No. 3 Ags top No. 6 Tigers to secure series opener to claim 10th straight

Game #40: No. 3 Texas A&M 12, No. 6 LSU 7
Records: Texas A&M (36-5, 10-3), LSU (35-6, 8-4)
WP: Emiley Kennedy (13-3)
LP: Sydney Berzon (15-3)
Box Score

Despite falling behind early, No. 3 Texas A&M softball’s explosive offense caged the No. 6 LSU Tigers in a 12-7 victory on Friday night in College Station.

The win is the Ags’ 10th in a row.

With the Tigers draped in their typical purple threads and the Aggies donning bright pink for their annual BTHO Cancer game, Davis Diamond’s aesthetic was a little girl’s dream.

The game was cracked open in the bottom of the first thanks to graduate designated player Mac Barbara’s bat. The San Diego State transfer launched a three-run homer 254 feet over the center field wall, which was plucked out of the sunny skies by none other than former A&M basketball player Andersson Garcia.

“Offensively, just relentless in the box,” coach Trisha Ford said. “We had good, focused at-bats.”

Even with a 1-2-3 first from senior left-handed pitcher Emiley Kennedy, the second inning came flying off the rails.

“I thought Kennedy was fantastic inning one, and then she just tried to do too much inning two,” Ford said. “From then on out, I thought she executed her pitches really well.”

LSU star first baseman Tori Edwards got the train rolling with a double off the right field wall, starting a chain of six straight hits. The Tigers peppered right field, allowing the visitors to catwalk around the bags for four runs.

To add the fifth run of the inning, junior center fielder Jalia Lassiter lobbed a sacrifice fly to left field to bring sophomore second baseman Maddox McKee home. Kennedy eventually whizzed a fastball past the swinging bat of Edwards to end the inning.

Suddenly staring at a two-run deficit, the Maroon & White offense had ground to make up.

“We never really get too high or too low; that’s kind of our thing this year,” senior center fielder Allie Enright said. “We know that we are never out of a game.”

Junior catcher Gracyn Coleman walked after four consecutive balls from junior right-handed pitcher Sydney Berzon. A&M put another batter on base after junior third baseman Kennedy Powell reached on an error.

Kendal Lockler, TexAgs

Emiley Kennedy threw 146 pitches in a complete-game victory. The senior is now 13-3 on the year.

Junior right fielder Amari Harper connected with a sacrifice fly, giving sophomore pinch runner Scout Lovell enough time to scamper home. Sophomore first baseman Mya Perez’s monstrous season continued with a double roped into right field, scoring Powell and tying the game.

Following a scoreless third and top of the fourth, A&M took a stranglehold on the game in the bottom of the frame. After Perez lasered another double into left center, the Aggies got two consecutive walks to load the bases.

With the energy at Davis reaching a boiling point, Enright lit the fuse that erupted the crowd with a single after a lengthy at-bat to score Lovell and Barbara. On the next at-bat, freshman second baseman KK Dement reached on a fielder’s error, allowing Koko Wooley to fly home.

“The softball gods are paying her back,” Ford said of Enright. “That’s a kid that puts in a lot of work, somebody that I feel like the game knows. Obviously, they had a miscue, and Allie made them pay for it.”

Enright finished her journey around the bags thanks to a senior catcher Olivia Johnson sacrifice bunt that gave A&M the 9-4 lead.

After pitching a scoreless top of the fifth, A&M kept its foot on the gas with another RBI double from Perez to bring Powell home, making her the first Aggie to have three doubles in a game since 2014. Barbara immediately laced a single to left field, the Maroon avalanche growing the lead to 11-7.

A 1-2-3 inning for the Maroon & White defense in the sixth bought Harper enough time to deal one final blow to the Purple and Gold: a single that Powell missiled around third to reach home on.

LSU gave the 12th Man a scare in the seventh on its last-ditch effort, loading the bases after two separate fielding errors and a walk. After Kennedy walked sophomore left fielder Jadyn Laneaux to add a run to the Tigers’ total, Ford came out to calm her defense.

“What got Kennedy into a little bit of trouble in the second inning was she was overthrowing,” Ford said. “I saw 74.8, up on the radar, or nine, I can’t remember. I was like, ‘What in the world?’ I wanted to make sure her head was in a good place that we knew we needed outs. It was more of a full-team communication. Slow the game down, execute pitches.”

Her talk worked, as nifty fielding from Wooley and senior left fielder Kramer Eschete snagged the final two outs of the game, inciting a palpable sigh of relief from the crowd.

A&M will look to prevent an LSU vengeance tour and clinch the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT.