Friday afternoon No.7 Texas A&M played host to conference rival Missouri at the Aggie Softball Complex. The Aggies kept the offense from Wednesday nights’ 15-0 run-rule victory over Prairie View A&M.
Tigers’ starting pitcher Madi Norman struck out Kaitlyn Alderink and Tori Vidales to start off the bottom half of the first frame. However, third baseman Riley Sartain gave A&M the early 1-0 lead after sending the first pitch she saw over the centerfield wall.
Trinity Harrington worked through an eight pitch at-bat which resulted in the first hit of the day for the Tigers to retire three of the four batters she faced in the second inning.
A&M then extended their lead in the bottom of the inning after Kristen Cuyos launched a ball into left allowing Sarah Hudek and herself to score giving the maroon and white the 3-0 advantage.
Sartain then sent her second home run of the game off the scoreboard to further the Aggies’ lead. After the pair of homeruns, Sartain is now tied with Cuyos for the most home runs at seven a piece.
Sartain said she and Cuyos have a friendly competition going as to which of the two can take the title for most homeruns. Sartain tied Cuyos in the first with her sixth long ball of the season. However, Cuyos then took back sole position of the title when she hit the dinger in the second inning. Sartain then evened the score with Cuyos in the third.  
“Whenever she hit it and all the excitement [of her hitting it] had settled, I said ‘Really? You just can’t let me tie you?’ So, I had to re-tie her I wasn’t going to let her get in front. We’re just really competitive and trying to have a good time,” Sartain said.
In the third, A&M scored three more runs to take the 6-0 lead. Sartain hit her second homer of the game. Junior Ashley Walters managed to get on base which eventually led to an Aggie score following a Cuyos double, allowing Blake-Ann Fritsch who pinch ran for Walter to easily score. Samantha Show then flew out deep to left allowing Hudek to score.
The Aggies sealed the run rule victory in the fourth inning with Vidales and Alderink scoring after reaching on a pair of singles. 
Following the game, Texas A&M head coach Jo Evans said she was pleased with the way her team came out and was aggressive from the beginning of the game, which not only set the tone for the remaining innings but the rest of the series.
“We went out there and we made good plays on defense,” Evans said. “We were active with our feet in the infield. Keeli Milligan makes a nice grab out there in left. Erica Russell gets out there and makes a grab. [Sarah] Hudek was at the wall and makes a grab. Trinity [Harrington] went out there and threw strikes. We were aggressive early.”
The Aggies will be back in action Saturday for game two of the Missouri series starting at 1 p.m. at the Aggie Softball Complex.