Aggie Softball tops Prairie View A&M in dominant fashion, 9-0
The Aggie softball team (41-16, 13-11 SEC) handled Prairie View A&M, 9-0, in their first game of the College Station regional at Davis Diamond. The offense was firing on all cylinders, and Samantha Show was dealing in the circle in a five-inning affair.
A&M got after the Panthers in the bottom of the first. After Keeli Milligan legged out an infield single and then swiped second base, Sarah Hudek drove her home with a double off of the left field wall. Tori Vidales followed suit by launching a two-run shot over the scoreboard in left field. Kelbi Fortenberry then reached on a two-out double, and Kaitlyn Alderink capped off the scoring by lining an RBI-single up the middle. After the first frame, A&M held a 4-0 lead.
Vidales said she wasn’t sure how far her two-run shot went but was just thankful she didn’t break another letter on the scoreboard. After the team got back from the SEC Tournament, she knocked an "S" off the board during batting practice.
“Times like this we had a little tracker thing that like baseball has – you know, like it says estimated distance,” Vidales said. “I honestly don’t know how far it went — at least three hundred feet. I was just really glad I didn’t break another letter, cause I broke a letter in practice and they had to come out and fix it.”
The Aggies tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the third. Show reached second with a hard line drive down the left field line. A batter later, Alderink drove her in with an RBI-double to left-center field. Riley Sartain finished the scoring in the inning with an RBI-sac fly to center field, scoring Alderink.
Milligan and Hudek combined for another run in the bottom of fourth. Milligan legged out a leadoff triple, and Hudek followed suit by driving her in with an RBI-sac fly to left field. After back-to-back singles by Vidales and Fortenberry, Ashley Walters plated Vidales with an RBI-single. Show drove in another run for the Aggies by hitting an RBI-sac fly to left field, scoring Fortenberry.
Show (12-5 2.13 ERA) got the nod in the circle for the Aggies and was dominant, throwing a complete-game shutout in five innings of work while allowing just one hit and punching out one. Not only did Show look strong in the circle, but she finished with a hit and an RBI at the plate.
“It allowed me to just go out there and pitch,” Show said of working with lead after the first inning. “Coach Dill and I had a plan, and I stuck to it and it allowed me to throw to my strengths and I also wanted to get off the field as quickly as possible so we could get more runs.”
Head coach Jo Evans said she was impressed with the defense around the diamond. Several times during the game, both Sartain and Alderink flashed some leather to get outs and keep runners off the base paths.
“I thought we played really well — I was excited to see Kaitlyn play so well,” Evans said. “I thought she got some really good reads on a couple plays that were tough and just laying out and making those plays. And Riley laying out backhand side and coming up and making a great throw to first base. I thought Tori did a nice job to keep the bag with the throw just slightly wide and kept it and make it look really easy.”
Evans said she couldn’t have written a better start to the regional if she had tried and will look to continue momentum tomorrow against McNeese State. The Cowboys beat Baylor, 11-10, in the first game Friday night.
“It’s exactly what I had envisioned and what I thought was necessary for us to sort of get the stink off from some games that we didn’t play well,” Evans said. “I just felt like we need to come out and have a dominating performance and remember who we are and get back in this ballpark and get the fans in it. I’m just very pleased with the way our kids played.”
The Aggies return to the diamond tomorrow as they square off against McNeese State. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. and the game can be seen on WatchESPN and ESPN3.