Game #41: No. 13 Texas A&M 7, Ole Miss 5
Records: Texas A&M (29-12, 10-4), Ole Miss (26-17, 2-12)
WP: Taylor Pannell (1-1)
LP: Emilee Boyer (9-8)
Save: Sydney Lessentine (2)
Box Score
Ole Miss may have found their land legs, but No. 13 Texas A&M did just enough to stay afloat.
The neck-in-neck fight between the Aggies and the Rebels ended in a 7-5 victory for A&M on Saturday afternoon, solidifying the series win for A&M ahead of Sunday's third and final game.
For the Aggies, it seems they have found the rhythm that they were looking for at the start of the season. Though it's been a long journey, the Maroon & White have had their sights set high.
“Just really proud of our grit, our fight, it took a lot of runs for us to get this today, but I told the team, we just have to do whatever it takes in order to win us ball games,” A&M head coach Trisha Ford said.
Senior Kennedy Powell didn’t miss a beat waiting for her bat to get hot. Her first swing of the game, Powell sent a triple down the right field, before senior Tallen Edwards’ sac fly brought Powell home for the first run for A&M in the top of the first.
The Rebels answered in the bottom of the second with their first home run to tie things up heading into the top of the third.
In the top of the third, Powell brought in her second run of the game off an RBI single from sophomore Ariel Kowalewski, giving the Aggies a 2-1 advantage on the Rebels.
Powell is in her third year with the Aggies and has been a key player for the Maroon & White. On Saturday, she pushed her average to .428, recording two hits and two runs scored in her four at-bats.
For the fourth time this year, Kelsey Mathis left the yard as she sent a heater towards left center, bringing home Micaela Wark and Kowalewski.
The Aggies kept their hold on the Rebels with a four-run lead going into the bottom of the third. What they didn’t expect was for the Landsharks to attack so quickly, but the Aggies are never afraid of a challenge.
“This is like really good reps for us,” Ford said. “It’s important for us to come out against a conference opponent and try to get another win, you know, wins in this conference are hard.”
In the bottom of the third, Ole Miss hit their first of two home runs in the game, shrinking the Aggie lead to three runs.
The Rebels then quickly tied things up with another run off a double, followed by the second home run of the game, bringing Ole Miss neck and neck with A&M at 5-5 in the bottom of the fourth.
To keep the game a nail biter in the top of the fifth, the Aggies loaded the bases with three straight walks, which led to two more runs for the Maroon & White, pushing them back into a 7-5 lead over Ole Miss.
“It's just fighting. It’s hard in this conference,” Ford said.
It was a complete effort by the Aggies’ staff to hold down the Ole Miss offense. Senior Grace Sparks and senior Taylor Pannell saw action in the circle. Sophomore Sydney Lessentine shut the door for the Maroon & White, pitching the final two frames and earning the save.
“Pitching-wise, we had some really good outings by some of our pitchers that came through in the middle of the game, and then Lessentine came and shut the door,” Ford said.
The Aggies reeled in another big series win.
A&M and Ole Miss will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
