two hits and no errors and had six strikeouts. Junior Payton McBride allowed Lamar only four hits and one run with one error in six innings.
Mayo said the strikeouts were something that she had focused on before the game and they were key to the win.
“Just going out there, making sure I’m throwing strikes and giving our defense an opportunity to make plays,” Mayo said.
A&M drew first blood against the Cardinals, with Smith knocking a groundout to shortstop to allow Fortenberry to score on a bases loaded situation.
The Aggies widened their lead to 5-0 over Lamar with a double by Sartain that knocked in Fortenberry and sophomore Dani Elder.
Lamar’s first score came in the third inning on a hit by junior Jade Lewis that allowed freshman Savana Mata to score.
Fortenberry and Fritsch had two runs apiece against Corpus, with Fortenberry allowing freshman Taudrea Sinnie to score on a double to shortstop. Sophomore Ashlynn Walls had two RBIs in three at-bats. Fortenberry also, along with Sartain, led the Aggies against the Cardinals with two runs.
Fortenberry said patience was the key to her performance in both games.
“Just waiting to see where the strike zone was and picking my pitch, not going after the pitcher’s pitch was a huge thing,” Fortenberry said.
The Aggies had eight runs on 11 hits against three Corpus Christi pitchers. Junior Kandance Johnson opened the night, pitching 1.1 innings before taking a hit from Fritsch to the chest and ending her night. Johnson allowed seven hits and seven runs.
A&M notched 10 hits and nine runs with nine errors on Lamar freshman pitcher Aaliyah Ruiz.
On Saturday, the Aggies will face Lamar again at 12:15 p.m. and Longwood at 3 p.m. at Davis Diamond.