Story by: Ali Garcia, Texas A&M Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M softball team held off a late charge to defeat the Ole Miss Rebels, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at Davis Diamond.
Ole Miss drew first blood in the top half of the second, scoring two runs with two outs. The Aggies jumpstarted their offense and answered back in the fourth, scoring two runs with the help of a Bre Warren RBI double and an Ashlynn Walls RBI bloop single. The Maroon & White took the lead in the fifth, scoring two runs on a Warren single that shot off the pitcher and into right field. The Rebels were able to score one in the sixth and get two runners into scoring position with one out in the seventh, but the Aggies were able to close out the game with an infield pop out and fly out at the warning track in left field.
Offensively, Warren and Walls dealt the majority of the damage for the Aggies. Warren went 2-for-3 with two huge RBI hits to mark her eighth multi-hit game of the season, while Walls added two hits of her own and one RBI.
Grace Uribe (7-3) was awarded the start and win in the circle. Uribe gave up three runs, one earned run, on five hits and two walks while fanning three in 5.1 innings of work. Makinzy Herzog was called upon in the six inning, and was able to strand one runner on the base path after retiring consecutive batters. Herzog (3) earned the save for closing out the remaining 1.2 scoreless innings, scattering two walks while striking out one.
The Aggies improved to 28-13 on the season and 6-9 in conference play, while the Rebels fell to 28-15 on the year and 10-8 in SEC play.
KEY INNINGS
T1| With two outs, Jessica Puk reached first on a misplayed ball by the Aggies. Shortly after, Latham drew a six-pitch walk, before coming in to score with Puk on a bases clearing triple into the right-centerfield gap by Sydney Gutierrez. OM 2, A&M 0
B4| Makinzy Herzog led off with an infield single to shortstop and moved over to second after Morgan Smith reached first on a fielding error by Ole Miss’s second baseman. Both runners moved into scoring position on an executed sacrifice bunt by Shaylee Ackerman, before Bre Warren put a run on the board with a double off the right-centerfield wall. Ashlynn Walls delivered an RBI single to right field to tie things up at two. A&M 2, OM 2.
B5| Morgan Smith reached first with two outs after being struck by a pitch and was subbed out for pinch runner Star Ferguson. Ferguson moved over to second after Ackerman drew a six-pitch base-on-balls. Warren came through once again, plating two on a RBI single off the pitcher. A&M 4, OM 2.
T6| Gutierrez lined a single to leftfield with one out, stole second, and came around to score on a single to right field by Blaise Biringer. A&M 4, OM 3.
Top Offensive Players:
Bre Warren – 2-for-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI
Ashlynn Walls – 2-for-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Pitching Breakdown:
Grace Uribe – 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 2 BB
Makinzy Herzog – 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 SO, 2 BB
WHAT THEY SAID
Head Coach Jo Evans
Opening Statement…
“Feels good to get a win today. I feel like our kids have been playing hard. We’ve had our chances this whole series. We’ve had opportunities to win all three games. I thought we showed a lot of fight today, showed a lot of resiliency. We give up the two unearned runs in the first inning, and we kept fighting. Grace Uribe was terrific today. She went out there and really kept us in the ballgame. She gives up those two unearned runs in the first, not her fault by any means. She only gives up one earned run on the day. Can’t say enough about her performance, and then (Makinzy) Herzog being able to come in for an inning and two-thirds and shut them down. We know that she’s going to walk a kid here and there, we understand that, but the way she managed runners on base was really impressive. She didn’t get discouraged, went at hitters, and ends up getting a big outing for us. I thought our pitchers on the weekend were really good and did a great job. It was nice to see our offense get it together today.”
Freshman Outfielder Bre Warren
On the game plan today…
“Today along with the past two games, we’ve been sticking to our plan. We looked to execute it during our at-bats today. It had to a lot with our perspective and persevering through the obstacles we had in front of us. I think we came together today and wanted to win with a different type of fight.”
On her successful day at the plate…
“We went back and watched Friday’s film to look at how she was going to pitch to me. It was important that I didn’t expand my zone when I had two strikes. I was looking to focus on that type of approach in the box.”