Softball: Ags take two from A&M-Corpus Christi in blowout fashion

COLLEGE STATION – After being swept in blowout fashion by Florida last weekend, the Texas A&M softball team was in need of an easy victory to get back on the right track.

On Tuesday they got two of them, blowing out the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 10-3 and 15-0 in a doubleheader at the Aggie Softball Complex. In the two games, the No. 21 Aggies clobbered four homeruns and marked up a total of 27 hits for wins 30 and 31 on the year.

“We needed that,” said A&M head coach Jo Evans. “We needed a game where we could just settle in and get comfortable and hit through our lineup.”

Matt Sachs, TexAgs Freshman April Ryan picked up her fourth homerun of the season in game one of Tuesday's doubleheader.

In the top of the second inning of game one, Islanders’ third baseman Cassie Carroll drove a pitch from A&M starter Katie Marks to deep center field that eventually left the ball park. Aggie center fielder Emily Albus tried to make the web gem snag as the ball was leaving the park, but it fell just off of her glove and over the wall to give Corpus Christi the early 3-1 lead.

However, that would be the last time the Islanders were in command for the remainder of the day.

The Aggies scored one in the third and fourth innings on a single from April Ryan and a double from Reagan Boenker to even the score, but it was a four-run bottom of the fifth paced by a two-RBI bomb to right-center off the bat of Amber Garza that broke the tie and ultimately gave all control back to A&M. 

The homerun was Garza’s ninth of the season and the first since returning to the lineup after an ankle injury.

“She’s getting more comfortable,” Evans said of Garza. “It was nice to get her some at-bats and then get her out of there and back into her boot. She’s doing a great job.”

For good measure, Ryan blasted a two-run homerun to right in the bottom of the sixth to add to the already lopsided score. Ryan’s fourth homer of the year scored both herself and sophomore Cali Lanphear who reached base in the previous at-bat with a pinch-hit single.

“We really needed April Ryan to come around and start hitting the ball,” Evans stated. “She’s feeling better about herself. She had a great night in both games.”

A&M picked up where they left off in game two, using a nine-run second inning to put the game out of reach early on.

A total of 13 batters came to the plate during the frame, eight of which recorded hits while another pair walked. A&M catcher Nicole Morgan picked up a stand-up double and her team-leading 12th homerun of the season during the inning to lead the charge.

If that wasn’t enough, A&M continued to pile it on with a three-run homer from Cassie Tysarczyk in the bottom of the third and a bases-clearing, three-run double from Albus in the fourth. While the double from Albus was her most impressive swing of the day, she had quite a few to choose from as she went a combined 6-for-10 between the two games.

Matt Sachs, TexAgs Senior Emily Albus reached knocked in three and went 6-for-10 against the Islanders on Tuesday.

“I thought Emily Albus was terrific,” Evans said of her senior’s performance. “She got on [base] all day. She needed that. It’s good for her to go out there and get her confidence up.” 

With the large lead in game two, Evans was able to get some of her younger and less-used players some valuable time at the plate and in the field.

“It was great to see our youngsters get in there and see some innings,” stated Evans. “We have a lot of kids in there that work hard every day and don’t get in the lineup, but they did today. It was nice to see them execute and perform when they got the opportunity.”

With the midweek behind them, A&M now travels to Auburn for a huge three-game weekend series. With both the Aggies and Tigers near the cut-line for the SEC Tournament (only the top 10 teams get a spot), winning the series becomes of utmost importance.

“It’s a critical weekend for us,” Evans concluded. “We have to go down there and take care of business. I don’t want to be sitting at home that last weekend when we have a bye-week (in conference) having to hope that someone else loses. We don’t want that. We just want to take care of business ourselves.”