Koko Wooley drills walkoff double vs. South Carolina, sends Texas A&M to SEC Tournament semifinals
Texas A&M is headed to the SEC Tournament semifinals after Koko Wooley delivered a two-run, walk-off double in the bottom of the 7th inning against South Carolina, propelling the Aggies to a 3-2 victory. It’s the first SEC Tournament win in program history for the Aggies.
Freshman pitcher Sage Mardjetko had mostly cruised through the first six innings, holding Texas A&M to a single run. But things began to get away from her to start the 7th, and the Gamecocks turned to Alana Vawter, who managed to get one batter out before Wooley came to the plate.
“Well we just passed the bat and I believed in myself and trusted the process,” Wooley said to reporter Holly Rowe after the win. “I got out a couple of times before but I just knew I could do it.”
And despite facing Vawter, who starred at Stanford before transferring to the Gamecocks this year, Wooley was cool and collected in the box.
When she finally got a pitch to hit, she made no mistake on it.
“It looked down the middle to me, so I swung on it,” Wooley said.
With the win in the tournament, the Aggies will be back in action shortly. Due to weather delays, the quarterfinals were finished on Friday, and the semifinals will be played in the evening. Texas A&M is now slated to play Florida in the nightcap after a few hours of rest.
“It means so much, we’ve never won a game in the SEC Tournament and we just did, so I’m so excited for us,” Wooley said.
The Aggies weren’t the only walkoff winners on Friday
For the second consecutive day, Duke advanced in the ACC Softball Tournament with a walk-off win.
The Blue Devils held off Clemson for a 4-3 victory on Friday thanks to a bloop infield single with two outs in the 10th inning.
Amiah Burgess scored the winning run from second on the hit by Francesca Frelick, just beating the tag from Clemson catcher Aby Vieira.
Burgess was originally called out, but the call was overturned after replay review to end the game.
Burgess said after the game that she was determined to score and send the Blue Devils to the ACC Softball Tournament Championship.
“I wasn’t stopping. I wasn’t stopping,” Burgess said. “I did see her catch the ball. I did know that the ball did beat me. But I knew if I threw my body at [home plate] – I didn’t even feel her tag me, so as soon as they said out, I said, ‘Nah uh, you’ve gotta review that.’
“I’ve never slid that hard, like I’ve never thrown my body that hard in my life, but I’ve been diving in the outfield all day. It was pretty similar.”
Burgess was 0-for-4 at the plate, but she did score a pair of runs for Duke. Claire Davidson, Ana Gold, D’Auna Jennings and Frelick each had multiple hits for the Blue Devils.
Lillie Walker earned the win for Duke, pitching the final 2 2/3 innings, without allowing a run. She improved to 12-2 on the year.
Up next, Duke will face the winner of Florida State and Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship game on Saturday. Burgess said that the Blue Devils will be ready to go.
“I play for the seniors, absolutely. I’m a freshman. I just got here. So everything I do is for them,” Burgess told the ACC Network. “They deserve an ACC Championship. They deserve to raise that trophy one more time before they go out. So if I’m in the lineup, I’m out there, that’s what I’m aiming for – for those seniors to raise that trophy one more time.”