At last, the long-awaited fruits of A&M softball coach Trisha Ford’s labors — almost three years of preparation since her hiring on June 10, 2022 — have resulted in the Aggies claiming the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Softball Tournament.
“It’s huge for the program,” senior center fielder Allie Enright said after the announcement on Selection Sunday. “I mean, I can’t even put into words what it means to us. We didn’t know what we’re gonna be today. We knew it was probably gonna be somewhere up there, but just to see it on the TV was super cool.”
With a target on their backs as the nation’s top seed, the Maroon and White will aim to put on a stunning show at Davis Diamond as the host. The Fightin’ Farmers are coming off two run-rule wins over South Carolina and Texas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, and possess a 35-8 record when hosting the regional round.
Three other teams will ride into the Bryan-College Station Regional vying for a shot against the Aggies, all respective conference winners that have proven themselves over the course of their season.
The first to get a chance at dethroning the No. 1 team on Friday at 2:30 p.m. is the Saint Francis Red Flash, who are coming off a Northeast Conference Tournament Championship after a shaky start in non-conference play. The notable opponents the Red Flash have faced resulted in a combined three runs across four lopsided losses. All four opponents — South Carolina, Virginia, Penn State and Pitt — also run-ruled Saint Francis within five innings.
If the Fightin’ Farmers can replicate their impressive start to the postseason, the Flash won’t be a worry in Ford’s mind.
“We got to get through this first weekend,” Ford said. “We’re going to have, you know, our hands full. And I don’t expect anything different. I do think that if we go out and play our brand of softball, though, we’re going to be all right. So that’s going to be where our focus is, of just making sure we’re executing our game plan and not really worrying about who’s on the other side of the field.”
A win over Saint Francis in Game 2 of the Regional Tournament would mean A&M has the opportunity to face Marist, who has only seven losses on the season and won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament, or Liberty, who is coming off a Conference USA title and a 47-12 season.
Regardless of which opponent the Maroon and White face, a battle-tested team will be hoping to pull off an upset come Saturday evening, should A&M defeat Saint Francis.
Last year’s heartbreak in the Austin Super Regional against Texas serves as a painful reminder of how brutal the NCAA Tournament can be, but it was recently dulled by the 14-3, five-inning beatdown of the Longhorns in the semifinal round of the conference tournament.
Rewriting that narrative has already begun, but before there can be a chance to make the Women’s College World Series, A&M has to take it just one step at a time with this weekend’s slate.
“They’ve just done a great job from the very beginning of the year to now,” Ford said. “Of just continually being consistent on the field, being consistent in the batter’s box, being consistent in on defense and in the circle. And we learned from last year. I think that’s the other thing, we have a lot of kids that came back after last year’s heartbreak, and it’s time for us to, you know, rewrite the books this year.”
