Looking to bounce back after a series sweep by Florida last weekend, Texas A&M softball will travel to the University of Missouri for a three-game SEC series starting on Thursday.
The Aggies are 25-18 on the season and 3-12 in conference play, after dropping their last three games against the Gators at home last weekend.
Missouri (24-18, 7-8 SEC) is the first unranked SEC opponent A&M has faced so far this season. Head coach Jo Evans said that doesn’t matter since the Tigers still pose a threat.
“We’re always looking to win,” Evans said. “They have seven wins in conference. They’ve had some good wins against some good teams. We need to do the things that we do well. We need to be more consistent defensively. We need more consistency on the mound.”
Junior pitcher Kendall Potts has taken double shifts on the mound the last four weekends. She said getting days off during the week helps her recover from the long weekends.
”I’d definitely say [my recovery] has gotten better since the first weekend,” Potts said. “The first weekend was exhausting.”
Potts said facing so many ranked opponents this season has helped strengthen the team.
“We’ve faced a lot of great hitters,” Potts said. “All of us have grown because of that. Facing a lesser-ranked team I think will be good because we’ve faced challenging hitters so far.”
Senior Riley Sartain said despite what the rankings say, any team in the SEC is a challenge to beat.
“Every team in the SEC is hard to beat, regardless of rank, whether that’s RPI rank or in the SEC ranking,” Sartain said. “So same thing, go out there and attack and show no mercy.”
Sartain was drafted No. 18 overall by the Aussie Peppers of Minnesota in the National Pro Fastpitch College Draft on Monday. Sartain said being drafted, while unexpected, became one of her favorite memories.
Sartain said she was sitting at the A&M student-athlete awards banquet after losing an award she had been nominated for when she got a congratulatory text on her phone.
“I was like, ‘That’s weird, I didn’t win the award. What are they congratulating me for?’” Sartain said. “And then I remembered that the draft was that night, so I went on Twitter as fast as I possibly could and saw that I had been drafted.”
For Sartain, the focus is still on the weekend ahead. The key to coming out of the weekend with the series win is staying true to the team, she said.
“Whenever we get in trouble, it’s when we’re getting outside of ourselves and trying to do things that we don’t normally do, trying to be players that we’re normally not,” Sartain said. “I think when we stick to what we’re good at, we can be a very good team.”
First pitch on Thursday and Friday is set for 6:30 p.m., with Saturday’s game starting at 12 p.m. The games will be streamed on SEC Network+.