Coming off a 9-3 loss in Houston, the Texas A&M softball team enters into its last non-conference tournament as the Aggies host Lamar, Longwood and A&M Corpus Christi in the A&M Invite  March 1-3 at Davis Diamond.
Despite the two losses at the Mary Nutter Classic and one on Wednesday in Houston, the Aggies are zoned in on this weekend and are looking forward to starting fresh.
“You can always learn more from a loss than a success, and we’re just trying to work on not making one moment bigger than the next,” A&M senior infielder Riley Sartain said. “Each moment you get, each opportunity you get there on the field is just as big as if you’re up by nine runs or if you’re down by nine runs.”
A&M head coach Jo Evans stressed the two C’s — consistency and confidence — as ways for the team to improve before the start of conference play on March 8 against LSU.
After being on the road for the last four contests, Evans said returning home will offer the Aggies a chance to rejuvenate and hear the cheers of the 12th Man once again.
“It’ll be nice to get our feet on the ground and play at home, sleep in our own beds and get comfortable,” Evans said. “Then we get to turn around and open SEC here as well. I just want to see our team run on all cylinders.”
One of the most significant learning curves for A&M this season has been the number of freshmen and transfer players on the roster. Sartain said having a younger team comes with its challenges, but it is not the first time the team has had to overcome this.
“For me, it kind of feels like my freshman year,” Sartain said. “We were a young team my freshman year. We’re a young team now. And with that, it’s no lack of talent. It’s just a lack of knowing who we are as a program. We’re still just trying to find that, and we’re fighting to find that every single day,” Sartain said.
As for the game plan for this weekend, junior outfielder Kelbi Fortenberry said it’s all about the basics.
“Being on the road is hard no matter where you are,” Fortenberry said. “We just came home and broke it down to fundamentals, and we’re just going to keep grinding.”
The Aggies will begin the invite with games against A&M Corpus Christi and Lamar on Friday at 3 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. The second day of play will consist of Lamar and Longwood at 12:15 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively, and the tournament will conclude on Sunday with a game against A&M Corpus Christi at 12:15 p.m. The SEC Network will televise all games.