Series even as No. 23 Texas A&M and Missouri split Saturday contests
Game 1: No. 23 Texas A&M 6, Missouri 2
It took two days, but the Aggies won the first game of their series with Missouri despite a weather-related game suspension, 6-2.
Julia Cottrill hit two homers with her first two at-bats against Missouri pitcher Lauren Krings. Cottrill’s dad, Jeff, watched from the opposing dugout as the first home run put the Aggies up two runs in the first inning.
“I think it’s nice to be able to put runs up on the board early, and then to continue that throughout the game,” Julia Cottril said.
Hometown hero Aiyana Coleman smacked the ball over the scoreboard in the second inning. In the next at-bat for Mizzou, the Tigers got their own homer from Alex Honnold, who hit a two-run homer.
In between the second and third home runs of the game, Koko Wooley scored in the third inning.
When Cottrill came back to bat, she hit her second and final home run of the game, another two-run blast, to give the Aggies their final score of 6-2 in the bottom of the third.
The weather hit late, and the tarp rolled out onto the dirt just before the start of the bottom of the sixth. The game resumed Saturday.
“Shaylee [Ackerman] did a really good job of battling through some things,” A&M head coach Trisha Ford said.
When the Maroon & White returned to the field, Shaylee Ackerman did not return to the circle. Emily Leavitt stepped up to close out the game in the top of the seventh.
Game 2: Missouri 8, No. 23 Texas A&M 1
Nine strikeouts from Madison Preston couldn’t stop the Tigers from running the bases.
“They executed pretty much every time I made a mistake, and they even executed when I didn’t,” Preston said. “It just is what it is.”
Starting off, Preston struck out Alex Honnold and then Kara Daly in the first.
“At the end of the day, we gotta execute our pitches,” Ford said.
The game was steady until the Aggies committed their first error of the series in the third, allowing Honnold and Maddie Snider to score. Missouri led 3-0.
“We’ve got to grow up, and put a team away,” Ford said. “Come out, focus, ready to go.”
Wooley put the only run up for the Maroon & White in the fifth inning off of Amari Harper’s sacrifice fly.
In the sixth, Riley Frizell doubled to right center to score Payton Jackson and Maddie Gallagher. Mizzou then led by four runs.
Just after Daly’s pinch hitter Vanessa Hollingsworth struck out in the seventh, Crenshaw singled through the left side, and Jenna Laird scored.
Gallagher and Julia Crenshaw scored off of Frizell’s single through the left side to increase the lead to 8-1.
“They capitalized when they needed to, and we had a couple of errors that didn’t help,” Cottrill said.
With one more chance to come back, the Aggies were unable to do so as Mizzou drew even for the weekend.
A&M and Mizzou will face off tomorrow for the rubber match at 5 p.m. CT in the Aggies’ regular-season home finale.
“We gotta figure it out, we gotta make some adjustments,” Ford said. “Come out tomorrow and win a series.”