The Texas A&M softball team (15-6) took down the UT-Arlington Mavericks, 1-0 Wednesday night at Davis Diamond. The contest marked the Aggies’ final contest before heading into SEC play this weekend. The win also marked A&M’s sixth straight win in a row.
The Aggies struggled to plate runs early on in the game. The first three innings would see A&M batters reach base only four times, on one hit. The first and third innings would see two Aggie runners left on base to end each inning.
UT-Arlington pitcher Randi Phillips was solid throughout the matchup, going six innings and allowing only five hits in total. Two of those hits would be allowed in the fourth innings though, as the Aggies would plate a run off of a single from Blake-Ann Fritsch. Fritsch singled into right field, and would proceed to be tagged out at first by a great defensive play by the Maverick defense. The maroon and white took a 1-0 lead into the top of the fifth.
Both team’s defenses would continue to step up and make plays, as the game wound down, with both the Mavericks and Aggies recording double plays to end their respective halves of the sixth inning.
“When you pitch and play defense you have a chance to win a lot of games.”
- A&M HC Jo Evans
The top of the seventh would see the Aggies close out in timely fashion, as Kayla Poynter (3-2) would retire all three batters in the frame to end the game. Poynter went the distance for her second consecutive game, and pitched her first complete game shutout of the year. Today’s win also marked Poynter’s third of the season.
“I feel like I’m settling in more.” said Poynter. “[I was focused on] throwing strikes, letting the defense work, and trusting the defense to get [her] some outs.”
“When you pitch and play defense you have a chance to win a lot of games,” A&M head coach Jo Evans said. “Poynter was picking up where she left off, that was what I really wanted to see out of her today.”
“Last year we seriously considered redshirting her, with the other pitchers we had. We realized that it was important for her to get that experience. Now looking at it, we’re very happy that we made that decision. We’re really pleased to see her get out there be more consistent and throwing strikes.”
The Aggies will go into this weekend hoping to add to their recent streak, when they open up SEC play with a weekend series against LSU at Davis Diamond. First pitch for Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be streamed live on SEC Network+.
