Texas A&M picked up two back to back wins on Saturday, defeating Liberty 1-0 and Rutgers 7-6 as part of the Texas A&M Invitational Tournament. A&M head coach Jo Evans also earned her 1,200th career win with the victory over Rutgers. She is only the 12th NCAA head coach to reach this milestone.
The Aggies struggled with consistent hitting throughout the day, but made the most of scoring. This was highlighted by a grand slam by sophomore catcher Kelly Martinez in the game against Rutgers. Martinez also had the game winning walk-off hit.
Martinez focused in on the pitches and swung at the ones she felt most comfortable with.
“I just wanted to get our team back into the game, so I was just looking for a pitch to hit and drive in a run, and get us tied up”, Martinez said. “I just wanted to stay on top of the ball so I could drive it through the infield or keep it on the ground to make the defense make a play.”
Senior third baseman Riley Sartain played a key role in the win over Rutgers, with a solo home run in fifth inning. She feels that momentum plays a key role in hitting, but also notes that quality batting comes through consistency.
“There is something about having momentum, and there’s team momentum and personal momentum, and I will say that’s not always what you think about, but you do get hyped up and the energy’s still with you”, Sartain said. “There’s going to be days where your dinky hits get through and those are your base hits for the day, and there’s days where you crush a ball and it gets caught. We try to not look too hard into the batting averages, and we look at the quality at bats, and we need to stay consistent with that.”
Sartain also liked the defense she saw from her team today, and stressed that practice is what develops solid defensive play.
“We practice a ton of defense,” Sartain said “Whenever you play at game speed or a little faster than game speed, then game speed slows down for you, and so that’s something that we’ve really harped on this year, and it’s starting to pay off.”
Following the second day of the tournament Jo Evans spoke of her feelings about reaching a career milestone and the impact Texas A&M has had on her career.
“First of all I had no idea, so it was a bit of a surprise for sure”, Evans said. “At 1,200 I just have to reflect back on all the schools I coached at, all the great players I’ve had the good fortune to coach, and in particular A&M. Being here for 23 years; I know that doesn’t happen very often for any coach, so I really appreciate all the support I’ve gotten here.”
The Aggies improve to an 8-2 record, and will return to action Sunday, February 17 at 12:15 p.m. against McNeese State at the Davis Diamond in College Station.