Tag: Trisha Ford

Texas A&M players Wiggins and Wooley preview LSU series

Texas A&M infielders Koko Wooley & Rylen Wiggins preview the LSU series

No. 11 Texas A&M (28-4, 8-1 SEC) will play No. 6 LSU in a three-game series in Baton Rouge on March 28 at 6 p.m.

Aggie softball has remained hot all season long, winning games in several ways with an extremely deep team. A few of the things of note this season are how well they have played at all levels of the defense and their clutch hitting with two outs.

“…this year everybody steps into the box, the whole team knows that they have you on their back like we’re supporting everyone, even our pinch hitters I mean, shout out Kylie Griffin hit the farthest home run I’ve seen in a while and she’s not an everyday starter that just shows how much depth we are as a team…” -Wiggins

“I’m just trusting myself, really they make practice really hard every day, so like I everything I need to work on we work on in practice, so they make it hard, so I feel like that’s helped me become more confident in myself. I have more tools in my box so makes me more comfortable.”

Below, you can watch the full presser Q&A with Rylen Wiggins & Koko Wooley.

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Texas A&M softball is sitting right outside of the Top 10 in the Week 7 rankings

Texas A&M Softball has been on fire!

Another SEC series win leads to a small jump in the polls. This past weekend, Texas A&M (28-4, 8-1 SEC) swept the No. 25 (at the time) Auburn Tigers at Davis Diamond. Like most of their games, they did it in several ways with the small game and big bats. They even erased an early five-run deficit to run-rule the Tigers in game three to win 14-6.

Following their third SEC series win, all major softball polls have moved the Aggies just outside the Top 10.

Rank Team Record Points Previous
1 Oklahoma (32) 31-1 800 1
2 Texas 28-3 765 3
3 Georgia 27-4 723 5
4 Tennessee 25-4 673 7
5 Duke 26-3 631 6
6 LSU 25-4 629 2
7 Stanford 25-5 612 9
8 Oklahoma State 26-5 586 4
9 Washington 22-5 559 8
10 Florida 29-4 549 10
11 Texas A&M 28-4 465 12
12 Missouri 25-7 431 15
13 Alabama 25-6 400 13
14 UCLA 18-8 360 14
15 Virginia Tech 25-5-1 356 16
16 Clemson 22-9 302 11
17 Mississippi State 24-7 274 20
18 California 24-8 255 19
19 Florida State 21-9 233 17
20 Arkansas 24-8 205 18
21 Arizona 21-9-1 127 21
22 South Carolina 22-9 86 23
23 Baylor 17-11 79 22
24 Oregon 19-10 74
25 Boston University 25-3 69 24

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:

Kansas (63), Texas State (56), Louisiana (11), Auburn (8), Kentucky (7), Ole Miss (5), FAU (2), Nevada (2), Virginia (2), Miami (1).

DROPPED OUT:

No. 25 Auburn

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Texas A&M Softball completes the sweep of No. 25 Auburn and are off to their best start in SEC play in program history

Texas A&M softball moves to 8-1 in SEC for their best start in league play since 2018

No. 13 Texas A&M (28-4, 8-1 SEC) stormed back from an early 5-1 deficit to run rule 14-6. No. 25 Auburn (15-9, 2-7 SEC) courtesy of a Koko Wooley walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Aggies faced a new type of adversity early in game three against the Auburn Tigers, falling into the deepest hole they have been in all season long. After taking a 1-0 lead due to Koko Wooley’s elite baserunning, Aggie starter Brooke Vestal ran into some trouble in the second inning, allowing two runs and loading the bases before Coach Trisha Ford brought Emily Leavitt in to relieve her.

It almost seemed like Leavitt would also get pulled after the second hitter she faced hit a grand slam to put the Tigers up 6-1. However, Leavitt got out of the inning without any other runs crossing home plate. Then, after a scoreless second inning from the Aggies, they went gangbusters to the tune of 12 runs over the next two innings.

Some of the highlights were back-to-back two-run home runs by Trinity Cannon and Allie Enright, which tied the game in the bottom of the third inning. Then, in the fourth, they followed up with a pair of two-run hits by Julia Cottrill and Allie Enright to go up 11-6. The fourth inning was then capped off by a solo home run by Rylan Wiggins.

Needed one run to run-rule Auburn on Sunday afternoon, Aggie speedster Wooley hit a walk-off home run on the first pitch see-saw in the bottom over the 5th inning for a 14-6 victory. This win means that the A&M softball team is off to their best start in six years.

Day three:

Texas A&M vs Auburn / Win / 14-6

  • Total offense:  11 hits, 14 runs
  • Pitching: Emily Leavitt W (6-0): 4.0 innings, 5 Ks, 69 pitches.

Texas A&M will bet a few days off, then they will head to Baton Rouge to take on their toughest opponent of the season, the No. 2 LSU Tigers, in a three-game series starting on Thursday, April 2, at 6 p.m. CT.

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Texas A&M softball wins third straight SEC series beating No. 25 Auburn in the first two games

The Aggies are off to their best start since the 2018 season in SEC play

Texas A&M (27-4, 7-1 SEC) defeated No. 25 Auburn (15-8, 2-6 SEC) in the first two games of the series, outscoring the Tigers 8-3.

Head coach Trisha Ford has the Aggies off to the best start in the SEC since the 2018 season. On top of starting 7-1 in league play, all three teams they beat are ranked in the Top 25: No. 22 South Carolina, No. 21 Mississippi State, and No. 25 Auburn.

This squad is also getting the job done differently, with 1-9 of the line all being dangerous from the plate. The Aggies have a great mix of power and speed that allows them to have different offensive strategies that were missing last year.

The defense has also been playing extremely well, with just a few errors on the season, which has been the main reason their four losses have been one-point games. There has yet to be a game this season where a team has blown the Aggies out of the water. They are quick in the infield, and the outfield has shown several times that they all have the capability to throw out runners at home.

Day one:

Texas A&M vs Auburn / Win / 5-1

  • Total offense:  5 hits, 5 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (14-3): 7.0 innings, 4 Ks, 116 pitches.

Day two:

Texas A&M vs Auburn / Win / 3-2

  • Total offense:  3 hits, 5 runs
  • Pitching: Shaylee Ackerman W (6-1): 7.0 innings, 2 Ks, 96 pitches.

Texas A&M will wrap up the series at Davis Diamond on Sunday, March 24, at 1 p.m. CT.

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Texas A&M softball jumps a few spots across the polls after 5-1 start in SEC play

Texas A&M continues to shoot up the rankings after another SEC series victory over a Top 25 team.

The Texas A&M softball team (25-3, 5-1 SEC) is proving to be a complete team after a few questions about the competition before entering SEC play. You can throw that out of the window as the Aggies have gone 5-1, defeating No. 23 South Carolina and No. 20 Mississippi State (USA TODAY/NFCA Coaches) over the last two weeks.

They outscored their SEC opponents 29-13 and hit six home runs across those six games. Even with her rough outing in game three against Mississippi State, Emiley Kennedy has shown herself to be one of the better pitchers in the country. While it is still early in the season, A&M looks like a team that can enter the Top 10 if they can keep up this pace.

All major softball polls have moved the Aggies into the Top 15 following back-to-back SEC series wins over Top 25 teams.

Check out the full USA TODAY/NFCA Softball Coaches Poll.

Rank Team Record Points Change
1 Oklahoma 27-1 794 (26) –
2 LSU 24-1 771 (6) –
3 Texas 24-3 727 –
4 Oklahoma State 24-3 692 –
5 Georgia 13-4 666 –
6 Duke 22-2 637 –
7 Tennessee 22-4 610 +1
8 Washington 20-4 584 -1
9 Stanford 22-5 545 –
10 Florida 25-4 512 –
11 Clemson 21-6 461 +1
12 Texas A&M 25-3 432 +1
13 Alabama 22-5 392 +1
14 UCLA 17-6 371 +1
15 Missouri 22-6 369 -4
16 Virginia Tech 21-4-1 306 +2
17 Florida State 18-8 280 -1
18 Arkansas 22-6 245 +2
19 California 21-7 193 -2
20 Mississippi State 21-6 190 +1
21 Arizona 20-7-1 130 +1
22 Baylor 16-8 101 -3
23 USC 21-7 78 –
24 Boston University 20-3 66 –
25 Auburn 14-6-1 59 –

Others Receiving Votes

Oregon (55), Louisiana (43), Kansas (40), Kentucky (25), Texas State (19), Miami (6), Grand Canyon (1).

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‘Sundays are hard’: Trisha Ford explains 1-run loss vs. No. 21 Mississippi St. to snap 8-game win streak

“That’s what I talked to the team about,” she said. “Sundays are hard, Sundays we have to figure out how to come out here and grind it out.”

The Texas A&M softball team had its eight-game winning streak snapped on Sunday afternoon with a narrow loss against Mississippi State.

The No. 21 Bulldogs (21-6, 3-3 SEC) avoided the sweep with a 6-5 victory, giving the No. 17 Aggies (25-3, 5-1) their first conference loss of the season. Texas A&M coach Trisha Ford spoke to the media postgame.

“I thought we just didn’t do a great job of executing our gameplan,” Ford explained. “We had a couple of opportunities there. The zone was pretty tight for both teams and we didn’t do a good job of executing and kind of using that to our advantage. That’s just how it goes, they had more fight in us. That’s what I talked to the team about.

‘Sundays are hard, Sundays we have to figure out how to come out here and grind it out.'”

The Aggies had the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh inning but were unable to get the runner home.

“We were in the right part of the lineup for us to do some damage,” Ford recalled. “We just ran out of time.”

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No. 13 Texas A&M takes second straight SEC series beating No. 21 Mississippi State twice on Saturday

The Aggies extend their winning streak to eight and notch their second consecutive SEC series win

No. 13 Texas A&M (25-2, 5-0 SEC) wins the series over No. 21 Mississippi State (20-6, 2-3 SEC), outscoring the Bulldogs 17-5 across two games on Saturday.

The Aggie continue their blazing hot start to the season, sweeping the double-header and extending their win streak to eight with a 5-0 start to SEC play. They have shown themselves to be a complete team from top to bottom. Coach Ford has a squad with a unique blend of speed and power that makes them a dangerous matchup.

Emiley Kennedy has been the Aggies’ ace on the mound and when they need an out, Ford has no issues putting her in the game. So far in SEC play she’s pitched two complete games and two shutouts with 23 strikeouts. Koko Wooley also had a day with some savvy baserunning, leading to three steals and recording three stolen bases.

Day one:

Texas A&M vs Mississippi State / Win / 9-0 (run-rule)

  • Total offense:  9 hits, 9 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (13-1): 5.0 innings, 7 Ks, 94 pitches.

Texas A&M vs Mississippi State / Win / 8-5

  • Total offense:  10 hits, 8 runs
  • Pitching: Shaylee Ackerman W (5-1): 3.0 innings, 2 Ks, 54 pitches. Emily Leavitt: 2.0 innings, 2 K, 43 pitches. Brooke Vestal: 1.0 innings, 1 Ks, 24 pitches. Emiley Kennedy: 1.0 innings, 1 Ks, 27 pitches.

Texas A&M will wrap up the series when they Mississippi State in game three on March 17 at 11 a.m.

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The Texas A&M softball team opens up SEC play with a series sweep over No. 22 South Carolina

The Aggies series win marks the first time since the 2017-18 they have won an opening conference series in consecutive years

Texas A&M (23-2, 3-0 SEC) completed the sweep of No. 22 South Carolina (18-5, 0-3 SEC) with a 2-1 victory in the final game on Sunday afternoon.

This marks the second sweep of a Top 25 team this season, with the first being No. 14 Oregon and now the Gamecocks. However, it did not come easy against Georgia, with both teams playing stellar defense and the pitchers giving the hitters fits. The stars of the weekend were Trinity Cannon and Emiley Kennedy, who both came up big three games where every hit and pitch counted.

Kennedy appeared in all three games, and through 13 innings, she struck out 15 batters, going 2-0 with one save. In the game she started, she produced her NCAA-leading sixth shutout in the opening game of the series. Cannon led the team in the following areas: Hits (3), Triples (1), Home runs (1), RBI (3), and SLG% (1.000). Her weekend was highlighted by a walk-off home run in the 10th inning of the second game to give the series victory to the Aggies.

day one:

Texas A&M vs South Carolina / Win / 3-0

  • Total offense:  5 hits, 3 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (11-1): 7.0 innings, 10 Ks, 108 pitches.

day two:

Texas A&M vs South Carolina / Win / 2-1

  • Total offense:  8 hits, 5 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (12-1): 5.0 innings, 4 Ks, 82 pitches. Emily Leavitt 1.0 innings, 1 K, 37 pitches. Brooke Vestal 4.0 innings, 6 Ks, 62
  • pitches.

day three:

Texas A&M vs South Carolina / Win / 2-1

  • Total offense:  5 hits, 2 runs
  • Pitching: Brooke Vestal W (2-0): 6.0 innings, 6 Ks, 76 pitches. Emiley Kennedy S (3) 1.0 innings, 1 K, 19 pitches

Texas A&M will be back in action for another SEC series when they head to Starkville to take on Mississippi State starting March 15 at 4 p.m.

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No. 18 Texas A&M goes 4-1 at the Judi Garman Classic to improve to 19-2 on the season

Texas A&M run rules DePaul in their final game at the Judi Garman Classic to move to 19-2 on the season

The Texas A&M softball team has yet another successful out this time in Fullerton California at the Judi Garman Classic. They did drop one game, but it went into extra innings and the Aggies punched back as often as they could but ultimately fell just short.

Even with that loss they still outscored their opposition 40-15 over the three days. They will have a mid-week game and then start SEC play on March 8 against South Carolina at Davis Diamond.

day one:

Texas A&M vs Michigan / Win / 6-0

  • Total offense:  8 hits, 6 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (8-0): 7.0 innings, 12 Ks, 102 pitches.

Texas A&M vs Long Beach State / Win / 16-7

  • Total offense:  14 hits, 16 runs
  • Pitching: Emily Leavitt W (5-0) 2.2 innings, 1 Ks, 40 pitches. Shaylee Ackerman: 3.1 innings, 4 Ks, 80 pitches. Brooke Vestal: 0.0 innings, 0 K, 20 pitches.

day two:

Texas A&M vs Weber State / Loss / 5-4

  • Total offense:  8 hits, 5 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy L (8-1): 1.2 innings, 1 Ks, 40 pitches. Emily Leavitt 6.0 innings, 5 Ks, 98 pitches.

Texas A&M vs Cal State Fullerton / Win / 4-1

  • Total offense:  4 hits, 4 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (9-1): 7.0 innings, 10 Ks, 117 pitches.

day three:

Texas A&M vs DePaul / Win / 10-2

  • Total offense:  13 hits, 10 runs
  • Pitching: Emiley Kennedy W (10-1): 5.0 innings, 5 Ks, 78 pitches.

Below are some of the best moments from the weekend courtesy of the Texas A&M softball social media.

Texas A&M outfielder Allie Enright earns SEC Player of the Week

Texas A&M junior outfielder Allie Enright earned SEC Co-Player of the Week after the Aggies 5-0 weekend at the Campell/Cartier Classic

After splitting time in the outfield last season junior Allie Enright has all but solidified a full-time role in center field after getting off to a strong start to the year. She has the hottest bat on the team right now with a ridiculous .609 batter average, 3 home runs, 14 RBI, and a 1.174 slugging percentage.

Below is the excerpt from the SEC press release naming Enright as the SEC Co-Player of the Week.

“Texas A&M’s Allie Enright, a junior outfielder from Santa Clarita, Calif., led the Aggie offense this past week as she went 8-for-14 with four runs scored and three RBI at the Campbell/Cartier Classic. In the two wins over No. 17/14 Oregon, Enright was 3-for-4, including an RBI double in Sunday’s finale against the Ducks. In her 14 at-bats, she struck out only once while drawing two walks.”

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