No. 25 Texas A&M Softball Drops Series to Auburn

Story by Nick Whitley, Texas A&M Athletics Communications

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 25 Texas A&M softball (26-11, 5-7 SEC) dropped the final game of its series against the Auburn Tigers (21-12, 3-9 SEC) on Sunday afternoon at Davis Diamond. Auburn came away with the series victory, winning two of the three matchups this weekend.

A&M started the game with a booming solo home run from Haley Lee in the bottom of the first inning and took an early 1-0 lead, but the Tigers responded quickly in the top of the second with a Lindsey Garcia solo shot to tie the game. Auburn pulled away in the top half of the fifth with a Justus Perry double and Maia Engelkes single that drove Perry home to make it 2-1. The Tigers added an additional score in the sixth and the Aggies failed to capitalize on their remaining at-bats to finalize the 3-1 score.

In the all-time series between the two programs, the Aggies have won nine matchups and lead the series in Aggieland by a 6-5 margin. Lee finished the series as A&M’s leader in the box, hitting an impressive .500 with one home run and three hits overall. In addition, freshman shortstop Rylen Wiggins put in a solid weekend of work going 3-for-7 in the series, good enough for a .429 average this weekend.

In the batter’s box on Sunday, Lee finished with a spectacular statistical performance, highlighted by her 15th home run of the year and fourth homer of SEC play. The Kingwood, Texas, native is now only four home runs away from tying the Texas A&M record against SEC opponents held by Tori Vidales. Lee takes over second place in the SEC with 15 homers this season, breaking a tie with Kentucky’s Erin Coffel. Arkansas’ Braxton Burnside leads the league with 21.

The Maroon & White utilized four pitchers on Sunday, with freshman Grace Uribe making the start for the ninth time in her career. The Huntington Beach, California, native spent 3.0 innings in the circle, scattering two hits while surrendering one run and striking out a trio of Tigers. Kayla Poynter pitched for 3.0 innings and was saddled with the loss after scattering five hits with two runs. Neither Uribe nor Poynter surrendered a walk on the afternoon. Makinzy Herzog and Hannah Mayo combined for the final three outs of the game.

KEY INNINGS
B1 | With two outs on the board, Haley Lee worked her way to a 3-1 count and catapulted the next pitch over the wall in left centerfield for her 15th home run of the season. A&M 1, AUB 0

T2 | Auburn’s designated player, Lindsey Garcia, answered A&M’s home run with one of her own, hit into the middle of the Davis Diamond scoreboard in leftfield. A&M 1, AUB 1

T5 | Justus Perry doubled to leftfield on a 2-1 count and Maia Engelkes pinch hit for Maddison Koepke. Engelkes singled straight up the middle and Perry rounded the basepath, closely missing Haley Lee’s tag at home plate for the score. AUB 2, A&M 1

T6| The Tigers opened the inning with an out, followed by Tyler King’s single up the middle. Sydney Cox doubled just outside Star Ferguson’s reach in right field as King scored, with Cox thrown out at third base. AUB 3, A&M 1
Top Offensive Player:
Haley Lee – 2-for-2, HR, RBI

Pitching Breakdown:
Grace Uribe – 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 0 BB
Kayla Poynter (8-3) – 3.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 SO, 0 BB
Makinzy Herzog – 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB
Hannah Mayo – 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 SO, 0 BB

WHAT THEY SAID

Head Coach Jo Evans
Opening Statement…
“Disappointing loss for us today. We came into this weekend and felt like we could win this series and really just offensively could not get it together today against Lowe. She just threw really well. The frustrating thing from our perspective with our offense is doing the same thing over and over again. They really didn’t have to change the way they pitch to us, because we did not make adjustments from one at-bat to the next at-bat. I’m disappointed in that and didn’t feel like we competed well at the plate. I didn’t think we were mentally tough today in terms of how we approached our at-bats and didn’t stay in our plan.”

ON DECK

Texas A&M softball looks ahead to a midweek battle in Aggieland with the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Wednesday, April 14, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Davis Diamond.

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