LEESBURG, Fla. - The Aggies split two games at The Spring Games on Friday, as they fell to Middle Tennessee 3-0 in the morning slate before bouncing back in a 6-3 win over ACC foe Pittsburgh.

Redshirt freshman Matalasi Faapito got the nod against the Blue Raiders and did not disappoint in her season debut. Faapito went six innings giving up nine hits, three earned runs and walked just one. Faapito's impressive performance would not be enough, as the Aggie bats struggled to get hot producing just four hits.

"We just weren't ourselves [in the first game]. Everyone was trying to do too much early on. I think in game one it was about being in the right head space after having such a long layoff." head coach Kathy Rodolph said.

In the second game against Pittsburgh, the Aggies wasted no time getting on the board. After redshirt freshman Felicia De La Torre struck out the side, redshirt freshman Hailey Tanori drew a walk, stole second base, advanced to third base on a throwing error, then reached home on a wild pitch to give the Aggies the lead. De La Torre would continue to be trouble for Blue Raider batters, as she retired six out of the next eight batters. No teams would see anymore scoring until the bottom of the third inning, as two infield singles by freshman Jayleen Burton and Tanori got the Aggies rolling. Redshirt freshman Ramsay Lopez would draw a walk to load the bases for redshirt senior Nikki Butler, and she delivered with a blooper into left-center field to drive in Burton. Faapito would record a sacrifice fly to bring in Tanori to give the Aggies a 3-0 cushion. 

De La Torre would continue to impress by retiring the top of the fourth inning in order. The Panthers would push one run across in the top of the fifth inning, but the Aggies would respond with an RBI single by freshman Briana Gallegos. The Panthers would score two runs off of two errors in the top of the sixth inning, but the Aggies would once again respond, as Lopez drove a ball over the fence in left-center field for a two-run home run to give the Aggies a 6-3 cushion heading into the final inning. Junior Chloe Rivas would close out the game for the Aggies earning her a save. 

De La Torre earned the win against the Panthers with a very impressive line, as she gave up three earned runs on just three hits with eight strikeouts in five innings. 

"Felicia did a great job of dominating right away," Rodolph said. "When you come in and strike out the side, you take pressure off of everyone. As a collective group, I felt that we were in a much better head space going into game two than we were in game one."

The Aggies will be back in action tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. when they take on Liberty before facing Middle Tennessee again at 10:30 a.m. The games can once again be seen on FloSoftball with a paid subscription.

++NM State++