With the regular season concluded on Sunday, Texas A&M softball prepares for the SEC Tournament as the No. 13-seed and the host stadium.
“It’s an exciting time of year, “ A&M head coach Jo Evans said. “You get these tournaments and this SEC Tournament where we’ve defeated several of the top seeds and it’s just exciting to come out and know you have a shot just like everybody else. We’re excited and certainly excited to be hosting.”
After opening the new softball stadium, Davis Diamond, in April of 2018, Evans said it brings another level of excitement and competitiveness to games because of the magnitude of the stadium.
“It’s always great to play at home. We love playing in front of the 12th Man and it’s also exciting to get all these people to come in and see the stadium,” Evans said.
The Aggies finish out the regular season with a 28-24 overall record and stand at 6-18 in conference play. A&M will face No. 12-seed Mississippi State in the first round on Wednesday at 10 a.m. However, this will be the first time this season that two teams will meet.
“When you play someone you haven’t faced this season you know you have to do your homework, you’ve got to watch a lot of film,” Evans said. “If you’ve already played them, you have a really good feel from your three games…sometimes it’s nice to have a little familiarity. We did play them last year and they have a lot of returners, so we know a lot about their team.”
Earning the last seed in the tournament, Evans said the Aggies’ postseason performance is crucial to the rest of their season.
“This tournament is important for us. We’ve had some big wins down the stretch and we just need to keep winning. You always want to position yourself the best you can going into postseason. Every one of these conference tournaments has been important to us. Sometimes it’s trying to host super regionals and sometimes it’s kicking down the door postseason,” Evans said.
Amanda Scarborough, ESPN softball analyst and former A&M pitcher, said with the amount of talent, this year’s tournament will be a fight to the finish.
“Each and every game I feel like is just going to be so competitive and there’s not going to be a clear cut winner. There is going to be a small margin of victory and that is going to make the entire week so much fun,” Scarborough said.
A&M will take on Mississippi State on Wednesday at Davis Diamond. First pitch is set for 10 a.m. and the game will be televised on the SEC Network. The winner will face No. 5 Ole Miss at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.