No. 19 Texas A&M softball began the third game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Friday, Feb. 24, against the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners in Cathedral City, Calif. The maroon and white went 2-0 in the previous games leading up to Oklahoma, winning against both BYU, 8-6, and Cal State Northridge, 3-1.
The Aggies fell to the Sooners, 8-0, in only five innings; a poor offensive and defensive showing by A&M helped to seal its fate.
The Aggies got off to a slow start offensively in the first three innings with three hits, but no runs, while the Sooners racked up four runs in the first inning to kick the game off. Senior left-handed pitcher Madison Preston started for the Aggies, but found herself quickly under fire from a potent Oklahoma offense.
An RBI from senior catcher Kinzie Hansen allowed senior shortstop Grace Lyons to score first for the Sooners. Then, senior right fielder Alynah Torres hit the next RBI for the Sooners to push Hansen through home plate. To end the frame, two more Sooners were driven in by defensive mistakes by the Aggies, as both Torres and designated hitter Haley Lee, a former Aggie, scored for Oklahoma, making it 4-0 at the end of the first.
The second inning went scoreless for both teams, and the third inning was dominated by Oklahoma runs as Hansen scored her second run on a RBI from junior third baseman Alyssa Brito. Freshman first baseman Jocelyn Erickson hit a home run to left field, bringing in both Brito and senior left fielder Riley Boone, making the score 8-0 at the end of the third. ‘
The A&M defense didn’t allow another run for the next two innings, but it wasn’t enough to keep the game going for the maroon and white. Due to the run rule, the game was stopped at the end
of the fifth, ending in a loss for the Aggies.
Even though the Fighting Farmers could not find a way to get on the scoreboard, their offense still produced six hits with two coming from both sophomore shortstop Koko Wooley and also junior catcher Julia Cottrill.
“I think a couple of plays we make, and that’s a very different ball game,” coach Trisha Ford said. “I thought our at-bats, especially the thumb at the top of our lineup, were superb. We had some good at-bats throughout the lineup and we need to just start getting reps, getting these live reps, getting our youngsters some reps and making sure that we’re getting better each and every time.”
Next up for A&M softball is game four of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic against No. 1 UCLA on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 7 p.m on Big League Dreams Field in Cathedral City, Calif.