March 14, 2006
The 18th-ranked Texas A&M softball team (15-8) will travel to Fullerton Calif. this week to participate in the inaugural Judi Garman Classic, formerly known as the Kia Classic, at the Titan Softball Complex.
?We are looking forward to playing in the Judi Garman Classic this weekend,? commented A&M head coach Jo Evans. ?It is a premier tournament and we will continue to see top-ten teams. Our schedule has been very tough and this weekend will be no different. We are coming off a great week of practice and a very well played game against Sam Houston. I am happy to see us making progress and look forward to the challenge this weekend.?
The Aggies?â„¢ last game was on March 8th against Sam Houston. Megan Gibson (8-2) pitched a three-hit, complete game shutout, in route to the 4-0 victory. She struckout three Bearkat batters and did not give-up a walk. Gibson also contributed outside the circle going 2 for 2 at the plate with a walk and a run scored.
During the pool play portion of the tournament, the Aggies will face Cal State Northridge, Arizona and UNLV in single game sets, before starting bracket play on Saturday.
The Aggies will face Cal State Northridge at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. A&M and the Matadors of Northridge (6-6) are 2-2 in the all-time series, having faced-off last in 1995, while the Aggies were under the direction of coach Bob Brock.
The game against No. 1 Arizona (20-1) on Thursday at 1:15 p.m. will be the third meeting, this season, between the two teams. The Wildcats have won the previous two meetings via the run-rule. Arizona has remained in the No. 1 spot in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 poll for four consecutive weeks. Arizona leads the all-time series 21-4.
The Aggies will meet the Rebels on Friday at 11:00 a.m. Senior Rocky Spencer hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the seventh in the Palm Springs Classic to give A&M a 5-3 win over UNLV (13-13) earlier this season and increase the all-time series lead to 7-2.
The Judi Garman Classic features 16 teams meeting face-to-face in a three-day pool play format consisting of four pools of four teams each. Results from pool play will seed a pair of eight-team championship brackets with two winners crowned on "Championship Sunday" at 3:30 p.m.
Championship and consolation bracket play begins on Saturday morning (March 18) at 11:00 a.m. on both fields with the tournament semifinals and finals beginning on Sunday morning (March 19) at 10:30 a.m.
You can access live stats for the Aggies?â„¢ tournament games by logging on to www.AggieAthletics.com.
NOTE: All game-times are central.