COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 25 Texas A&M softball team (37-17, 11-12 SEC) clinched the series victory over Ole Miss (30-23, 6-17 SEC) with an 8-6 victory Saturday afternoon.
Junior Katie Marks earned her 13th victory on the season and senior Rachel Fox picked up her fourth save in a combined effort that saw five strikeouts and only one walk issued.
In a wire-to-wire victory, the Aggies took a three-run lead in the home half of the first. Freshman Tori Vidales, batting in the leadoff position for the first time in 2015, opened with a double all the way to the warning track in center field. Sophomore April Ryan drew a walk and junior Cali Lanphear loaded the bases after dropping a single in right field. Freshman Ashley Walters was issued the second walk of the game, forcing Vidales home for the first run of the game and keeping the bases loaded with no outs.
Sophomore Celena Massey stepped up to the plate and cranked out the second double of the day, another long ball to center field, that sent Lanphear and Ryan speeding home to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead.
Neither team put anything on the board in the second and third innings, despite singles from Vidales and junior Breanna Dozier.
After Marks retired the Rebel side in order in the visitor portion of the fourth, senior Brittany Clopton reached first on a quick single and showed her speed by rounding the bags to third on a throwing error. Vidales drew her first walk of the day, moving into sixth place in the single season walk records, and a hit-and-run from Ryan gave Clopton a window to cross home for the fourth Aggie run of the day.
After shutting out the Rebels for the fifth straight inning, Dozier reached on a single through the left side and a double to left field from freshman Kristen Cuyos put both in scoring position for the Aggies. On to pinch hit, freshman Hailey Rebar clobbered a hard hit single up the middle, earning her first two RBI of the season and pushing the Aggie lead to six.
The Rebels weren't down and out just yet, putting up four runs in the top of the sixth after an RBI single and a three-run home run.
With their lead cut down to two, Vidales led off with her third hit of the afternoon, a single to left center. Ryan stepped up to the plate and sent the ball flying for her sixth home run of the year, bumping the A&M lead back up to four.
On top 8-4, a solo home run to open the seventh cut the lead to three. Fox came on in relief of Marks, en route to earning her fourth save on the year. Two singles put runners on for the rebels and an RBI single snuck one more across before a quick throw from Clopton to Vidales at third caught the second runner out and ended the game at 8-6 in favor of the Aggies.
Coach Evans Post Game Sound
"Two good wins so far this weekend. Ole Miss has fought hard and put pressure on us all weekend, especially in the late innings this weekend. Tori Vidales picked the right pitches in her at-bats, we had some great hits. It was nice to see our kids score early."
Let's Hear a Hullabaloo
…for coming up big at the right time. Freshman Hailey Rebar entered to pinch hit in the bottom of the fifth, reaching on a beautiful single and sending in her first two RBI of her collegiate career. Gig 'em, Hailey!
Coach Evans on Rebar:
"I'm excited for her. You can hear here all over the stands, yelling for her teammates. She is loud and wacky and we love her. She's had some opportunities, just missing in a few, so for her to hit the bleeder today and find a way to score our runners is so exciting. You can tell, when the dugout clears for a single, how much your team thinks about a player. They love her as a player and a teammate, she's the best teammate we have. It's great to see her get out there and get a big hit, which was the difference in the ballgame."
Up Next
The Aggies seek their second sweep of SEC play Sunday, taking on Ole Miss at 1:03 p.m. on the SEC Network. Follow along with live stats at 12thMan.com and @AggieSoftball on Twitter for all the hits, pitches and everything in between during the 2015 softball season.