No. 24 Texas A&M bounces back with run-rule shutout of Texas State
Bounced back in a big way.
Donning hot pink uniforms, No. 24 Texas A&M cruised to an 8-0 win over Texas State in six innings on Wednesday night at Davis Diamond.
The run-rule victory was a much-needed boost following a sweep at South Carolina last weekend.
"Excited for the bounce back, honestly," A&M head coach Trisha Ford said. "I was wondering what tonight was going to look like, and I was really impressed and proud of our fight."
The Aggies got off to a slow start, but in the fourth, Julia Cottrill finally busted the ballgame wide open.
"Jules tends to rise when we need her," Ford said. "She's a big-time player, and that's what big-time players do."
With a slim 2-0 lead, the Aggie backstop ambushed the first Karsen Pierce offering she saw and crushed it to dead center field for a no-doubt grand slam.
"I was just hunting a strike," Cottrill said. "I think that I didn't do that in my first two at-bats, so my goal in my third at-bat was to make an adjustment and hunt a strike."
That big swing concluded A&M's fourth-inning outburst that saw five runs cross the plate, all with two outs. Just before Cottrill's bomb, Trinity Cannon had worked a bases-loaded walk.
"Julia doesn't have that opportunity if those people in front of her don't work and get on base," Ford said. "Honestly, Trin's at-bat was really the impressive piece of that inning."
Cottrill humbly echoed those sentiments.
"We had a rough weekend, and we wanted to change momentum, and it took us a little bit to get there," Cottrill said. "That doesn't happen without the first three batters that got on base, so we turned the momentum around and produced when we needed to."
A&M added two in the sixth with Rylen Wiggins' bases-loaded single off the left-field wall serving as the blow that enacted the mercy rule.
Cottrill finished 2-for-4, but she wasn't the lone offensive standout.
Morgan Smith went 3-for-3, and shortstop Koko Wooley notched her first career four-hit performance, going a perfect 4-for-4 with three singles and a double.
"Koko was just dynamic again," Ford said. "That's kind of the word that I always use for her when she has these types of games."
It was also Wooley's second-inning RBI single that cracked the scoreboard.
Wooley's big night was certainly unlikely considering she broke her left middle finger during Tuesday's practice.
"It felt normal," Wooley said. "I just had to figure out how to put my thumb under these fingers so I can actually grip the bat. It was pretty easy."
With her toughness on full display, she also made a couple of impressive defensive plays, including a lunging grab on a liner to begin an inning-ending double play in the fifth.
A&M's five-run fourth provided more than enough insurance for Shaylee Ackerman, who tossed four innings of shutout ball while allowing just one hit.
Emily Leavitt recorded the final six outs to preserve the shutout.
Impressive outings aside, Wednesday's bounce-back cannot be understated.
With two weekends left in Southeastern Conference play, these Aggies are out to prove their Columbia misstep was just a blip. An outside chance to host a regional still remains in play.
"We're a very close-knit team," Ford said. "I told them we don't have to be that close that we all suck together, so I said, ‘Let's all be really good together.’
"We still haven't put together, honestly, a really, really strong hitting performance and a really, really strong pitching performance in a game. Maybe this weekend."
A&M begins a three-game set at Ole Miss on Friday night.
"I feel like it was really important for us to get back on track, feel good about ourselves again and just really show people that flukes happen," Wooley said. "We're still the team that we were before last weekend."
