After a close loss on a rainy Sunday, the A&M softball team had to settle with winning two of three over the weekend against No. 9 Kentucky.
The No. 20 Aggies fell to the Wildcats 3-2 in the final game of the three-game series at the Aggie Softball Complex, ending their win streak at 13 games.
Players on both sides had to make adjustments as rainfall came and went throughout the game.
Both pitchers were constantly going to their towels attached to their uniforms to try and retain a good grip on the softball in order to keep control of their pitches, which junior pitcher Katie Marks said is the primary concern when pitching through the rain.
“The only thing that the weather had an effect on was having a dry ball,” Marks said. “The grounds crew did a great job preparing the field for us.”
Marks got the start Sunday against the Wildcats and went seven innings, giving up four hits and three runs. Head coach Jo Evans said the team showed resiliency throughout the weekend.
“I thought we showed great toughness in the elements that we had,” Evans said. “I didn’t think the weather was any factor in the game for us.”
Marks’ opponent on the mound was junior Kelsey Nunley, whose last pitch was a fastball that April Ryan smashed over the right field wall to end Friday’s extra-inning thriller. She came out dialed in from the jump, allowing minimal base runners while striking out 10 Aggies in seven innings. Ryan said Nunley made adjustments after Friday’s game.
“[Nunley] stuck to her outside pitches and my approach changed because I went out there hacking at the first pitch,” Ryan said. “I wasn’t worried when I got down in the count.”
There was an odd series of events in the sixth when junior Nikki Sagermann got the barrel of her bat on a Marks fastball and drove it all the way into deep center field. Sagermann began to slow down as she rounded first assuming that the ball was going out of the park, but the ball hit right above the 220 sign in centerfield and popped straight up onto the warning track. Kentucky coaches and Sagermann argued their case for a homer, but the umpires stood with the original call of a double.
The Aggies couldn’t get anything going on Nunley until freshman Kristen Cuyos loaded the bases with a single and Erica Russell drew a walk to get the first run across. A&M completed the comeback when Brittany Clopton was grazed by a Nunley pitch with the bases loaded and tied the game.
The Wildcats took the lead for good with their third solo homer of the day from junior Maisie Steed and Nunley closed the door in the bottom half of the seventh to complete the Kentucky win.
The Aggies will play the final game of their homestand at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday against Sam Houston State.