No. 6 Texas A&M softball is waking to new alarm bells in the recent mornings — the ballpark gong of a bat slamming a softball. A&M has racked up 235 total hits so far for the season and 23 collective homers to send the Maroon and White waltzing around the bags. The Aggies hope to carry the tune into their series against No. 24 Alabama on Friday, March 21, at 6 p.m.
Since the 2023 season, coach Trisha Ford has been racking up win after win donning her signature A&M visor. The fight against Florida was no different, earning Ford her 100th victory with Aggie softball.
But the Gators’ scales are slippery, A&M would have to fight for this win — early on maroon bled over Davis Diamond dirt as the Aggies found themselves pinched in the Gators’ jaws at the start of Southeastern Conference play.
It would be in the shadowed depths of the seventh inning that A&M cemented its victory in the series against the Blue and Orange. The winning play was born the minute graduate designated player Mac Barbara trod up to the batter’s box. Her single to center sent junior third baseman Kennedy Powell dropping to the dirt on a Florida throwing error and skidding home for the 3-2 triumph over Florida.
“That dive at home plate was huge,” Ford said. “Man, you could watch that over and over again. Way to get first to third.”
The Aggie win was not to last, however, with the Gators pulling ahead in the following games, 12-4 and 4-2, sinking the Fightin’ Farmers among the bottom feeders of Gainesville’s Lake Alice.
Auburn tossed a buoy
A&M swiftly surfaced with a series sweep, digging laced cleats into perfect pivots and securing clean catches that got the 12th Man howling.
The Aggies clinched the series with a run-rule win against the then-No. 22 Tigers, as 12 unanswered runs shoveled a wolf hole for the Navy and Orange. The Aggies sported smiles that would make a softball swoon, finishing Auburn off the following Sunday.
The Lord rested on the seventh day, watching as loaded bases in the top of the first gagged Auburn. Barbara then landed a two-strike single to center field, spurring senior shortstop Koko Wooley and junior third baseman Kennedy Powell tap dancing through home for A&M’s starter pair of points.
Six nail-biting innings went by, the game pacified into a steady rhythm of ground outs and futile base advancements. At least until the brink of the seventh, when junior second baseman Kylei Griffin stepped into the box to pinch hit for freshman 2B KK Dement.
“She hasn’t had it at bat in a while,” Ford said. “She stayed ready.”
Griffin’s single to center field sent sophomore pinch runner Hailey Golden pushing off second like a diver starved for air, gunning for home plate and pocketing A&M’s third and final point of the series.
With a loss to Florida and a series sweep over Auburn, the Aggies are champing at the bit to face their next victim — or conqueror.
Beat the hell out of … water?
Since 2001, A&M has suffered 21 losses to Alabama. However, the Aggies drowned the Crimson Tide in their last matchup, away at Rhoads Stadium, winning 9-4 with five runs in the sixth and final inning alone.
“Every game in the SEC is big,” senior center fielder Allie Enright said. “Alabama was a fun series last year, so we’re looking forward to it.”
As of this season, Alabama has 35 home runs and a .356 batting average. Their most recent matchup was against No. 19 Mississippi State, where they lost, 4-3, as the game wrapped midway through the sixth inning.
“They have some speed,” junior third baseman Amari Harper said. “They’re very scrappy and quick. They can use their tools against any opponent, so I think we just have to be ready for it.”
A&M claimed victory over Alabama last season on foreign ground. Now, it’ll look to bring drought to the Crimson Tide on home turf as “Roll Tide Roll” will meet “Farmers Fight” at Davis Diamond on Friday, March 21.
