With the bases juiced by Maroon and White early in game one of two, freshman second baseman KK Dement stepped up to the plate circling the bat over her shoulders as she faced sophomore right-handed pitcher Randi Roelling and her 55-62 mile per hour change-ups. She swung low, sweeping the ball with explosive force and sending it sailing up center field.

Grand slam — right down Broadway and into the bleachers for Dement’s seventh homer of the season.

No. 4 Texas A&M softball muzzled the No. 16 Georgia Bulldogs with an 8-0 run-rule win in their first match of the weekend  and an epic 12-5 rout to end the day. 

As the old adage holds,“red on black, friendly Jack,” certainly came to life at Jack Turner Stadium with Georgia handing the Aggies ten walks over the course of three pitchers in game one, and allowing a six-run fifth inning in game following.

Sunny skies set the bases aglow as junior third baseman Kennedy Powell led the lineup for A&M, bunting the ball and then arching her back when a Georgia throwing error landed it in her left side as she safely stamped a foot on the bag. Sophomore first baseman Mya Perez would be the first walker of the game, hit by a pitch and propelling Powell closer to home.

Powell tasted the success of collecting the Aggies’ starter point on a double to right field by senior designated player Mac Barbara. The veteran hitter produced a rocket of a swing, driving the ball past junior right fielder Sarah Gordon and into the wall. 

Patience is a virtue, and senior center fielder Allie Enright waited her turn to walk, loading the bases for A&M as Dement trodded up to the plate. The freshman’s home run put four more runs on the board for the Aggies, bringing the first inning to a close with a lead of 5-0, kenneling the Bulldogs in the dugout as they swapped gloves for bats.

Dement’s wouldn’t be the only dinger of the game.

In the top of the fourth, a pitcher’s greatest nightmare strode into the batter’s box.

Slamming the ball into left field and over the fence for A&M’s eighth multi-home run game of the season was none other than the consistent-hitting Perez, who rounded the bags and dawned the Howdy Hat, as Georgia swapped junior RHP Destin Howard for Roelling in the circle.

Senior left-handed pitcher Emiley Kennedy pitched the entire game for the Aggies with speed-trailing flames into the zone at 72 mph for back-to-back swinging strikes from the Red and Black.

Enright singled through the left side, the ball determined to evade Bulldog jaws as sophomore pinch runner Hailey Golden advanced to second. Golden saw the opportunity and rode it home, dropping to the dirt for A&M’s seventh run.

It would be Dement’s single up the middle that pushed Enright onward and through the plate for the Aggies final score of 8-0 to clinch the first game of the series.

Can the Fightin’ Farmers fight?

The second matchup came with a change of uniform and a change of tone.

Junior RHP Grace Sparks started in the circle for A&M, but would be replaced by senior RHP Emily Leavitt after a rollercoaster of events in the first inning poked Georgia with a hot iron and tied an ugly knot in the Aggies’ stomachs. 

A bunt from senior CF Dallis Goodnight resulted in an overthrow to Perez on first, which sent both herself and junior 1B Tyler Ellison through home for a pair of runs. The ball soared into right field, where it was caught in the tarp and forced Harper to work it unstuck — never having raised her hand to call time. 

The umpires struggled with the play, approaching Georgia coach Tony Baldwin with their findings. His face took on a purple tint as he argued with mounting aggression for the reverse of a call clearing two runs from the board, Georgia fans looking angry enough to spill onto the field as he was then ejected from the game.

The call stood, and Goodnight and Ellison were pushed back to second and third base as the Red and Black dugout became piqued and overcome with newfound purpose.

Following a journey to the plate for Ellison on a fly ball dealt by graduate DP Lyndi Rae Davis, it was junior left fielder Jaydyn Goodwin who slapped the prize to right-center field and over the wall for a home-run hit — snatching back the pair of runs she was forced to watch slip away as Goodnight paved the road to the plate.

Bulldog fans erupted into a chorus of shouts, anger cooling into pools of pride. 

Their support chased Gordon into the box, where she met a rise ball with power. Her hit reflected Goodwin’s dinger, sailing into left-center field as she rounded the bags with a finger raised to the skies in triumph.

It would be in the top of the third where senior LF Kramer Eschete singled through the left side and dug a cleat into the bag for A&M’s first hit of the game. She then made it home as junior RF Amari Harper smacked the ball through the right side for her 26th RBI of the season, spurring Eschete in for a run and Powell, who’d singled to center, to third.

In came Perez.

The slugger stepped up to the plate, eyes already straying to right field. Her bat tore at the ball with a grenade of a hit, pivoting into her 12th home  run of the season and tying the ballgame at 4-4.

Perez would later walk to load the bases for the Aggies in the peak of the fifth, making room for a Barbara single that parted the waters for Harper and Powell, who imprinted two more A&M runs on the plate and primed it for Enright’s chance at a homer.

Enright drove the ball deep and over the wall, dispatching Golden and sophomore pinch runner Scout Lovell home and following behind with a toothy grin — and the Aggies’ five-point lead on Georgia.

Having won the day with a grand slam only hours earlier, Dement made yet another appointment with the bleachers— ripping the ball over the wall for another savory home-run hit.

The Bulldogs would dish out an answering run by Goodnight, flying through the plate after a Gordon single to third. Nevertheless, they remained leashed with a five-run deficit breathing down their backs.

Freshman RHP Sydney Lessentine stepped into the game for A&M, fresh out of the bullpen to relieve Leavitt. 

Three consecutive swinging outs for Georgia sent a smiling Lessentine back to the dugout and brought out senior shortstop Koko Wooley to the dish in the top of the seventh.

Wooley singled to third, beating the throw to first and leading off as Enright took her stance in the box. The pitch was thrown by senior RHP Rachel Gibson, and Enright reached on a fielder’s choice that sought to beat Wooley to second just as the runner pressed her cleat into the bag. The umpire called it an out.

But Wooley remained planted, seemingly unbothered and sure of her success.

Coach Trisha Ford challenged the call, and it went under review as fans waited on the edge of their seats for the final ruling.

Overtuned. Safe.

The ball had not been fully squeezed in freshman 2B Paislie Allen’s glove, and though the stands rumbled, Wooley slid into third on a wild pitch and made it home along with Eschete on a hit up the middle by Dement — carrying the Aggies to a seven-run lead.

Lessentine pounded the zone with uncanny precision, closing out the doubleheader with no additional Georgia runs.

The Bulldogs will have another go at A&M when the Aggies return to Jack Turner Stadium on Monday. April 7, at 5 p.m.