BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Tarleton softball suffered a 12-2 setback at the hands of the Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday at the Davis Diamond in the season opener and first game of the Texas A&M Invitational.
 
The Aggies (1-0) used the third and fourth innings to pile on 10 combined runs which was too much for the Texans (0-1) to overcome.
 
Tristan Bridges (L, 0-1) earned the start in the circle for Tarleton and pitched 2.1 innings, surrendering eight runs on five hits. She struck out three and walked four. Aggie starter Emily Leavitt (W, 1-0) earned the win. She threw 4.1 innings allowing no runs on two hits, striking out four.
 
The Aggies were the first to strike, plating two runs in the bottom of the first as Julia Cottrill hit an RBI triple to score KoKo Wooley, followed by a Trinity Cannon double that scored Cottrill. Cottrill was a thorn in the Texans side all afternoon, finishing with four hits, five RBI and two runs scored.
 
Bridges kept her composure however, striking out consecutive Aggies and inducing a flyout to left field to escape the inning with the Texans trailing 2-0. She forced the Aggies to go three up and three down in the second inning, with two strikeouts. Her day ended in the third after Texas A&M plated three more runs. She exited with the bases loaded.
 
Grace Garcia, a South Dakota transfer, proceeded to enter the game making her Tarleton debut. Garcia threw an inning, allowing four runs on four hits. She walked three and struck out one. Garcia pitched into the bottom of the fourth but ultimately made way for Makenzie Dunbar. Dunbar pitched 0.2 innings allowing no runs on one hit, striking out one.
 
The Texans managed their first two hits of the game in the fourth inning while trailing 8-0. Austin Germain got things started with a single to the right side and Kayla Wallace followed, singling to the pitcher to put two runners on with no outs. The pair were stranded, however, as the Texans struck out, grounded out and flew out consecutively.
 
Tarleton broke through on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth, scoring twice. Jordan Dickerson and Ashlee LaRue started things off, with both players reaching on errors by the Aggie third baseman. Tristyn Trull then singled to the pitcher to load the bases for Germain.
 
Germain delivered with her second hit of the game, this one a fielder's choice that scored Dickerson. Kayla Wallace followed with a single just past the outreached arms of the Aggie second baseman to score LaRue. The two runs were not enough for the Texans to escape the eight-run rule after five innings and the Aggies prevailed 12-2 in five innings.
 
Tarleton returns to action tomorrow for their second and third games of five at the Texas A&M Invitational. They take on Michigan State at 2 p.m. before a rematch with the Aggies at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network +.