Coming off an 8-3 romp over the Sam Houston State Bearkats on Wednesday, the No. 8 Texas A&M softball team returns home to the Aggie Softball Complex this weekend to host the Aggie Classic.
The Aggies look to add to their unbeaten start to the season and increase their record to 7-0 in Friday’s double-header against the Oregon State Beavers and McNeese State Cowgirls at 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m., respectively.
The Aggie Classic will continue on Saturday as the Aggies are slated for a rematch of Friday’s games against the Beavers and Cowgirls.
Oregon State comes into the weekend sporting a 3-3 record after returning nine letter winners from last season’s seventh-place finish in the Pac-12. The Beavers are led by freshman Kylie Padilla, who leads the OSU offense after hitting 0.471 last weekend – including three doubles, two triples and a home run.
McNeese State enters the pair of weekend matchups coming off a 3-2 weekend at the South Alabama Mardi Gras Tournament. The Cowgirls return eight starters from last year’s Southland Conference regular season team and boast two players hitting more than 0.400 this season.
A&M will close out its weekend with a 12:15 p.m. opening pitch Sunday against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. The Hurricanes come into this weekend’s tournament coming off a 4-1 record at the FAU Kick-Off Classic and a pitching staff that yields only two earned runs this season.
The Aggies lead all three of this weekend’s opponents in all-time head to head games. A&M is 6-2 all-time against the Beavers with the last meeting in 2010 ending in a 6-4 victory for the Aggies. The Aggies lead the all-time ledger against McNeese State 24-4 and own a 11-2 all-time edge over Tulsa, with the last meeting coming by way of an Aggie win in 2012.
Following this weekend’s tournament, the Aggies will hit the road for the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral Springs, Calif., where they will play No. 22 Arizona and San Diego on Thursday and No. 23 California and No. 8 Nebraska on Friday. A&M will close out the weekend Saturday with games against Cal State and Northridge.