Softball: Home runs, Nae Nae, and extra innings, Aggies fall 4-3

GAME #30: Texas A&M 3, Georgia 4
RECORDS: Texas A&M 22-8, 3-4 SEC; Georgia 27-2, 4-0 SEC
WP: Chelsea Wilkinson (15-2)
LP: Abby Donnell (3-2)
S: None
BOX SCORE: LINK

COLLEGE STATION – On Friday night, the 15^th ranked Texas A&M Aggies opened up the weekend series against the 14^th ranked Georgia Bulldogs with a 4-3 loss in extra innings. 

It didn’t take the Bulldogs very long to get on the board. On Katie Marks’ very first pitch of the game, leadoff hitter Anna Swafford smacked one to left field just over the fence for a home run.

Georgia’s Bethany Beggs continued the trend with a solo shot for herself in the top of the 2^nd, and the entire team gathered around home plate to celebrate with a Nae Nae. Call me a sucker for pop culture, but that may have been the coolest home run celebration I’ve ever seen.

A strange bouncing grounder bounced off the glove of Katie Marks, and scored a runner from third base to increase the lead to 3-0. But then all the momentum changed.

The Aggies closed the gap quickly in the bottom of the 4^th inning with back-to-back home runs. Jenna Stark hit the first one very close to the video screen in the left field and then Abby Donnell smacked the ball off the scoreboard in right-center. The “TAMU” on the scoreboard malfunctioned for a second after the ball hit it, if that’s any indication of how hard that ball was hit.

In the bottom of the 6^th inning, Jenna Stark singled to begin the inning, and Abby Donnell knocked her in with an RBI double turned triple on the throw. Unfortunately for the Aggies, she didn’t advance even with zero outs. The bases were loaded up, but nobody could capitalize to take the lead.

Speaking of Abby Donnell, talk about taking the most of your opportunity. Donnell is not usually a starter in this lineup, but came away from the game with three hits, two RBI’s, and even pitched two scoreless innings. In fact, the bottom third of the lineup (Jenna Stark, Donnell, and Brittany Clopton) accounted for six of the ten hits on the day.

Matt Sachs, TexAgs Jenna Stark went 2-4 on the day with a home run and led the bottom third of the lineup. {"Module":"photo","Alignment":"left","Size":"large","Caption":"Jenna Stark went 2-4 on the day with a home run and led the bottom third of the lineup.","MediaItemID":33118}

"I thought Abby was terrific tonight," Coach Evans said of her player. "Jenna got us going, too. We were feeling down at the time and she gets up there and hits a home run, and then Abby right behind her crushed that ball. Those kids got some good looks up there."

A very telling stat on the day was the fact that thirteen runners were left on for the Aggies throughout the course of the game. It is very hard to leave that many runners on and expect to win a game, and that very well could’ve been the biggest reason for the downfall today.

"I just want the kids to understand we had our opportunities," said Evans. "This is a game we let get away from us. It wasn't a game where someone came out and dominated us. It's called the SEC. Every single game you're going to meet someone with a lot of talent, too and you have to figure out a way to win the ball game."

This SEC series will continue tomorrow with a 4:00 PM start time, and will wrap up on Sunday with the first pitch coming at noon.