The No. 24 Texas A&M softball team concluded its five-game appearance at the SoCal classic with a 1-0 Sunday shutout loss at the hands of Purdue. The Aggies finished the classic with a record of 3-2 with a victory over No. 6 UCLA.
The Aggies opened the season on Friday by getting a 5-1 win against the Utah Utes. This win was a little sweeter considering head coach Jo Evans played and graduated from Utah.
A top contributor was junior Cali Lanphear, who hit a grand slam after sophomore Reagan Boenker, freshman Erica Russell and sophomore April Ryan got on to fill up the bases. The Aggies also received a shutout performance from junior Celena Massey, who went four scoreless innings while allowing one hit.
The Aggies faced the UCLA Bruins for the second game of the doubleheader, and the game quickly got out of hand. Senior pitcher Lauren Ainsley ran into trouble in the second inning, in which 10 consecutive Bruins reached base, resulting in seven runs. The Aggies attempted to fight back as the game went on, but the deficit was too great to overcome as A&M fell 13-0 in five innings.
Saturday was a very different outcome for the Aggies, as they won the first game of the doubleheader against San Diego State 9-5 and avenged their loss from the day before with a 6-4 victory over the Bruins. Evans discussed the resiliency her club exhibited Saturday.
“I’m so proud of our kids and the way we responded,” Evans said. “They have a lot of confidence coming into this game, they started swinging their bats & feeling better about themselves. The most important thing to come out of this, besides a win, which was huge, but for us to have what happened last night and not let it phase us. To have all these young girls on the field and on the team and have such a short memory is key.”
The Aggies come home this weekend to host the Aggie Classic at the Aggie Softball Complex. First pitch is at 3 p.m. Friday against Penn State.