Aggie Softball Defeats Tyler Junior College

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M softball team picked up its fifth straight win to open the fall season, defeating Tyler Junior College 11-0 at the Aggie Softball Complex Tuesday evening.

Freshman Samantha Show made quick work of the top of the first inning, striking out the side. Show’s classmate, Kaitlyn Alderink, put the Aggies on the board in the bottom of the first with an inside the park homerun to deep center. The Keller, Texas native drove a ball off the wall just the left of the ‘220’ sign that nearly ricocheted all the way back to the infield as Alderink motored home to put the Aggies ahead.

Show continued to show great stuff throughout the game as the East Bernard (Texas) native finished the night throwing six innings, allowing just four hits. The A&M freshman struck out nine and did not issue a free pass to the 22 batters she faced.

The Aggies chased Tyler’s starting pitcher, Alicia Garcia, from the game with three runs in the bottom of the third. Four of the first five hitters that came to the plate in the third frame reached base, freshman Riley Sartain began the inning with a single to left field followed by a walk to Show. Senior Alex Masekbunted the runners over before Alderink collected a pair of RBI with a single.

A&M tacked on a run in the fourth before putting the game away in the bottom of the sixth. Similar to the bottom of the third, in the sixth, four of the first five batters reached base. Sophomore Haley Rebar picked up the Aggies’ second homerun of the night, knocking in classmate Kayla Ober, making the score 9-0 in A&M’s favor.

Sophomore Ashley Walters restarted the scoring for the maroon and white in the bottom of the ninth, with a homerun to deep left field. Walter’s homerun easily cleared the net in left, coming to rest somewhere in the Reed Arena parking lot. Sophomore Kristen Cuyos scored the final run of the night after singling in the Aggies’ final at-bat, Sartain’s sac-fly to right field scored Cuyos from third.

Ober pitched the final four innings for Head Coach Jo Evans‘ squad, allowing three hits, striking out two and issuing one walk. On the night, A&M pitching struck out 11-of-37 batters faced, allowing just eight baserunners. The A&M offense was the polar opposite, bagging 14 hits and seven walks in 45 trips to the plate.

Texas A&M softball returns to the Aggie Softball Complex Wednesday at 5 p.m. (CT) to take on McLennan College. To learn more about Texas A&M softball, log on to 12thMan.com/softball and follow @AggieSoftball on Twitter.

Post-game quotes
Jo Evans, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the team’s performance…
“I thought our pitchers looked really good tonight. I thought Sam (Show) did a really nice job with the drop ball that she is just learning, it was really breaking. We did a really nice job throwing off speed. Defensively, I was really pleased with our effort tonight. I really don’t have any complaints about our defense and that is something that I am very particular about. Offensively, it was nice to see us hit through the lineup. I would like to see us be a little more disciplined at the plate and look for the pitch to hit. It was nice to get a couple extra at-bats and take a look at the entire lineup. It’s great to see who looks comfortable at the plate and who might need a couple swings this fall.”

On the performance from the top of the lineup…
“I’m excited to see the speed at the top of the lineup, we have not had a whole lot of speed the last couple of years. Seeing Keeli (Milligan) and Kaitlyn (Alderink) back-to-back at the top, being able to take an extra-base or causing havoc on the base path. I think both of them can be difference makers in our lineup this season.”

Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

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