Five-run resumption rally knocks off No. 1 Oklahoma

Game #50: No. 12 Texas A&M 8, No. 1 Oklahoma 5
Records: Texas A&M (36-14, 16-6), Oklahoma (46-7, 18-4)
WP: Sidne Peters (14-5)
LP: Miali Guachino (14-2)
Box Score

They say that April showers bring May flowers.

At Davis Diamond, there was no shortage of showers or flowers for a two-day ballgame between No. 12 Texas A&M and No. 1 Oklahoma.

Thursday night thunderstorms interrupted the first contest of a three-game series, suspending play for 14 hours at the bottom of the sixth with the Sooners up 5-3.

When the teams returned at 12:55 p.m. on Friday, all it took was 34 minutes of dry weather for the Aggies to pull off an 8-5 comeback win.

“I thought they came out ready to go today,” A&M head coach Trisha Ford said. “As a team, you’re going to have to come out, and sometimes that’s how it is. I thought our team just responded tremendously today, putting up five runs in the sixth inning.”

Despite delays, playing from behind and being the underdogs, A&M came out of Thursday night’s suspension focused and ready to attack.

With two outs and one on in the sixth, freshman Maddie Sauni stepped in after a pitching change. She then punched an RBI single to left field, scoring pinch runner Hailey Golden and cutting A&M’s deficit to one run.

Sauni has been clutch for the A&M offense, going 7-for-15 with seven RBI in pinch-hitting situations.

“I’m just so proud of her,” Ford said. “This is a really hard position to be in. She had to come in cold and just did a great job of putting the ball in play. This is only making her better and better and more confident.”

After Sauni’s hit, Kennedy Powell reached on a single, bringing Tallen Edwards to the plate. The Oklahoma State transfer tied the game with an RBI single of her own after battling to a full count.

On Thursday, Edwards had two fielding errors, including one that led to Oklahoma’s fifth run. Despite the shakeups, she went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored in a win over the Sooners.

“I can’t take all the credit for that bounce back,” Edwards said. “That was hard. It had me eaten up. I wanted to bounce back because I wanted to have their backs. If I’m not doing it with the glove, damn it, I gotta get it done somewhere else.”

After Edwards’ plate appearance, Oklahoma pitcher Miali Guachino walked Mya Perez to load the bases for the power-hitting Micaela Wark.

The senior blew the game out of the water, slamming a two-run single and advancing to third on an error that cleared the bases and put the Aggies up 8-5.

Sidne Peters continued her tenure in the circle from Thursday night, facing Oklahoma freshman phenom Kendall Wells. The Sooner catcher came into the series one long ball short of securing the NCAA’s single-season home run record at 37.

“You can’t think about names or who we’re playing,” Peters said. “I really just focused on my preparation going into that moment but also knowing my teammates worked their butts off to get us those runs. I knew we just had to finish it here.”

In the top of the seventh, Peters struck Wells out looking for the first out of the inning.

Another strikeout and a pop-up to left field, Peters sealed a top-15 win for the Aggies against the No. 1 team in the country.

After scoring four runs combined in the series against South Carolina, the Aggies weathered the storm to score eight runs on 10 hits against Oklahoma.

Game one concluded in what felt like two months’ time, giving the Aggies a 1-0 advantage in the three-game series, which will continue on Saturday.