Harrington throws a shutout as Aggies defeat No. 9 South Carolina, 3-0

Game #38: Texas A&M 3, South Carolina 0
Records: Texas A&M (31-7, 4-3), South Carolina (29-5, 5-2)
WP: Trinity Harrington (10-1)
LP: Cayla Droter (13-2)
Box Score

No. 12 Texas A&M blanked the ninth-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks 3-0 in the first game of a three-game series Friday evening at the Aggie Softball Complex.

In front of 1,262 fans, senior Trinity Harrington pitched her eighth complete game of the season, striking out five and allowing four hits while shutting out the Gamecocks.

“All of my pitches were working really well,” Harrington said after the game. “When I did get ahead I was able to bounce back and get a hittable ball and had my defense to back me when the time came.”

South Carolina came out swinging in the first inning when sophomore Mackenzie Boesel stroked a liner to left field that got away from junior Kelli Milligan and turned into a one-out double. Then Harrington never looked back as she got the next two Gamecocks on a lineout and a groundout to get out of the inning.

“I really didn’t think about it I just needed my quality pitches to come through in that first inning, and if the situation comes up like in Florida our defense will adapt to get the outs," Harrington said.

Stephanie Aiple

Riley Sartain went 2-for-3 at the plate on Friday night, scoring one run.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Aggies drew first blood by senior Ashley Walters and junior Riley Sartain reaching base. Walters then scored on an error committed by South Carolina’s third baseman Jana Johns, with Sartain advancing to third on the play. Sartain then scored on a groundout by senior Erica Russell. Sartain went 2-for-3 on the night and scored a run.

“I felt pretty good, we prepared pretty hard all week long after the tough week that we had,” Sartain said. “We weren’t going to take it easy on ourselves, but we definitely weren’t going to press either and with the info we had on these pitchers, I definitely think we executed with what we had to do.”

The Aggies then added a third insurance run, as sophomore Sarah Hudek got ahold of a ball and drove it to left-center field for a double. Then, senior Tori Vidales drove Hudek home with a single to center field.

“We had a lot of quality at-bats tonight,” head coach Jo Evans said. “We didn’t have a massive amount of hits but what we did have was quality at-bats. We only had one strikeout on the night, which is good to see, and people were squaring it up. Overall, I was really pleased to see our at bats. We looked calm at the plate and it showed.”

After securing their fourth Southeastern Conference win, the Aggies return to action for the second game of the three-game series Saturday afternoon at the Aggie Softball Complex. First pitch is scheduled for 1 P.M. and the game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network +.