May 01, 2003
| NOTE: This is the fourth in a series of Big 12 Championships previews here on AggieAthletics.com. Baseball will conclude the series in mid-May. Pennants honoring all the national champions in women's softball history ring the concourse of Don Porter Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, site of this weekend's Big 12 Tournament. Just to the third-base side of home plate sits one marked "Texas A&M" in honor of the Aggies' two national championship squads in the mid-80s. If this year's 20th-ranked Aggie softball team wants to get back to the World Series, played on the very same field, the journey begins now with the start of postseason play. Texas A&M begins play in the eighth Big 12 Softball Tournament against the Oklahoma Sooners on Friday at 11 a.m. It what promises to be possibly the most exciting Big 12 softball tournament yet, this year's field may be the most competitive in the history of the league. All of the top six seeds in the tournament are ranked in the top 25, including the Aggies' first-round opponent, OU. The Sooners, despite finishing fourth in the conference race, are ranked fourth nationally. "The nice thing (about playing OU again right away) is that everyone's familiar with our opponent," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "We don't have to spend a lot of time going over scouting charts or anything like that. We didn't feel like we played well against them last weekend--we made some costly errors on defense, so we come in feeling like if we play good defense, we certainly have a chance at beating OU. They're ranked No. 4 in the country, but we're right there as far as how we compete against those teams, so we're looking forward to the challenge." Top-seeded Texas, which successfully defended its regular season championship from last year, heads to Oklahoma City as the highest ranked team with a No. 3 ranking. Nebraska, seeded sixth after losing the tie-breaker with A&M--the Aggies beat Nebraska twice during the regular season-is ranked 10th. No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, one of the surprises of the league in 2003, brings a No. 14 national ranking into its first-round game on Thursday, followed by fifth-seeded A&M (20th) and third-seeded Missouri (25th). The Tigers were picked to finish ninth in the coaches' preseason poll. "(Having six ranked teams) really is amazing," Evans said. "It speaks so highly of our conference and of what all the coaches have done. I feel really fortunate to be coaching in this conference. These teams are great, it's a lot of fun, it prepares us for down the road. All the teams are great, so it makes for a great tournament." The tournament gets underway Thursday afternoon with two play-in games between the bottom four seeds: Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and Baylor. The winners of those match-ups will enter the eight-team, double-elimination bracket with a winner crowned on Sunday afternoon. Evans brings with her a senior-laden squad that has posted the highest number of conference wins (10) since 1996. The Aggies also demolished the school record for home runs in a season with 49 entering the weekend and have wins this year against 8th-ranked Georgia, 10th-ranked Nebraska, 14th-ranked Oklahoma State, 15th-ranked Stanford and 25th-ranked Missouri. Last season the Aggies advanced to the tournament semifinals, falling to eventual College World Series participant Nebraska. Both of A&M's losses in the 2002 tournament came in its opponent's final at-bat. After defeating Baylor to open tournament play, the Aggies trailed top-seeded Texas by one run heading into the 7th inning. A&M plated a run in the top of the frame to force extra innings, in a game the Aggies would eventually lose 2-1 in eight innings. Another victory over the Lady Bears kept Texas A&M alive and set up a semifinal match-up with 7th-ranked Nebraska. The Aggie bats were kept silent the entire game before a two-out, two-run home run in the seventh inning by Crystal Martin tied the game at two. A walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the frame would win the game for Nebraska. So, with a team loaded with senior leadership that has shown the flare for the dramatic this season, it wouldn't be surprising at all if A&M did something special this week in Oklahoma City. "We feel good here," Evans said. "I feel like we've always played pretty well at this tournament. Our kids rise to the occasion. This tournament's wide open, and it's a tournament where we think if we play well and put everything together, we have a chance to win it." |