Aggies feast on South Carolina miscues to set up showdown with Texas

Game #53: #2 Texas A&M 12, #7 South Carolina 4 (5 innings)
Records: Texas A&M (44-9, 16-7), South Carolina (40-15, 12-11)
WP: Emiley Kennedy (20-4)
LP: Sam Gress (12-9)
Box Score

On a day that wasn’t left-handed pitcher Emiley Kennedy’s sharpest, designated player Mya Perez’s golden bat and a litany of errors from No. 7 seed South Carolina carried No. 2 seed Texas A&M to the semifinals of the 2025 SEC softball Tournament by eliminating the Gamecocks 12- 4 in run-rule fashion.

The Gamecocks drew first blood after Abigail Knight dropped a bloop single between three converging Aggies in right center field, giving Lexi Winter enough time to scamper home from second base.

With the score still 1-0, South Carolina backed the Aggies into a corner with two quick strikeouts in the bottom of the second. But a nine-pitch walk from freshman Kelsey Mathis in just her third start of the season gave A&M an early lifeline.

Kennedy Powell crushed the next pitch she faced, slicing the ball through the Athens night sky for a two-run homer. Koko Wooley singled and stole second to set the table for Perez.

Moments later, bubbles again filled the air and the Howdy Hat made another appearance as the Corona, Calif., native took advantage, crushing a ball to left field to double the A&M score and net her 14th home run of the season.

“I feel like, in the at-bat before, I was letting pitches go that I should be swinging at,” Perez told SEC Now postgame. “I just got to be ready for the first strike I saw. I was going to drive it to the opposite gap. I was just ready to hit it, swing it. I hit the fence and thought it was a double.”

Mady Mertens-Imagn Images

Mya Perez’s five-RBI game increased her season total to 68.

Despite committing five errors on the night, South Carolina continued to hang around with a pair of solo homers off Kennedy, the first from Karley Shelton in the top of the third and the second from Quincee Lilio in the fifth.

Wooley and Perez teamed up for another run after Wooley rocketed to third base after a throwing error from sophomore Nealy Lamb. Perez drove her home with an RBI in the next at-bat, gifting the Aggies a 5-3 lead. KK Dement added another run for the Maroon & White with an RBI in the fourth to score pinch runner Scout Lovell.

Entering the bottom of the fifth with a 6-4 advantage, A&M slammed the door shut on any lingering South Carolina comeback hopes.

With Wooley and Mathis on base, Perez ensured the speedsters had a runway with a single to right field to plate the pair. As the Aggies loaded the bases with the next two at-bats, the stage was set for Dement to do what she does best: Clear the bases.

The freshman latched onto a pitch, whipping a double into the left center field gap and ballooning the Aggies' lead to 11-4, just one run short of the run rule.

“[Dement] is really poised,” Wooley told SEC Now postgame. “Nothing really gets to her. … I’m super excited to see the future for her.”

The run that ended the game perfectly encapsulated the night.

Senior left fielder Kramer Eschete skipped a grounder to Shelton, which she couldn’t corral as Dement sauntered across home plate for the walk-off win.

Following the results of Thursday’s quarterfinals, A&M will take on rival and No. 3 seed Texas on Friday, May 9, with first pitch expected to be at 5:40 p.m. CT.

“I feel like our mentality each game is the same, and we are going to play our hardest each time,” Perez told SEC Now. “Of course, we want to get our get back.”