Aggies walked-off by Gamecocks as South Carolina claims series win

A pitcher’s duel turned cruel.

South Carolina claimed the weekend series as they walked off No. 21 Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, 1-0. 

A two-out single from Jordan Fabian in the bottom of the seventh put the go-ahead run aboard as Zoe Laneuax stepped up to the plate. Aggressive on the basepaths, Fabian stole second before Laneuax singled through the right side to plate the winning run. 

In the previous six innings, a lack of timely hitting doomed the Aggies as they stranded seven runners on four hits.

One of those hits came from Bre Warren, who juiced a double that was within a couple of feet of clearing the wall. Yet, the two ensuing batters could not bring her home in the second inning.

To keep the affair scoreless, Madison Preston held off runners in scoring position in the bottom half of the second. Preston was relieved by Emiley Kennedy after 2.1 innings of work, and Kennedy worked her way out of a jam to leave blanks on the scoreboard in the third.

The duel persisted as South Carolina’s Bailey Betenbaugh made her way through four innings before Karsen Ochs entered the circle. 

Leading the Aggies in batting average (.355), Julia Cotrill doubled to left field and advanced to third thanks to a perfectly placed bunt by Koko Wooley. Though, the pair was stranded heading into the bottom of the fifth.

A&M’s offense struggled to get anything going as the Maroon & White went down in order in the sixth and came up empty in the seventh. Laneuax’s walk-off single sent the Gamecocks home with a victory without any extra innings needed.

Kennedy was given the loss, allowing three hits and walking two in her 4.1 innings pitched.

The Aggies will look to salvage the series with the Gamecocks on Sunday at noon.