A slow evening offensively, No. 21 Texas A&M still found a way to take down Lamar behind Trinity Cannon’s walk-off single, 3-2.
Inside the circle, Madison Preston, Emiley Kennedy and Emily Leavitt combined for 11 strikeouts. Leavitt held the Cardinals scoreless for the final two innings to earn her seventh win and pave the way for Cannon’s heroics.
“Wins are always good,” A&M head coach Trisha Ford said. “I’m happy that we put ourselves in high-pressure situations and were able to come out with a win.
“We pitched well enough to win a ball game, but we still have some work to do in that area. We found a good win. That’s what good teams do; they find a way to win.”
Following her leadoff single in the third inning, freshman outfielder Keely Williams advanced to third on a botched pickoff attempt and came home on a double steal.
“I wouldn’t have been in that situation if Keely didn’t start off the inning with a double. I think, at the end of the day, we just had to scrap it out as a team. We can’t play anyone too lightly because it’s a midweek, we have to play everyone like it’s an SEC game.”
- A&M infielder Trinity Cannon
Facing a full-count against Kennedy, Sam Bean responded with a solo home run over center field in the fifth. Just two batters later, pinch-hitter Mikaila Kennedy launched a two-out homer to take the lead, 2-1.
“It wasn’t going as smoothly as we wanted,” Williams said. “I think once we started getting people on base, that’s when we started getting a little more motivation. But toward the end of the game, we started getting those hits that we needed. That’s when we got it together.”
Not backing down, the Maroon & White forged a 2-2 tie in the sixth when Koko Wooley singled up the middle to plate Julia Cottrill.
With Leavitt retiring her final three batters, the Aggies made the most of their final chances as Williams hit a leadoff double before advancing to third on a sac bunt from Morgan Smith.
Cottrill was then intentionally walked, and Cannon singled down the left-field line to bring Williams home for the walk-off win.
“I wouldn’t have been in that situation if Keely didn’t start off the inning with a double,” Cannon said. “I think, at the end of the day, we just had to scrap it out as a team. We can’t play anyone too lightly because it’s a midweek, we have to play everyone like it’s an SEC game.”
A&M finished the game with 10 hits and no errors to Lamar's six hits and two errors.
“If we don’t play clean defense, that game can get out of control quickly,” Ford said.
The Aggies return to Davis Diamond tomorrow at 6 p.m. CT to battle Incarnate Word before entering a weekend series against No. 3 Tennessee.
