The Texas A&M softball team can now taste postseason play.
A&M will end its SEC schedule with a three game series against the Ole Miss Rebels this weekend at the Aggie Softball Complex. This final SEC series will be an important factor in deciding seeding in the upcoming SEC tournament. A&M will also be celebrating its four seniors Rachel Fox, Lauren Ainsley, Sara Mireles and Brittany Clopton in their final SEC series as Aggies.
The No. 25 Aggies (35-17, 9-12 SEC) are coming off a much needed victory against a Texas State squad that pushed the Aggies to the brink. Senior Rachel Fox seemed to find her mojo again, gaining another complete game on the stat sheet for the season. Important bats in the Aggie lineup seemed to get it together with Ashley Walters and Cali Lanphear, both key cogs in the Aggie offense, as they hit home runs against Texas State. Head coach Jo Evans was pleased with the play of her club and is excited to see them play against Ole Miss and the postseason.
“In terms of the club’s enthusiasm and what’s about to come, I think it’s pretty heightened,” Evans said. “It’s cool because we have seven freshman and they have no idea what the postseason feels like.”
The Rebels (30-21, 6-15 SEC) are coming into College Station after a 9-0 victory over Mississippi Valley State in Oxford. The Rebels are led on offense by Allison Brown and Alex Schneider, who are both tied for the team lead in home runs with eight on the season. Miranda Strother leads the club in RBIs and batting average with 36 and .396. Sophomore April Ryan spoke about stringing a good series together in preparation for SEC play.
“We need to go in relaxed, knowing that we have prepared,” Ryan said. “Coach Glasgow has prepared us a lot for hitting. We have hitting groups every day before practice for an hour. We’re going up there hacking so we’re going up to the batter’s box relaxed.”
Junior Cali Lanphear also commented on the importance of putting all phases of the game together to play a complete game.
“This time of year you have to put everything together,” Lanphear said. “Some series before we didn’t have pitching, but we had hitting and vice versa. We have to get all phases working well together.”
First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
