Texas A&M falls behind early, drops opener to No. 17 Kentucky, 5-1
Texas A&M softball has five games left until the SEC Tournament begins.
Friday night’s game against No. 17 Kentucky did not go well for the Aggies, as an early Wildcat lead and missed opportunities from the home team was enough to put A&M away in game one.
A&M coach Jo Evans said she was not pleased.
“Disappointing performance out of our ball club,” Evans said. “Offensively, I felt that we had some opportunities early on, [we] didn’t take advantage of those. Just chasing balls out of the zone, just not doing a good job with pitch location. Eleven strikeouts, that's unacceptable. We were flat from that. We just couldn't generate any sort of motion [or] energy.”
Kentucky got out to a dominant start, scoring twice in the top of the first.
While the Aggies were able to record two hits in the bottom of the first, they were unable to capitalize.
The Wildcats scored again in the top of the second off a wild pitch from junior pitcher Makinzy Herzog.
The Aggies were unable to answer again in the bottom of the second despite logging the same amount of hits as UK.
Evans said that swinging at balls out of the strike zone was detrimental to the team tonight.
“Offensively, we just did a poor job with the strike zone. We were swinging at balls clearly out of the zone. You have got to have a plan and stick to a plan, swinging at pitches out of the zone isn’t a plan,” Evans said.
Herzog had a tough night, giving up five hits and striking out just two through four innings. She was eventually relieved by freshman pitcher Grace Uribe.
Uribe also struck out two and allowed three hits, giving up just one run.
Evans said Uribe’s performance in the circle was a silver lining.
“I was really pleased with Grace Uribe,” Evans said. “I thought she went in and did a terrific job in relief. She gives up one run in four innings against a really good hitting ball club. I’m really pleased to see what we got out of her tonight.”
The Wildcats continued their trend of scoring in each inning in the third, with a home run from fifth-year starting pitcher Autumn Humes. Kentucky also scored once in the fourth, marking it 5-0 at the halfway mark.
Part of Kentucky’s dominance was thanks in part to dominant pitching. This was on display in the bottom of the fourth when Humes struck out three Aggies in a row for a 1-2-3 inning and a total of 11 strikeouts.
Also hurting A&M was the fact they were missing senior infielder and starter Ashlynn Walls.
However, A&M managed to hold off the Wildcats in the fifth inning and also managed to score during the sixth. Junior outfielder Taudrea Sinnie, who was pinch-running for junior outfielder Morgan Smith, crossed home plate off of an RBI from senior infielder Dani Elder.
Although that was all the Aggies were able to put on the scoreboard, and the ballgame concluded, 5-1.
Evans said bouncing back tomorrow is vital to the program.
“Tomorrow is really important for us and I expect us to come out and be the ball club we’re used to,” Evans said. “A ball club that goes out and attacks and scores runs and puts pressure on the defense and has some fun playing the game.”
Hopefully, the second game of the series goes better for the Aggies. It will kick off on Saturday, with first pitch being at 2:00 p.m.