No. 19 Texas A&M softball had one more obstacle in its way before it could start SEC play as the 20-2 Aggies faced 9-11 North Texas on Wednesday, March 6.
The night ended with the Maroon and White on top as they shut out the Mean Green 12-0 in five innings.
“I think we got back to playing Aggie softball,” coach Trisha Ford said. “It was refreshing.”
The bottom of the first inning had the Aggies at the bat, and they wasted no time. A single from sophomore 2B Amari Harper advanced her to first before advancing to second off of a wild pitch. Then senior CF Jazmine Hill homered it into center field to send her and Harper home for two runs to put the first 2 points on the board for the Maroon and White.
Immediately after, a bomb into left-center field from senior 1B Trinity Cannon put A&M up 3-0 on the Mean Green.
“We just feed off of everything that is going on during the game,”Cannon said. “We all carry that energy into every single thing.”
A reach from sophomore DH Keely Willaims sent her to first base, and she was able to advance to second off of a single up the middle from senior SS Rylen Wiggins. A pop-up from junior RF Allie Enright advanced Williams to third, and Wiggins was able to steal second which made room for junior LF Kramer Eschete to walk to first.
With the bases loaded, a single from sophomore 3B Kennedy Powell advanced everyone while sending home Williams to make it 4-0. A reach from a throwing error from Harper sent home Wiggins and Eschete to add two more runs to the Aggies lead.
Hill singled it for her second hit in the first for Powell and Harper to run it home to put A&M up 8-0 at the end of the first inning.
The second inning had the Aggies with two quick outs, but a double from senior C Julia Cottrill gave A&M another chance to score. Ford subbed in freshman PR Hailey Golden to run for Cottrill and Wiggins doubled into left-center field for Golden to run it home for the score.
In the third, a single into left-center field from Powell got the Aggies started. Another single from Harper advanced Powell to second, with both advancing again off of a wild pitch. The Aggies were then able to load all three bases as Hill was hit by a pitch.
To end the third inning, a sacrifice fly from Cannon sent Powell home to turn the Maroon and White’s lead into double digits.
At the bottom of the fourth, Wiggins walked to first before sophomore DH Aiyana Coleman homered into deep left-center field to send her and Wiggins home and made it a 12-0 ball game.
“They did a good job of understanding what our goal was, and they executed the game plan,” Ford said.
The top of the fifth inning came and went, as the Aggies finished their shutout over North Texas to conclude the game with a 12-0 win.
The Maroon and White now look to start the SEC with a weekend series win against No. 22 South Carolina starting on Friday, March 8.
“I like our chances,” Ford said., “Now, it’s time to go out and have fun.”
