No. 6 Texas A&M secures series over No. 3 Tennessee
Tennessee and Texas A&M were originally scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday in an attempt to avoid the rain and decide the series. Mother Nature had other plans after the Lady Vols took the first game, pushing the second contest to Saturday morning after a couple of innings. It didn’t last too long as the Aggies won the rubber match via run-rule.
Game One: Tennessee 5, Texas A&M 1
Sophia Nugent’s big day lifted the Lady Vols to a win in the first game of the doubleheader. The Tennessee catcher blasted a pair of home runs and finished the contest with four RBIs.
Texas A&M starter Emily Leavitt had a rough go in the beginning. She allowed two free passes and a single to load the bases before recording an out. Nugent hit a ball into the hole that Aggie shortstop Koko Wooley fielded but couldn’t do anything with. The Lady Vols tacked on a second first-inning run with a sacrifice fly.
Leavitt exited in the third for freshman Sydney Lessentine. Nugent liked that matchup against Lessentine. She hit her first home run to lead off the fourth. Nugent hit a two-out, two-run bomb in the fifth to give Tennessee a couple of insurance runs.
The Aggies didn’t cash in when they had the chance against Tennessee starter Sage Mardjetko. Texas A&M was a combined 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Wooley, who went 3-for-3, tripled in the first but was stranded there. Wooley and Mya Perez led off the fourth with back-to-back singles, however, the heart of the order couldn’t push them across as Mardjetko retired the next three batters.
Perez drove in Wooley in the sixth after the two collected back-to-back hits once again. Despite the doubleheader and the four-run lead, Karen Weekly went to Karlyn Pickens out of the bullpen. Pickens immediately rolled a double play. She threw two scoreless innings to close out the win.
Game Two: Texas A&M 13, Tennessee 2 (5 Innings)
Weekly gave the ball to freshman Erin Nuwer and it went poorly. Wooley and Perez reached in the first. Mac Barbara and Amari Harper – who got a second chance because of an illegal pitch – hit back-to-back RBI doubles to give Emiley Kennedy a three-run lead before she threw a pitch.
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Peyton Tanner replaced Nuwer, retiring the first two batters she faced to end the frame. She didn’t have the same success in the second. She allowed a solo home run to Kelsey Mathis, who made her second career start. Perez drove in Wooley, who had walked for the second time, to push the lead to five. Tanner ended the second, but that’s when the rain came and the game went into Saturday.
Nugent came out firing, hitting a home run on the first pitch against Kennedy on Saturday. However, the Lady Vols couldn’t muster much offense after that. They scored another run in the third with the help of an error. Kennedy went five innings, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out six batters.
The Texas A&M offense didn’t let up. KK Dement hit a two-run homer. Mathis picked up another RBI. Perez, Barbara and Harper all finished with three RBIs apiece.
The two teams will head to Athens for the SEC Tournament, but both have clinched the double bye and won’t play till Thursday. Texas A&M is the No. 2 seed while Tennessee will either be No. 3 or No. 4.
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