Texas A&M Softball Fall Short in Series Opener at Texas

News release from Texas A&M Athletics: 

The No. 15 Texas A&M softball team dropped its series opener, 9-8, at No. 1 Texas on Friday night at McCombs Field.

Texas A&M (23-10, 5-2 SEC) and Texas (30-1, 7-0 SEC) battled in a seesaw affair featuring three lead changes and four ties. The Aggies trailed after the first inning before taking the lead and holding it until the final frame, when the Longhorns scored three unanswered runs to secure the win.

Five Aggies recorded multiple hits, led by Kennedy Powell with three. Micaela Wark paced the offense with three RBI, finishing 2-for-4 with a home run and a run scored. Paislie Allen went 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBI and two runs, while KK Dement added two doubles, two runs and one RBI.

Sidne Peters (9-4) was saddled with the loss after striking out four in 2.0 innings of relief, allowing three runs on four hits and one walk. Starter Sydney Lessentine tossed 2.1 innings with four strikeouts, while Kate Munerlyn fanned one in 1.2 innings of relief.

Powell and Mya Perez opened the game with consecutive singles before Wark singled to left to score Powell, giving the Aggies a 1-0 lead.

Texas answered in the bottom half with a pair of solo home runs to take a 2-1 lead after the opening frame.

The Aggies responded in the second as Dement led off with a double and later scored on Powell’s single up the middle to tie the game at 2-2. Lessentine struck out the side in the bottom half on 13 pitches.

A&M regained the lead in the third, plating three two-out runs on two hits, highlighted by a Dement RBI double and a two-run home run from Allen for a 5-2 advantage.

The Longhorns evened the score at 5-5 with three runs on three hits, including a pair of doubles.

Ol’ Sarge’s charges took their third lead of the game in the fourth when Powell led off with a double before Wark launched her team-leading 14th home run to make it 7-5. Texas answered with an RBI single in the bottom half to cut the deficit to one.

Allen led off the fifth with a single and advanced to third on consecutive groundouts before Perez drove her in with a single to right-center for her second RBI of the game.

Texas tied the game for the fourth time in the bottom half, using a solo home run and an RBI single to make it 8-8.

Texas A&M was retired via consecutive strikeouts to open the seventh before pinch hitter Maddie Sauni reached on a hard-hit ground ball. A swinging strikeout ended the inning.

Texas opened the bottom of the seventh with a double, followed by an intentional walk and a hit batter to load the bases. An infield groundball brought home the game-winning run.

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