The Arizona softball team dropped two of three games against No. 21 Texas A&M in a weekend series in College Station, Texas.

Although Arizona played well in all three games, their inability to close out games resulted in two losses.

The Wildcats (14-4) jumped out to early leads in their two losses, and pulled off a comeback to trump the Aggies 9-4 on Saturday. Arizona grabbed the lead early in the Friday and Sunday contests, but were disappointed by late Texas A&M rallies in the seventh inning of each game.

“”That makes it a lot worse – we won the first five or six innings of the game,”” said UA left fielder Brittany Lastrapes. “”We just couldn’t finish it in the last inning.””

In the rubber game of the series on Sunday, from which UA head coach Mike Candrea was ejected, the Aggies (13-8) scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings. Although the Wildcats added two more runs to their total in the top of the seventh, when Arizona failed to score in the top of the eighth, Texas A&M walked its way to a 5-4 victory.

After pitcher Sarah Akamine (7-2), who threw a total of 180 pitches, gave up two base hits, sophomore Lindsey Sisk (7-2) was put in to finish the game. She walked the next two batters, giving Texas A&M the victory.

“”I think we played well for the most part. It’s just hard because we easily could have had a sweep this weekend,”” Lastrapes said. “”We couldn’t finish our games on Friday or (Sunday).””

Arizona’s bats, however, came alive Saturday. The Wildcats tallied 10 hits in the game and began their comeback in the sixth inning. Scoring five runs in the sixth inning, Ariziona went on to win 9-4.

Friday’s game was a heartbreaking loss. Sisk started the game and gave up two earned runs before Akamine replaced her and eventually gave up the game-winning walk-off home run to Texas A&M senior Holly Ridley.

“”I think as a team we need to grow and to finish games,”” said UA shortstop K’Lee Arredondo. “”We start games off very strong usually; when we’re ahead of someone, we need to learn to keep the game in our favor.””

But there was good news for the Wildcats this weekend. Catcher Stacie Chambers hit her ninth home run and has taken the lead in RBIs in the nation with 33. Arredondo also returned to the field for Arizona after sitting out for a stretch with hamstring injury.

“”It feels good to be back. It was hard to sit out the 10 games,”” said Arredondo. “”I’m happy to be back, happy to be back with the team.””

Although Arizona did not continue its winning streak over the weekend, the players are encouraged that they can dig deep and get back on the winning path.

“”We’re definitely going to have to start to find ways to win,”” Akamine said. “”I know we can do it. As a team we’ve made a lot of progress.””