Aggies break in Davis Diamond with 3-1 win over No. 12 Auburn
The No. 11 Aggies (38-12, 11-8 SEC) broke in their new stadium in the right fashion with a 3-1 win over the No. 12 Tigers at the newly constructed Davis Diamond. A big two-out rally and a strong performance by Trinity Harrington in the circle were enough for a win.
After managing just one hit through the first three innings, A&M came alive in the fourth with two outs. After a two-out walk by Ashley Walters and a single to shallow left-center field by Kaitlyn Alderink, Riley Sartain put the Aggies on the scoreboard with an RBI knock to left-center field. Kelbi Fortenberry kept the line moving with a two-RBI single into center field. When it was all said and done, A&M had scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
“I think that’s just the kind of team we are — we’re really tough. We show a lot of fight – like I said a lot of grit,” Sartain, who had the first RBI in Davis Diamond history, said of the two-out rally. “We’re going to get up there no matter how many outs and try to do some damage.”
Fortenberry finished with a strong offensive day, going 2-2 with the first hit at Davis Diamond. She also capped off the rally in the fourth with two RBI.
“I’m extremely blessed, like so excited,” Fortenberry said of the first hit at the new stadim. “There’s no words that can describe my feeling right now.”
Harrington (13-2, 1.49 ERA) was in the circle for the Aggies and was dominant. She tossed a complete game and gave up one run while recording two strikeouts. Harrington’s best inning came after she gave up her only run. At one point, she worked her way around two runners in scoring position by getting Kendall Veach to pop up to end a frame.
The Tigers got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth. After a base hit and a walk, Alyssa Rivera would shoot an RBI double in the left-center field gap.
Head coach Jo Evans said she was proud of how her team was able to put all of the outside noise aside and get an important win over Auburn.
“I’m thrilled to get a win tonight,” Evans said. “I wanted this to be all about winning and not get too caught up in the excitement and that’s really hard to do. I’m just really proud that we could come here with all the distractions, really good distractions, a different routine, hitting pregame on the field — all of the things that we never do, and come out here and just look settled in, looking confident and taking over the game.”
With the win tonight, the Aggies put another game between themselves and the Tigers in the SEC standings.
A&M will return to the diamond tomorrow against Auburn for the second game of the series. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., and game can be seen on the SEC Network +.
