Taking the series from Kentucky, No. 14 Texas A&M softball had back-to-back five-run innings in Game 2 on Saturday, April 6 with Parsons Mounted Cavalry in attendance.
Graduate RHP Shaylee Ackerman had a rough startas she allowed a walk followed by a single for the second and third batters of the game.
“In the circle, we struggled,” coach Trisha Ford said.
Ackerman’s walked batter of senior SS Erin Coffel scored off of freshman RF Peyton Plotts’ single to right field where pinch runner freshman Emory Donaldson advanced to third. Ackerman issued her second walk of the inning with junior C Ella Emmert loading the bases.
Aggie sophomore C Gracyn Coleman approached the circle in an attempt to calm Ackerman, but all was well as pinch hitter sophomore Karissa Hamilton fouled out to senior 2B Rylen Wiggins to end the inning.
First up at bat for the Maroon and White was sophomore 1B Amari Harper, who singled up the middle off of a full count. After junior SS Koko Wooley’s foul out, graduate CF Jazmine Hill also singled off of a full count to advance Harper to second.
Junior RF Allie Enright loaded the bases with her single through the left side, and Wiggins was up to bat. Wiggins’ double to left center brought home Hill and Harper with one out remaining, two Aggies on base and junior LF Kramer Eschete up to bat.
In her first homer of her A&M career, Eschete brought Enright and Wiggins home off a full count to increase the lead to four, set off the cannon and send bubbles flying. The Aggies were one batter away from the top of the order, but they got their third out and went back to fielding.
“I got way more than I was expecting out of that,” Eschete said.
A throwing error by sophomore 3B Kennedy Powell to Harper allowed for junior 2B Margaret Tobias to reach first. A home run by sophomore 1B Lauryn Borzilleri earned two runs with no outs for the Wildcats.
A single then a walk by Ackerman made way for junior RHP Emily Leavitt to enter the circle in the second. Leavitt entered and earned the first strike out of the game against her first batter to prevent loading the bases.
“I thought Leavitt did a good job of coming in and stopping the bleeding,” Ford said.
A lack of urgency by Coleman to track down a wild pitch resulted in the runners on base to advance to second and third, respectively. Leavitt responded with her second straight strike out. A fly out by the Wildcats — caught by Eschete — ended the inning.
Harper started off the bottom of the second seeing 11 pitches in the same at bat. She eventually singled to left center but advanced to second on a fielding error by senior LF Rylea Smith. Kentucky made a swap in the circle with senior LHP Jaden Vickers exiting for freshman RHP Sydney Langdon.
Hill’s triple to right field sent Harper home to extend the lead by three but only for a moment. On senior DP Trinity Cannon’s fly out, Hill scored to make it 7-3. Enright was walked, then Wiggins singled with Eschete up to the plate. Eschete’s double to left field sent Enright home.
The Wildcats switched to their third pitcher in the second inning following Langdon’s walk of Coleman. Junior RHP Alexia Lacatena entered the circle for Kentucky. All the way through the order, Harper returned to the plate after a walk of Powell sent Wiggins home.
Harper reached on a fielding error by Plotts, Eschete scored, and the score went up to 10-3. With a five-run inning, Leavitt returned to the circle for the top of the third where she pitched a 1-2-3 inning.
The bottom of the frame saw a single by Hill and a walk for Cannon. Leavitt reentered the circle and walked the first batter in Borzilleri. Pinch running for Borzilleri was junior Hallie Mitchell. A Wildcat double to right center by Smith advanced her to second and Mitchell to third. Mitchell scored off of Coffel’s single to center field.
Leavitt struck out three consecutive batters swinging to bring the Aggies back into the batter’s box, but the Maroon and White earned a walk and no hits.
A&M went back to fielding as senior C Julia Cottrill returned to play for the first time since the LSU series. A double play from Wooley to Harper helped out Leavitt as she had walked the first batter.
It was a lackluster bottom of the fifth as three batters faced Lacatena and a pinch runner was left on.
“I think as the game went on we started to overthink some things,” Ford said. “We had people on base I feel like every inning.”
Borzilleri hit her second homer of the night and third of the series into left field. Leavitt responded with a strikeout looking after a full count and eight pitches. Though, she walked the next batter in Coffel. Coffel was picked off by Wiggins for the third out off a distanced throw from Cottrill.
Eschete was walked and stole second where she was originally called out. The call was challenged by A&M and was overturned. It was not enough to put a run on the board though as the seventh inning began.
Back-to-back homers for the Wildcats as both senior 3B Grace Lorsung and Plotts homered to left field with Lorsung’s going over the scoreboard. That was all Ford wanted to see as graduate RHP Brooke Vestal entered the circle.
Vestal walked the first batter off a full count and came back to strike out Hamilton swinging on all three pitches. Vestal walked a second batter with the two home run scorer Borzilleri up to bat. Luckily for the Aggies, Borzelleri grounded out. Ford called on her fourth and final pitcher in junior Emiley ‘Lefty’ Kennedy who threw a strike right out of the gate.
Tobias and Hutchins scored off of Smith’s single. Smith was out at second by Wooley to get the third out and end the game. The call was challenged by Kentucky but was upheld.
“It was some fundamental softball,” Ford said.
Aggies will try and sweep the series on Sunday, April 7 at 1 p.m.
