A&M claims series behind Kennedy's relief & Cottrill's 6th-inning blast
No. 19 Texas A&M won a Sunday afternoon pitcher’s duel over Mississippi State at Davis Diamond, 2-1.
It was Emiley Kennedy’s brilliance in relief that ruled the day as she tossed 4.1 scoreless innings and walked away with six strikeouts.
A&M’s starter Madison Preston pitched 2.2 innings, allowing just one run on two hits.
With two outs in the top of the third, Mississippi State’s Nadia Barbary hit her third homer of the season to put the visitors on top.
It would be the Bulldogs’ only run of the day.
Two batters after the homer, Kennedy stepped into the circle and thwarted a bases-loaded jam.
"I thought Madison Preston came in and did a serviceable job. She struggled a little bit with her command, but Emiley Kennedy came in and looked lights out,” A&M head coach Trisha Ford said. “We did enough offensively to win."
A&M’s offense finally showed up in the fifth.
With one out, State’s Matalasi Faapito hit Amari Harper. The game changed with the subsequent batter.
Keely Williams singled through the right side as a throwing error by Chloe Malau’ulu allowed Harper to move to third and later score on another throwing error on the same play.
In the sixth, Kennedy struck out Jackie McKenna and Saleyna Daniel to keep the game deadlocked, stranding what would have been the go-ahead run at first.
"I just told myself to not let anything get too big. A base runner is just a base runner,” Kennedy said. “The next batter is the most important out you have to get."
Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Julia Cottrill stepped in to face Faapito.
The Aggie catcher’s fifth home run of the year cleared the wall in right center to put the Maroon & White on top.
"My first two at-bats were ugly, but everyone in the dugout between my second and third at-bats came up and calmed me down and reminded me who I was,” Cottrill said. “I just needed to stay relaxed in the box."
Calm and collected, Kennedy retired the side in order to clinch the series victory on Easter Sunday.
The Aggies will go for the sweep of against Mississippi State on Monday at 6 p.m. CT.
