March 03, 2005
| Over on Olsen Boulevard, magic spreads at the rate of 1,705 to 1,054. Those figures represent the number of Texas A&M students who have attended the first nine Aggie home softball games this spring compared to a year ago. Spreading along with that almost two-fold attendance increase is a new atmosphere that closely resembles the "magic" that was created across the street at Olsen Field. "We're just trying to bring a bunch of things from Olsen over here," said a student fan at the Aggies' home softball game against Sam Houston State on February 23. "We're trying to bring over heckling the pitcher and the first base coaches and stuff like that. We want to bring the things from Olsen like the same atmosphere and everything over here." The Aggie Softball Complex's fences are over 100 feet shorter than its "male" counterpart. Its grandstands hold a fourth as many fans as Olsen's. The in game train noise is muted by an extra 200 yards of real estate. But in the category of aura, the stadiums are growing closer and closer in resemblance. "Over at Olsen it is crazy," the same student fan said, "and we just want to bring that over here too. We want to make it just as exciting." On this particular evening, the game's participants do enough to make the game exciting. An Aggie game-tying sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth and a complete game performance by a freshman pitcher add suspense to a wild extra-inning game that ends, ironically, on a wild pitch in the bottom half of the eighth. "[Students not attending Aggie softball games] are missing out on the experience," another student fan remarked. "It's not just coming out here and enjoying a good softball game, although obviously it's a good game, but I mean it's just the atmosphere and the 12th Man and always supporting all of Aggie athletics."
The softball team has put together a start to the season that's deserving of all the support in the world. Using a core of veteran players and a stellar freshmen class, they opened the season with a 9-game winning streak before losing their first game on February 19. Since that loss, they have gone 7-1 including an upset victory of No. 1 Cal at the Palm Springs Classic in California to move into 11th in the national rankings. "This is a really great win for our team and our program," Head Coach Jo Evans stated after the Cal game which happened to be her 300th victory as the Aggie's head coach. "Our players know that if they take the field with the confidence to win then they can beat any team in the country, and that is what they did tonight. This will be a memorable win for me because of the way I feel about this team. I think there are going to be a lot of memorable wins for this team throughout our time at A&M." The team's roster itself is magical. Going down the list, it seems a great story and an interesting fact lay just beyond the actual names. Senior shortstop Adrian Gregory is the veteran anchor (173 consecutive career starts), but freshmen Megan Gibson and Amanda Scarborough (13 homeruns and 12 pitching victories combined) are the novel explosions. Last year's Big 12 Freshman of the Year (Sharonda McDonald) holds down center field while a coach with over 600 career wins (Coach Evans) manages the dugout. If a reason was to be nailed down for this season's rise in attendance, those player personalities and performances would be the best bet. "Well we've got two freshmen that have already combined for nine homeruns this season," replies yet another fan when asked what will entice even more students to cross Olsen Boulevard. "So if that doesn't bring them over nothing will." In the bottom of the 7th that night, a poor Bearkat infielder boots the ball. She may have escaped the heckling in years past, but not this season-a barrage of "E, E, E, E" floods down on her from the student section. According to the fans, such involvement is their Aggie duty. "The more events you can attend to support your school, the better," said the first student fan. "So it's good to be part of the 12th Man-not just for football and baseball, but bringing that to other sports too." Attendance records at Texas A&M soccer games flooded the newswires in the fall and current crowd overflows at Reed Arena are gaining the public's eye. But, beyond the radar, the same thing is happening at the Aggie Softball Complex. The 2005 team has already played in front of the second and third largest crowds in Aggie history-and those came during non-conference games. Who knows how many will come out for this year's State Farm Lone Star Showdown with Texas on April 27. It is all but certain that the turnout will surpass the current attendance record of 1,407 set during last year's game against the Longhorns. "I just love to support all of Texas A&M athletics," the second fan mentioned. "You know I've got some friends on the team, but it's just great to come out and support A&M at softball or whatever other sport it might be. We're just keeping up the Aggie spirit." Whether it's that spirit, the homeruns, or the victories, something magical is putting more and more students in the seats of the stadium-though they rarely actually sit down. "I think the 12th Man Team Rewards program has really paid off," the third fan said. "Last year the stands weren't quite as full as they are now. With the students coming over from Olsen, though, it is really beginning to get exciting." |
