January 31, 2006
Fans of the defending Big 12 champion Texas A&M softball team will be able to hear at least 16 road games during the upcoming season live locally on SportsRadio 1150 The Zone, it was announced Tuesday.
"This is really important to our program and sets us apart as one of the few softball programs in the country that have their games broadcast on the radio," A&M head coach Jo Evans said. "It will continue to increase and cultivate our fan support, and I think maybe people who hear a game on the radio and haven't been out to the ballpark would want to come out there and see what it's all about."
Highlighting the broadcast schedule are all three matchups with national power, 2005 Women's College World Series participant and Pac-10 co-champion Arizona, and games against national runner-up UCLA and Pac-10 co-champion Oregon State. Also scheduled to air are Big 12 contests at Baylor, Texas, Iowa State and Nebraska. Broadcasts will begin 15 minutes prior to first pitch. The list of Aggie softball games carried on The Zone is subject to change.
Three games from A&M's season-opening weekend at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz., will be carried on The Zone, beginning with a game against Nevada on Friday, Feb. 10. Broadcast time will be approximately 5:15 p.m.
SportsRadio 1150 The Zone is the broadcast home for Texas A&M women's basketball along with numerous weekly and daily Aggie coaches' shows, including "The Coach Fran Show," featuring head football coach Dennis Franchione; and "The Billy Gillispie Show," featuring the A&M head men's basketball coach. Its partner station, News/Talk 1620 WTAW, is the broadcast home of Texas A&M baseball.
In addition to the over-the-air schedule on The Zone, aggieathletics.com plans to broadcast all softball games in 2006 worldwide over the internet through Yahoo! Broadcast. Fans attending Aggie games not broadcast by The Zone will be able to listen to the action on the low end of the FM dial (89.9 FM at the Aggie Softball Complex).
Matt Simon will handle the play-by-play duties for Aggie softball for the fourth straight season. A&M Director of Softball Operations Stephen Grove will provide commentary on most away broadcasts while Clint Netherland will join the broadcasts at home.
In 2005, the Texas A&M softball team won the school's first conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional round. The Aggies, who return seven starters and all five pitchers from the '05 squad, are the favorites to repeat as Big 12 champions and will open the year ranked as high as No. 6 nationally.
"Last year was a great season in which we had tremendous fan support," Evans said. "With that now comes the opportunity to be on the radio, and that shows the popularity of our sport in this community and on our campus. That's a show of respect for our program and what we accomplished last season, and it's something we had to earn. That is a credit to our players."
The official home of Texas A&M Athletics, aggieathletics.com is in its fourth season of broadcasting A&M softball games worldwide on the internet. Fans can listen to the games, along with Aggie football, baseball, basketball, volleyball and soccer, through the Yahoo! Broadcast College Sports Pass. To subscribe to Yahoo! Broadcast, click the "Aggies on the Radio" link on the front page of AggieAthletics.com.
2006 Texas A&M Softball Broadcast Schedule on SportsRadio 1150 The Zone
(list subject to change)
Date Opponent Time (CT) Friday, Feb. 10 vs. Nevada 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11 vs. Arizona 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12 vs. Oregon State 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24 vs. Arizona 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25 vs. UNLV 5 p.m. vs. UCLA 10 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26 vs. Cal State Fullerton 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 15 vs. Cal State Northridge 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 16 vs. Arizona 1:15 p.m. Friday, March 17 vs. UNLV 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 22 at Baylor 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 at Texas 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at Iowa State 2 p.m. Sunday, April 16 at Iowa State 12 p.m. Saturday, April 29 at Nebraska 1 p.m. Sunday, April 30 at Nebraska 12 p.m.