No. 15 Texas A&M softball continued its march through the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 28, playing four games in two days. The Aggies split their doubleheader on Feb. 27, run-ruling the Owls, 8-0, yet falling to the Ragin’ Cajuns, 8-10. With a chip on its shoulder, A&M achieved an undefeated outing on Saturday with a pair of run-rule wins over Kennesaw State, 11-2, and Saint Mary’s, 12-1.

Duplicate dub

In the words of the late Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Duped a day prior, the Owls must have been insane to expect a different result in their second face-off against the Aggies.

With a solid start from senior right-handed pitcher Grace Sparks only allowing a single hit, A&M capitalized on Kennesaw State’s first-inning fiasco. Serving a walk to the Aggies’ leadoff hitter, senior third baseman Kennedy Powell, the Owls could have expected more of the same, as the Maroon and White exploded with four runs in the opening frame. 

After a scoreless second-inning, Kennesaw State began its retaliation. With two mirrored hits in the third and fourth, the Owls chipped away at the 4-0 Aggie lead. A pair of doubles to center field, by senior catcher Macie Howes in the third and freshman designated player Rylee Limberger in the fourth, cut A&M’s advantage in half, 4-2. 

The Fightin’ Farmers closed the door on the Owls for the innings that followed. Going tit-for-tat, A&M answered Kennesaw’s fourth-inning run with a sacrifice fly from senior first baseman Micaela Wark to secure a run of its own, pushing the score to 5-2. 

In the fifth, the Aggie domination continued as they reclaimed their four-run lead with a 217-foot homer from sophomore shortstop KK Dement. 

Just an inning later, junior DP Mya Perez joined the party beyond the outfield wall with a 238-foot bomb of her own. Bringing senior second baseman Tallen Edwards home, Perez kicked off the Aggies’ sixth-inning surge. If Kennesaw State had been thinking about tapping out , Dement doubled the stakes, sending a missile to left field for her second home run of the game, securing A&M’s victory. 

“I told her, ‘Swing early in the count,’” head coach Trisha Ford said. “She came up to me after the first game and was like, ‘Oh, Coach Ford, I took your advice.’ I said ‘Yeah, you had two home runs.’”

The Maroon and White grabbed their first win of the day from the Owls in six innings to claim an 11-2 run-rule win. 

Sharing the wealth

The common saying goes, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” However, not in this case.

Earlier in the day, Saint Mary’s bested A&M’s Friday foe, Louisiana, 5-2. However, the Aggies weren’t exactly passing around props come Saturday night. 

Opening Game 2, Powell stole her way to third base, stepping across home plate with the aid of a Perez sacrifice fly. Apart from the first-inning run, the Maroon and White were carried through three defensive innings by junior RHP Sidne Peters. To begin her start in the circle, Peters pitched back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, facing six batters and securing six outs. 

“I wanted us to pitch with control,” Ford said. “I want us to pitch with confidence, and I thought we saw that today, out of Peters especially.” 

One hour and 23 minutes after its sixth-inning eruption against Kennesaw State, A&M rekindled its offensive flame with a single from Wark. The Oklahoma State transfer set the tone for the third inning, bringing home the first run of a hot Aggie offensive performance. With two outs on the board, the Maroon and White split shifts at the plate to score eight runs, claiming a 9-1 lead. 

“We did a good job of passing the bat,” Ford said. “We got the big hit when we needed to. I think that some of these arms are very different from what we have seen over the last two weekends. This game is built around momentum, and I think we kept the momentum in our dugout for most of today.”

Picking up where she left off, Perez continued A&M’s run rampage, blasting her second offering 237-feet into the Reed Arena parking lot. 

With a nine-run advantage, the Aggie faithful could practically taste the impending run-rule victory.

Saint Mary’s prevented the shutout, scoring a run off a groundout by junior SS Sam Buckley in the fourth inning. Nevertheless, the Fightin’ Farmers extinguished every ounce of the Gaels’ momentum, tacking on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 12-1 takeover. 

Apart from its offensive firepower, A&M capitalized on both sides of the ball with a master-class performance from Peters. The former Washington transfer recorded three strikeouts, allowing only a single hit through the entire game. After her lackluster performance against Louisiana on Friday, Peters succeeded in her pitching redemption, throwing three times as many strikeouts and allowing four fewer hits, yet staying in the circle for twice as long. 

“I was really focusing on commanding both sides of the plate,” Peters said. “I think I was constantly in the upper 60s. I think that’s where I’m at my best. I really wanted to come out today and get back on track.”

The Aggies concluded their day with a 12-1 run-rule win over the Gaels, pushing their overall record to 14-7. 

“I’m feisty,” Ford said. “Let’s go. I think tomorrow is going to be a tough game, but my money is on us.”

The Maroon and White will finish the A&M Invitational with a rematch against Louisiana at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 1, at Davis Diamond.