After a thrilling series against No. 2 Alabama, where the Aggies were able to capture two out of three games, the Texas A&M softball team fell to No. 25 Missouri 7-5 on Friday, April 29 after a walkoff homer in the bottom of the eighth.
In this game, when players made contact, they swung for the fences. All 12 points scored by both teams in Game 1 of this three-game series were scored via home runs. After falling to an early 5-1 deficit, with the only run for A&M coming by way offreshman Katie Dack in the fourth, the Aggies exploded for four runs in the sixth off homers from senior Morgan Smith and sophomore Rylen Wiggins This tiedthings up at five a piece and eventually forced an extra inning.
In the circle, senior Makinzy Herzog got the start for A&M and pitched two innings while allowing three hits and two runs. Sophomore Grace Uribe and freshman Emiley Kennedy each saw time in the circle for A&M, but the strongest performance of the night belonged to Missouri junior Jordan Weber. Weber pitched eight full innings for the Tigers, tallying up a total of eight Ks and only five hits on the night.
After ending the seventh knotted at five-all, the game headed to extras. The Aggies were unable to produce in the top of the eighth, giving Missouri the upper hand heading into the bottom of the inning. The Tigers struck quickly with sophomore Alex Honnold reaching first in her first at-bat. Later in the inning, graduate Hatti Moore hit a bomb to center field, securing a 7-5 win in the first game of the series for Missouri.
“Our kids fought hard,” coach Jo Evans told 12thMan.com. “In the dugout, everybody was up, and it was a great crowd tonight. I could hear our kids getting after it. If we end up losing that game 5-1, or even by more runs, tomorrow feels different. Tomorrow won’t feel different.”
With only seven games remaining before the SEC Tournament on May 10, the Aggies currently hold a 27-19 record but have struggled in-conference with only a 5-14 record when facing SEC opponents.
“Let’s go and get after this, Evans said. “We are going to fight, and we knew this matchup would be two teams that are hot right now.”
The Aggies return to action on Saturday, April 30 at 4 p.m. for Game 2 against Missouri.