Streak reaches seven as No. 4 Texas A&M run-rules Prairie View, 10-0
Game #37: No. 4 Texas A&M 10, Prairie View A&M 0 (5 innings)
Records: Texas A&M (32-5, 6-3), Prairie View A&M (16-15, 10-1)
WP: Grace Sparks (7-1)
LP: Cailin Massey (6-4)
Box Score
A one-hour and 22-minute game in which No. 4 Texas A&M run-ruled Prairie View 10-0 saw Mac Barbara hit her 50th career home run and also get some reps behind home plate for the first time since the 2022 Regionals when she played with San Diego State.
The Aggies dispatched the Panthers in just five innings.
“It’s definitely an accomplishment for sure to know that I have 50 home runs in my career,” Barbara said. “Mentally, it felt good. Physically, I am going to have an ice bath after. Other than that, it felt really good to be back there. I hadn’t been back there in a long time, which was nice to play defense for once this year.”
Wednesday was the third time in the Trisha Ford era that the Aggies played the Panthers. This time around, it was the first time in nearly three years that PVAMU recorded a hit.
The only hit came in the first inning when Kayla Zaid reached on an infield single, and Prairie View stranded three base runners in the contest.
Ford utilized her bullpen as planned, showcasing the quality innings of Grace Sparks, Emily Leavitt and Sydney Lessentine.
Sparks started the evening in the circle, earning the win and provided two solid innings of work with a pair of punchouts.
“Today, we were treating it like a bullpen day,” Ford said. “Wanted to work on some different pitches. Grace, her drop ball to different parts of the zone, so there were some things we had in mind, and same with Lessentine with the lefties making sure we were getting some location pieces tonight.”
A&M’s offense provided Sparks with run support in the second inning when KK Dement and Kennedy Powell each had an RBI single, giving the Ags a 2-0 lead.
Emily Leavitt replaced Sparks in the third inning and also tossed two innings, giving up two walks. Leavitt hit Isabela Rodriguez, but it did not stop her momentum, as she finished the third inning by striking out Kearstin Tinsley.
The Maroon & White posted five runs in the third inning to take a 7-0 lead. The inning began with a Mya Perez hit-by-pitch, followed by a Barbara bomb that traveled 265 feet to straightaway center field with an exit velocity of 79 mph and a launch angle of 35.3 degrees.
“I think it is more of a weight lifted off my shoulder now, so I can finally breathe and just continue to hit and let the home runs come,” Barbara said. “Midweeks are hard, and they are tough because we are not playing top-25 teams, so you can’t really play the name on the jersey. You just got to play our own game, and so that was what we were prepared to do today.”
Allie Enright continued the onslaught with a single, followed by a Dement double. Enright then scored on a wild pitch.
Kramer Eschete drew a four-pitch walk that set up Powell and Amari Harper to crush a pair of RBI singles, extending the Aggies’ lead.
That wasn’t all she wrote.
A&M added to the run column in the fourth with three Aggies crossing the plate to set up Lessentine to finish the game.
A bases-loaded walk by Dement paid off after another ball scampered away from Michelle Meeks, which allowed Dement to advance to second base, scoring Kelsey Mathis.
Tyler native Kylei Griffin registered the last Aggie run on a sacrifice fly to center field to score Scout Lovell.
Over the nine-game homestand, the Maroon & White went 8-1, hit .421 as an offense with a .658 slugging percentage and .507 on-base percentage. Seventy-eight runs off 96 hits helped elevate Ford & Co. to another dazzling performance.
“I am just very where our feet are,” Ford said. “Right after this game, it is like, ‘Georgia, OK. What’s next?’ I talked to the team. ‘OK, great job. This is what you're supposed to do, but let's get after it right now. Let’s go out there and let’s make some noise. Let’s compete our tails off and execute Aggie softball.’”
The Aggies will look to carry their winning ways into this weekend’s series at No. 16 Georgia in Athens. The three-game series begins on Saturday, April 5, at 4 p.m. CT.
