May 29, 2003
The Texas A&M softball team (38-22, 10-8 Big 12) finished the season ranked in the top 20 in both the USA Today/NFCA poll and ESPN.com/USA Softball poll. The Aggies are tied with Iowa for 17th in the USA Today/NFCA poll and are 15th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll after beginning the season ranked No. 24. UCLA finished first in both polls after claiming the national title in Monday's championship game.
The Aggies secured a top 20 finish after advancing to the regional finals for the second straight year, something that an A&M team has not done since the 1987 and 1988 seasons. In the Tucson regional A&M knocked off Boston College and South Carolina (twice) to earn the right to play No. 1 Arizona in the final round. The Aggies fell to the Wildcats in the final round, just missing out on a trip to Oklahoma City and the Women's College World Series.
The 2003 squad ended the season with several new marks in the A&M record books. The team finished third all-time in runs with 270, first in doubles (85), first in home runs (55) and second in rbi's (249). On the season A&M led the Big 12 in runs, doubles, home runs, walks, rbi's, and slugging percentage.
A&M''s strong finish was a testament to the effort that they put out as a team. With such a strong performance the Aggies placed a school record seven players on the the All-Big 12 teams. Senior Crystal Martin (SS), senior Selena Collins (C), and freshman Kristin Gunter (1B) were named to the first team while junior's Lindsay Wihelmson (DP) and Jessica Slataper (P) joined sophomore's Adrian Gregory (2B) and Jana James (2B) on the second team.
In the final polls the Aggies are joined by four other Big 12 teams. Texas finshed No. 4 in both polls while OU was fifth in the NFCA poll and sixth in the ESPN.com poll. Oklahoma State finished 14th and 12th and Nebraska finished 13th and 16th in the final polls of 2003.