Playing a ranked team on the road is never easy.
Texas A&M softball lost the second game of its three-game series in Athens, Ga., against the No. 17 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. The loss dropped A&M’s overall record to 18-12, 1-7 in the SEC.
After a scoreless first inning, A&M scored five runs off Georgia sophomore and right-handed pitcher Britton Rogers in the second frame. Four of the runs came from a two-run homer from sophomore infielder Rylen Wiggins and a two-run double from senior catcher Haley Lee. Nine A&M players reached base in the inning.
In the bottom half of the second inning, graduate right-handed pitcher Kayla Poynter set the Bulldogs down in order to keep A&M’s lead at 5-0 heading into the third inning.
This was an especially important game for Poynter, being from Loganville, Ga. A&M coach Jo Evans said she was happy Poynter had the chance in her homecoming game.
“Kayla [Poynter] gave us really quality innings for not having thrown a whole lot for us lately,” Evans said. “I’m really happy that she was able to come home and get the opportunity to get the ball. We did a great job early on with their hitters, and I thought she came out and gave us a good start.”
The Aggies picked up another run in the third on a Bulldog fielding error to increase their lead to 6-0. Unfortunately for the Aggies, the Bulldogs refused to go down lightly.
Georgia picked up its first run on a homer from sophomore infielder Aniyah Black in the bottom of the third, but A&M responded in the next half-inning with a run of its own via an RBI single from senior right-handed pitcher/outfielder Makinzy Herzog.
Georgia continued to surge on offense, knocking Poynter out the game after giving up a two-run home run. Georgia picked up two more runs off junior right-handed relief pitcher Shaylee Ackerman.
After holding the Aggies scoreless in the top half of the fifth, the Bulldogs tied the game at seven behind a home run from sophomore outfielder Jayda Kearney.
In the following innings, both teams were held scoreless as the game became a battle of relief pitching. Freshman left-handed pitcher Emiley Kennedy put in a great individual performance, throwing three scoreless innings as the game went into extra innings.
Georgia picked up the 8-7 victory off an RBI single from junior outfielder Jaiden Fields.
Despite the difficult result, Evans was proud of the way A&M played after the game the day before.
“We challenged our players after last night because we feel like we didn’t bring great energy, didn’t compete well and had way too many strikeouts yesterday,” Evans said. “Today, you look at what we did, and we came out, and I was happy to see our kids respond in that way. It’s a tough loss for our team because our kids feel like they did everything they needed to do to win a ballgame, and we couldn’t do that.”
The Aggies will regroup for Game 3 of their series with the Bulldogs. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 27.