#25 Aggies Fall 7-3 in Weekend Opener at #1 UF

Friday, April 24

Gainesville, Fla.

5:00 PM

Texas A&M

34-15, 9-10

Florida

45-4, 14-4

Texas A&M

Florida

Apr 24, 2015 | Softball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

GAINESVILLE, Fl. - The No. 25 Texas A&M softball team (34-17, 9-10 SEC) dropped the series opener against Florida (45-4, 14-4 SEC) Friday night, falling 7-3.

Senior Rachel Fox went the distance for the 19^th time in 2015, fanning four and issuing just one walk in her eleventh loss of the year.

The Gators struck first, scoring on an RBI single that dropped in shallow right field in the bottom of the first but back-to-back strikeouts from Fox left a runner stranded heading into the second inning.

After consecutive scoreless innings for the Aggies, Florida loaded the bases with two outs but Fox fielded her position to get out of a jam and hold the Gators scoreless.

Trailing 1-0, sophomore April Ryan led off by smoking a single to left field for the first Aggie hit of the day. Freshman Tori Vidales stepped up to the plate and connected for a home run over the left field wall, her sixteenth run of the season to move into ninth place in the A&M single season home run records.

With the Aggies holding a 2-1 lead, the Gators answered and took a two-run lead on an RBI single, a fielder's choice and a double steal.

After going scoreless in the visitor portion of the fifth, the Gators extended their lead to three on a solo home run that sailed over the scoreboard.

Down by three, a double down the left field line by Vidales got the Aggie offense started in the top of the sixth. Junior Cali Lanphear joined Vidales on the bags, reaching on a hard hit ground ball to second base a single into center field from Kristen Cuyos loaded the bases. Junior Breanna Dozier drew a walk to take first, forcing Vidales home and A&M chipped into the Gators' lead at 5-3.

The Gators pushed the lead to four in the home half of the sixth, scoring on two RBI singles and taking a 7-4 lead that would hold until the end.

Coach Evans Post Game Sound
“For our young ball club, we need to make some changes but they need to remember all the positive things from tonight because that's how you beat a good team like Florida. They need to hang onto all of the positives and recognize the things that we did well tonight, so we can come back and hang onto those things tomorrow while cleaning up our play.”

Let's Hear a Hullabaloo
…for the top of the order. After a tough weekend in Baton Rouge, the first Aggies up came out and played a great game, recording five of the six A&M hits and putting themselves in position to score. Gig 'em, ladies!

Coach Evans on Ryan, Vidales and Lanphear:
“The top of our order did a great job, with five of our six hits. I'm proud of those kids. I told them that I don't care what they did at LSU, what I care about is their mindset coming into this series. All three of them had really good looks tonight. What Tori Vidales did tonight, coming back from a disappointing weekend against LSU and just hitting it tonight. She knew what she wanted going up to the plate and got it both times. April Ryan got a couple hits and looked really good in her at-bats tonight, especially coming back into the game.”

Up Next

Action will resume in the Texas A&M-Florida series on Saturday, with first pitch coming at 12 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.