The Texas A&M softball team will continue its 11-game home stand with a weekend series against Georgia Tech starting Friday with a doubleheader Saturday.

The No. 23 Aggies (27-9, 7-5 SEC) defense has struggled recently and head coach Jo Evans talked about those struggles and the importance of having a solid defense.

“I just want our defense to be more aggressive,” Evans said. “I feel like we could be more tough-minded on defense. I think we’re capable of sharper play, taking away hits from our opponents and we haven’t done a lot of that of late. I’d like to see us get out there and clean it up a bit.”

Senior pitcher Rachel Fox said the defense needs to make the necessary plays to win.

“It’s going to be important for us to play defense well and our pitching to work ahead in the count,” Fox said.

Georgia Tech (13-23, 5-10 ACC) has had an up-and-down season. The Yellow Jackets lost their first five games, but came back and won five consecutive. Their offense is led by senior Katie Johnsky and junior Courtney Ziese. Ziese leads the team in home runs with seven and Johnsky is second on the team in RBIs with 24.

A&M freshman Tori Vidales leads the club in home runs with nine and in RBIs with 29. She is also second on the team in batting average behind sophomore Abby Donnell’s .385.

Junior Cali Lanphear said the lengthy homestead is something the team will use to its advantage.

“We just need to be consistent on both sides of the plate,” Lanphear said. “We have a huge home field advantage with the 12th Man and that’s awesome. Nobody likes to come here and play so we need to take advantage of that. We should never beat ourselves. If we want to get beat they can flat out beat us, but we should never beat ourselves.”
First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. Friday.