No. 12 Texas A&M faced in-state opponent, Lamar, in a non-conference game Wednesday evening at the Aggie Softball Complex. The match-up would have the Aggies return to winning ways in an offensive showcase that saw A&M win by a score of 8-0 in six innings.
Action for the Aggies started off hot with senior catcher Ashley Walters hitting a single to bring home sophomore right-fielder Kaitlyn Alderink, to put A&M up 1-0 in the first inning. Walters would continue to have batting success throughout the game, scoring two runs on two hits including her third home run of the season in the fifth inning.
A&M head coach Jo Evans praised Walters’ performance, and the teams hot start.
“It’s nice seeing her get those rbi’s, and with two outs I thought early on we did such a great job to get some runs, and that was my big message to our team is let’s get into that first inning and make a statement about who we are as a ball club”, Evans said.
Other offensive standouts for A&M included junior third baseman Riley Sartain, who hit her ninth home run of the season in fourth inning, junior in-fielder Kaitlyn Alderink, who had two runs on one hit, and junior out-fielder Keeli Milligan, who led the Aggies in batting average with an average of .370.
The Aggies showed improvement on offense today, following a slow series against Florida where A&M only put up four runs in three games. Today’s performance by the Aggies saw a team that doubled that with eight runs scored in six innings. A&M would score runs in the first, second, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, to complete their run-rule victory.
On defense the Aggies were a solid unit, led by junior pitcher Samantha Show who pitched all six innings, allowing only three hits with seven strikeouts and an era of 2.13 in today’s shutout.
Show noted that her confidence was key in tonight’s match-up, not only in herself, but her defense as well.
“I just went out there and attacked batters, and I trusted that I was better than those hitters. I attacked in the zone, and made them swing at bad pitches, and let my defense play”, Show said.
Coach Evans enjoyed seeing her team bounce back from last weekend’s series against Florida, and noted that today’s win was important for the Aggie’s confidence going back into SEC action against a strong South Carolina team.
“We needed to feel good about ourselves…I thought we really played poised in our composure, we didn’t take it lightly, we went out there and got after it, and I think we played well. You know it’s nice to go into the weekend with a win under our belt”, said Evans
The Aggies improve to a 30-7 overall record on the year, and now look to return to conference play against the South Carolina Gamecocks this Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Aggie Softball Complex.