Ode to Joy Invitational: Saturday Recap – Aggie Softball
No. 25 ranked Texas A&M (12-5) split a pair of games Saturday to finish day one of the tournament at 1-1. They dropped the first game to Sam Houston University (8-10) but rebounded to defeat the No. 19 ranked Baylor Bears (14-2).
game one recap – Texas a&M vs Sam houston
The game was a tight contest most of the morning after Sam Houston got an early lead going up 1-0 after the first inning. Texas A&M would manage to get three hits in before the fifth inning, but nothing came of them as they stranded four runners on base.
At the top of the fifth inning, Sam Houston took advantage of an error to score another run going up 2-0. Then with runners on second and third the Bearkats hit a double to right center allowing both to score and pushing the lead to 4-0.
The top of the seventh started with back-to-back outs before Amari Harper hit a single up the middle to safely make it on base. That would be the last hit and runner on base for the inning. Out number three came via strikeout and that would be the end of the game.
Final Score: Aggies 0, Bearkats 5 – W: GUIDON, EMMA (2-2) L: Ackerman, Shaylee (3-2)
Final: Texas A&M 0, Sam Houston 4.
— Texas A&M Softball (@AggieSoftball) March 4, 2023
game Two recap – Texas a&M vs Baylor
Defense, defense, defense. The Aggies once again were able to get runners on base but could not capitalize until the top of the 7th. Leading up to the final inning Texas A&M had five hits but left nine runners on base.
The main story of game two was the battle on the mound from the 6’2″ left-handed sophomore pitcher Emiley Kennedy She would pitch all seven innings throwing a no-hitter against the No 19 ranked team in the country. It was no walk in the park either. Kennedy walked the first batter she faced, but the next nine batters wouldn’t see first base.
In the bottom of the fourth things start to get a little dicey with her walking two and hitting another batter. But her team had her back capped off by an amazing diving catch by Allie Enright to keep the no-hitter intact.
The effort. The dive. The catch. No notes. @allieenrightt keeps a zero in the Bears hit column.#NCAASoftball x 🎥@parker_rehm / @AggieSoftballpic.twitter.com/4fetzVBbrk
— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) March 4, 2023
With a scoreless game entering into the final inning, the Aggies had to start putting points on the board to award Kennedys pitching. After a Wooley pop-up to the shortstop for the first out the Baylor pitching started struggling hard. Here was the sequence – Morgan Smith walked, Trinity Cannon gets hit by a pitch, a wild pitch allows Smith and Cannon to advance, then Riley Valentine gets walked. Now with the bases loaded Grace Uribe hits a grounder that gets her out at first but allows Smith to score. For the last two scores of the inning freshman, Keely Williams hit a two-run double to extend the lead by three.
Kennedy went back to work to close out the game to cement her no-hitter. The first batter got caught looking for a strikeout. Batter number two hit a grounder back to Kennedy for an easy out at first, and the last out was a fly-out to center field.
Final Score: Aggies 3, Bears 0 – W: Kennedy, Emiley (5-1) L: RyLee Crandall (4-1)
Some of the best plays during @2021Kennedy's NO-HITTER for @AggieSoftball against Baylor!! ❌
btw @ESPNAssignDesk, y'all might wanna look at @allieenrightt for that #SCTop10 tonight 👀@Trisha_Ford | @mariharp_ | @trincannon | @KokoWooley | #GigEm | @KAGSnews pic.twitter.com/gBijPwQPOL
— Ben Peck (@TheBenPeck) March 5, 2023
Quotes from the post game:
Emiley Kennedy on her pitching
“I think I just hit my spots and trust in my defense and knew if I threw them ground out, they would get them and have my back.”
Keely Williams on her 7th-inning double
“…I tried to stay focused. I didn’t want to do anything to much or too little, and like I said just stay focused and I produced.”
Coach Trish Ford on the first game and how they responded in the second game
” The first game was rough…let’s call a spade a spade but I thought we did a really good job. I talked them between games and I said we have to flush we did not play our game and either we can start point fingers or we can come together and get tighter…”
“…I thought we did that. I was very happy with how they responded.”
The Aggies will be back in action at 10 am against Sam Houston and 3 pm against Baylor.
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