The Texas A&M softball team rode an excellent performance from Rachel Fox to a 5-2 victory against UTSA Wednesday night at the Aggie Softball Complex.

Head Coach Jo Evans said she was happy with the way her team played in all facets of the game — offense, defense and pitching.

“We ended up scoring some runs and that really ended up being the difference in the game,” Evans said. “We had a couple of flares out there and got some RBIs early. Also, Rachel was great out there tonight. She got lots of strikeouts and kept good command out there.”

The No. 22 Aggies (30-10, 7-5 SEC) got off to a fast start, with Fox setting the tone early with a 1-2-3 first inning. Senior Brittany Clopton led off the Aggie offense with a walk and made her way around to third base when Ashley Walters hit into a force-out of Tori Vidales at second base. Junior Cali Lanphear made the most of her opportunity with an RBI single down the right field line to bring in Clopton.

Lanphear said it was important to make good contact with the pitches and hitting in scoring situations.

“I’m hitting on both sides of the plate and that’s a good sign,” Lanphear said. “I think our ball club is doing a good job with two outs and doing a good job moving the runners around.”

A&M continued its scoring when Kristen Cuyos placed a blooper over the outstretched glove of the shortstop to bring in Walters and Lanphear. Cuyos displayed some heady baserunning at second when the shortstop and the left fielder from UTSA both went for the blooper and caused the ball to trickle away from them.  

Sophomore Reagan Boenker hit another RBI single to push the lead to 4-0 and chase the UTSA starter after only getting two outs in the first inning. Junior Kacy Freeze took over the rest of the game in relief and fared much better, completing the game and only allowed one run the rest of the game.

Sophomore Celena Massey capped off the scoring for the Aggies with an RBI double down the left field line. With the exception of a two-run homer from Vivian Tijerina in the sixth, Rachel Fox kept the high-powered Roadrunner offense at bay, allowing only two runs and striking out 10. She spoke about constantly changing up her pitches against such a potent offense.

“We worked screwballs and dropballs and curves right at the knee,” Fox said. “I wasn’t necessarily trying to throw harder, but smarter.”
The Aggies are back in action at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against North Texas at the Aggie Softball Complex.