No. 15 Texas A&M softball was three outs away from putting itself in the College Station Regional finals, but Arizona State’s final-inning surge powered the Sun Devils to a 4-3 win. For the second straight year, the Aggies’ backs are against the wall to escape their own Regional.
“It was a good game, we just got to finish,” head coach Trisha Ford said. “I thought [junior right-handed pitcher Sidne Peters] pitched a heck of a game, battled her tail off. … I thought we battled, just came up short.”
Down 3-2 and with three outs to determine the first ticket to the Regional finals, redshirt senior shortstop Brooklyn Ulrich stood tall, overcoming an early-game strikeout from Peters to laser a double to lead off the final frame.
“My first at-bat, I knew my timing was off,” Ulrich said. “I was very late on her, I mean I struck out … my last at-bat, I was just thinking, ‘I gotta hit it into the ground as hard as I can,’ and ended up being a line drive.”
After a sac bunt put Ulrich 60 feet from paydirt, redshirt senior center fielder Kaylee Pond returned her fellow classman to the dugout with a single to left field, equalizing the score and sending the travelling Sun Devils into a frenzy.
“[Hitting coach Josh Bloomer] at the top of the sixth talked about having unselfish at-bats and really being productive with our outs,” Pond said. “That was the plan there. I don’t know if that’s even a hit, if that gets through, if there isn’t a runner at third.”
Ford decided she had seen enough from her ace, turning to the bullpen and her southpaw closer: senior left-handed pitcher Taylor Pannell. The Missouri transfer loaded the bases with a hit-by-pitch and left A&M looking at its first deficit of the tournament following junior third baseman Emily Schepp’s game-deciding RBI single to make it 4-3.
The Aggies needed a miracle, but senior RHP Kenzie Brown doesn’t believe in such frivolities. The AUSL draft pick ended a terrific day with another two strikeouts, ending her complete game with six Ks, two earned runs and only four hits allowed.
“She is a true Sun Devil,” Arizona State head coach Megan Bartlett said. “She’s a baller, she’s a gamer. There was never a talk about going to somebody else in the pen, and it’s not like she would have handed me the ball anyway. She’d have told me to get off the field.”
The typical golden arm of Brown was not infallible, though, walking junior designated player Mya Perez in the second inning to extend the slugger’s 58-game on-base streak — the longest Division I stretch of the past five seasons.
Brown then made her second mistake by making senior first baseman Micaela Wark whiff, but she was called for an illegal pitch that instead made the count 1-1. Wark made her pay immediately for the lapse, crushing her 50th career home run to right field to take a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Arizona State responded emphatically via the bat of junior 1B Katie Chester, with the Missourian’s home run swing tying the game in the second inning.
With steam still emanating from Brown’s arm, A&M clawed its way through the fourth inning and cobbled together enough offense to scratch a run across. Perez walked, and junior pinch runner Hailey Golden scampered in her place to second and third on a throwing error from sophomore catcher Ariel Kowalewski’s bloop single. Sophomore CF Kelsey Mathis’ RBI fielder’s choice put the Maroon and White up 3-2 in the fourth, setting the stage for what went on to be a calamitous seventh inning.
“I think the offense was on track, I think [Brown’s] really good,” Ford said. “I thought Kelsey Mathis had a really good at-bat to score us a run. I think it was a tough game, and we didn’t gut it out enough at the end.”
The loss puts A&M in the same scenario it was in last season: win three straight or watch the next round of the postseason from the couch. Ford said her team’s senior leadership and experience in the situation gives her confidence in the Aggies’ motto.
“‘Never out of the fight,’” Ford said. “That’s something we’ve said all year long. … It’s time for us to step up, and win this ballgame and then get some rest and come out and battle our tails off tomorrow. The ball’s in our court.”
A&M won’t have time to wallow, with a game against the winner of UConn versus McNeese State slated for approximately 7 p.m. tonight.
