COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M softball fell to McNeese 1-0 Thursday night at Davis Diamond. The Aggies drop to 3-3, while McNeese improves to 5-1 overall.
It was a scoreless game until the fifth inning when the Cowgirls got a runner on first. After a throwing error put runners on the corners, a single up the middle by Sara Geir delivered the only run of the night.
Texas A&M was led offensively by Kelbi Fortenberry and Ashlynn Walls, each recording a hit.
Kayla Poynter (2-1) was saddled with the loss, in her second complete game of the season. The Loganville, Georgia, native yielded one run on five hits, while striking out five.
McNeese’s Saleen Flores (2-0) threw a complete game and only allowed two hits, while striking out four.
The Aggies are back in action tomorrow, Feb. 14, hosting their second consecutive tournament with the Texas A&M Invitational. A&M faces off against Lamar at 3 p.m. and St. John’s at 5:15 p.m.
KEY INNINGS
T5| McNeese’s Haylee Brinlee singled up the middle with one out. Gracie DeVall reached on a throwing error by the Aggies, advancing the runner to third. With runners on the corners, Sara Geir got the Cowgirls on the board with a single up the middle. McNeese 1, A&M 0
Top Offensive Players:
Kelbi Fortenberry | 1-for-3
Ashlynn Walls | 1-for-2
Pitching Breakdown:
Kayla Poynter (2-1) – L, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 K, 0 BB
WHAT THEY SAID
Head Coach Jo Evans
On Kayla Poynter’s pitching tonight…
“Kayla Poynter had another great night. She was just really in command. I think her presence right now is so good and she’s really confident. I love the way she is playing. It’s a shame that that kid didn’t get a win tonight because she deserves it. She earned it. Our team just didn’t take care of business. Our team, I thought, defensively, was way too passive. We had several opportunities for outs, in particular in the inning they ended up scoring a run. Just not taking care of outs when we could get them, so I’m not pleased with that at all. You get into a night like tonight where it’s cold, the winds blowing in and you know it’s not going to be a big scoring night and it’s all set up for someone to score a run here or there. We needed to take care of the ball. I told our kids in that game, I didn’t care if it lasted 14 innings, you go out there and make plays.”
On her message to the team after the error…
“Just to be aggressive. I thought we were so passive out there and she [Kayla Poynter] was giving us opportunities to get outs and we were just on our heels. There was no sense of urgency to make a play. The ball never left the infield really with the pop up and that’s a ball we have to catch too. That I feel like our infield should be able to extend itself and make that play. For me, it was just to try and wake up our infield. I felt like we were just way too passive in the way we were approaching the game.”
On the quick turnaround tomorrow…
“Let’s get this bad taste out of our mouth and get out and play. We have five games this weekend, which is really good. We need to get out there and get after it. I just want to see us play with a lot more energy and enthusiasm and a lot more passion for the game, and to just have a lot more confidence. I feel like this game, in particular, we were a lot more on our heels. It’s not what I would have expected out of our ball club coming off a big come-from-behind win the other day and putting a bunch of hits together and having some fun playing the game.”
Junior RHP Kayla Poynter
On the loss despite a great outing …
“Throughout the whole game, my mentality going into every game is to focus on what I can control. Everything that happens is just focused on one pitch at a time. ”
On McNeese’s hit dropping with the wind…
“I’ll give them credit, they did do a lot of good things tonight. They struck one in the gap, but a lot of their hits were balls that were just caught up in the wind. There is nothing we can do about that.”
On getting the younger players used to collegiate softball…
“Right now we are in a learning stage. We have a lot of new people and a lot of young people, so right now we are in a coming together phase of everyone working together and learning how to communicate. We are working on it.”
ON DECK
The Aggies begin the Texas A&M Invitational, Friday through Sunday at Davis Diamond. Tomorrow, Texas A&M will play Lamar at 3 p.m., followed by St. John’s at 5:15 p.m.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can follow the Aggies wherever they go by following @AggieSoftball on Instagram and Twitter or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TAMUSoftball.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics