Sanchez Delivers Walk-Off Hit for Mizzou Softball
By: Cameron Redler
No. 19 Mizzou Softball hit its first walk-off victory of the 2016 season on Saturday in extra innings against No. 16 Texas A&M to win 7-6. Sophomore Amanda Sanchez ended it with an RBI single in the eighth inning.
Saturday’s Top 20 SEC matchup was back and forth all afternoon long. The Tigers and Aggies produced three ties and five lead changes.
Missouri (32-12, 7-9 SEC) took an early lead, scoring two in the first. Emily Crane knocked in the first run on an RBI single up the middle before Sami Fagan scored on a fielding error.
In the third, the Aggies (33-12, 6-10 SEC) scored three runs, all with two outs, to take a 3-2 advantage. Freshman Kaitlyn Alderink recorded an infield single and scored on sophomore Tori Vidales’ double to left center. Sophomore Ashley Walters followed with a two-run homer to right center, her eighth of the season.
Mizzou evened the game at three in the bottom half on a double down the left field line by junior Kirsten Mack. A&M countered in the fourth as sophomore Kristen Cuyos hit her 12th home run of the season, plating senior Cali Lanphear.
The Tigers scored three unanswered runs to take a 6-5 lead on a Fagan two-run home run in the fifth and a Rylee Pierce double in the fifth. It was Fagan’s 11th home run of the season.
Cuyos tied the game for the Aggies in the sixth with a solo home run to center for her second career multi-home run game before a bases loaded walk-off single by Missouri’s Sanchez.
Sophomore Paige Lowary picked up her team-high 17th victory of the year for the Tigers. Lowary matched her career-high with eight innings pitched while earning her 100th strikeout of the 2016 campaign. Aggie freshman Samantha Show suffered the loss giving up six runs, five earned, on 11 hits with three strikeouts in four innings.
Sanchez was one of five Tigers with multi-hit efforts Saturday afternoon, with senior Taylor Gadbois, Crane, Fagan and Mack joining the Tiger third baseman.
Gadbois, Crane, Fagan and Sanchez were 10-for-16 with five runs scored, one home run and four RBI. Gadbois’ first inning single extended her season-high hitting streak to nine games. The Tiger centerfielder also recorded her fifth three-hit game of the season and team-leading 20th multi-hit outing.
The two teams will square up again on Sunday as the Aggies look to even the series.
Photo credit: The Maneater