No. 9 Aggie Softball defeats Kentucky in series opener, 9-2
The No. 9 Aggies (35-9, 8-5 SEC) started off the final series at the Aggie Softball Complex on the right foot with a 9-2 victory over No. 20 Kentucky Friday night. A&M’s offense was relentless and Trinity Harrington took care of the rest on the mound.
The Aggie’s offense was firing on all cylinders against the Wildcats. In the bottom of the first inning, Sarah Hudek took a pitch for a ride over the left-center field wall for her fifth home run of the season, putting A&M on the scoreboard.
A&M would strike again in the bottom of the third and the fourth. Ashley Walters smacked a ball off of the top of the center field wall for an RBI double, scoring Tori Vidales. In the bottom of the fourth, Keeli Milligan plated Erica Russell with an RBI single to short — the ball was misplayed at short allowing Russell to score. A few batters later and after Milligan swiped second base, Vidales brought her home with an RBI single through the left side of the infield. Walters would keep the line moving by plating Vidales with a shot through the infield. Walters looked sharp at the plate — finishing at 3-4 and had two RBI and even threw out a runner trying to take second.
“I know the past couple of series I hadn’t been really comfortable swinging the bat,” Walters said of her performance tonight. “So I just tried to take it all off my mind and just be me again and just relax in the box and swing. See pitches.”
Hudek would drive in a run in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI fielder’s choice, scoring Cuyos. Sam Show roped a ball down the line for a two-RBI double in the bottom of the sixth. Two batters later, Milligan would deaden a ball down the first base line to score Cuyos. Also worth noting — when it was all said and done, the Aggies drew a total of nine and had 11 hits. Kaitlyn Alderink showed discipline at the plate by taking three free passes.
“It’s going to be hard to beat anybody if you give up nine walks,” head coach Jo Evans said. “I thought we showed a lot of patience at the plate and we were aggressive when we got a pitch to hit.”
The Wildcats responded in the top of the sixth — Mallory Peyton grooved a ball over the left-center field wall for a two-run home run.
Harrington (11-1 1.52 ERA) got the start in the circle for the Aggies and looked strong, pitching six innings and giving up two runs while scattering six hits. Harrington’s only mistake was a two-run shot in the top of the sixth, but despite that one mistake, she pitched well. She worked around traffic on the bases and used her defense behind her, generating 12 groundouts and a double play. Harrington turned the ball over to Payton McBride, who tossed a scoreless seventh inning.
Evans said Harrington set the tone when she pitched around a jam in the first inning and was proud of her performance tonight.
“That was the total difference in the game right there to me anyway…” Evans said. “I said we need a strikeout right here. If we get a strikeout we're going to get out of this thing and she did just that. I was really proud of Trin. A great pitcher will have some chaos like that happen, none of her doing and just bear down and go, ‘You know what I can do this, I’ll put you on my back right now. I can get some outs and I can get us out of this.’ And that showed a lot of maturity on her part.”
The Aggies will return to the diamond tomorrow for the second game against Kentucky in the weekend series. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN 2.
