Feb. 24, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The No. 19 Texas A&M softball team travels to the Cathedral City Classic in California this week for five games as part of the 30-team tournament. The Aggies face Fordham at 5:30 p.m. and Oregon at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday, UNLV and San Diego State on Friday and a final game against No. 10 Stanford on Saturday.
The Aggies are off to one of the best starts in school history and enter the weekend on a seven-game winning streak after sweeping the Aggie Classic last weekend.
Junior Rhi Kliesing leads the offense with a .406 batting average. Freshman Macie Morrow has the best on base percentage at .533 with 11 walks and 12 hits. Six Aggies are hitting above .300 for a team average of .317.
Kliesing is also doing an outstanding job in the circle with a 6-0 record and 51 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched. Sophomore Rebecca Arbino (4-1) holds a team-high 2.65 ERA and posts 31 K's in 37 innings pitched.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Live stats and live audio will be provided for every game this weekend on AggieAthletics.com. Fans can listen to all five contests broadcast live on KNDE-FM's HD3 channel, Play x REPlay (95.1-3 on the FM dial of an HD Radio), making each game available worldwide on any iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry or PDA free of charge. Log on to radioaggieland.com for more information.
LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies went 5-0 in their home-opening tournament, the Aggie Classic. A&M run-ruled Mississippi State twice, downed ULM twice and defeated Oregon State. Freshman Melissa Dumezich hit .571 on the weekend with eight hits, one double, three home runs, eight RBIs, five runs scored, a 1.286 slugging percentage and a .600 on base percentage.
ON DECK
The Aggies return to College Station and open up a 12-game homestand beginning with a contest against Houston on Wednesday, March 3. A&M hosts back-to-back tournaments and welcomes Texas A&M Corpus Christi for a mid-week doubleheader in between. The next two weeks are the longest homestand the Aggies have all season.
HOME RUN DERBY = NEW RECORD
The Aggies launched six home runs against Mississippi State on Feb. 20, including two homers from Kliesing and back-to-back long balls from Dumezich in the fourth frame. Six home runs mark a new game record for Texas A&M softball. The most prior was four bombs in a game, done several times, the most recent being against Tulsa on Feb. 6, 2009.
Eight home runs were hit in the game, ranking it third in the NCAA record book for most home runs in a game and leaving it just shy of the NCAA record of 10 home runs.
Speaking of 10 four-baggers, that's how many the Aggies hit over their two games on Feb. 20.
LEADING THE BIG 12
Texas A&M posts the best offensive numbers in the Big 12, including the best team batting average (.317), most runs scored (82), most doubles (21), most home runs (18), most RBIs (77) and most walks (56). In fact, the Aggies are almost blowing out their competition with 20 more runs and 20 more RBIs than its nearest competitor in the conference. The Aggies are getting it done on defense as well with the second-best fielding percentage in the league at .977.
Individually, May leads the Big 12 with five home runs, six doubles and 18 RBIs. The Aggies one and two batters, Morrow and junior Kelsey Spittler, are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in runs scored with 15 and 14, respectively. May and Kliesing hold the second-highest slugging percentage (1.000). Kliesing is second in the league with 51 K's and has the second-best strikeouts per game average at 11.2.
SCORING EARLY AND OFTEN
When the Aggies score runs they tend to score in bunches. The team has scored two or more runs in 20 of 28 innings that runs have crossed the plate. In addition, the Aggies score early, plating 71 of 82 runs in the first four frames. Twenty-seven runs were scored in the first inning alone.
A HOME RUN COMPARISON
Texas A&M has blasted 18 home runs in only 11 games so far this season, putting them over the half-way mark to their season total of 35 (in 54 games) last year.
DUMEZICH ON HER WAY UP
Dumezich put on a show at the plate last weekend and made some major improvement in her numbers. In five games on the weekend she improved her batting average from .176 to .355 and almost doubled her RBIs (7 to 13). She more than doubled her hits, runs, and total bases. In addition, Dumezich improved her slugging percentage from .353 to .774 and her on base percentage from .263 to .412.
AGGIES IN THE POLLS
Texas A&M worked its way into both polls this week, with its highest ranking at No. 19 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Top 25. A&M's remaining opponents appearing in the polls are, No. 4/6 Missouri, No. 9/12 Oklahoma, No. 8/11 Georgia Tech, No. 13/14 Texas and No. 25 BYU. In addition, Baylor, Oklahoma State and San Diego State are receiving votes.
SCOUTING FORDHAM
Fordham kicked off the 2010 season with a 3-4 record at the Lancer Invitational last weekend in Newport News, Va. Sophomore Jen Mineau pitched the first seven-inning perfect game in school history Saturday with a program-record 18 strikeouts in a 10-0 shutout of Morehead State. The Rams ended the 2009 season 37-22 overall and 13-7 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Junior Samantha Pellechio returns after leading the team with a .360 batting average in 2009. Joining her is junior pitcher Chelsea Plimpton, who posted a 1.88 ERA and a 12-4 win-loss record last season. The Aggies are 3-0 against the Rams.
SCOUTING OREGON
Oregon is 8-4 on the season. They recently returned from the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., where the team had a 4-2 record. Freshman starter Jessica Moore (3-1) pitched a 6-0 shutout against Cal State Fullerton. In 2009 the Ducks were 16-34 overall and 3-18 in conference play. Leading the team with a .314 batting average was senior Neena Bryant, who has a .333 average so far this season with six runs on 12 hits, including three doubles. Sam Pappas leads the team in hitting in 2010 with a .513 batting average after 20 hits and six home runs. Texas A&M leads the series against the Ducks, 4-2.
SCOUTING UNLV
The Rebels were 31-21 in 2009, including a third-place conference record of 7-8. The team returns eight starters in 2010, including senior Jaci Hull after leading the team from the plate with a .335 batting average, 38 runs, 53 hits, and 51 RBI. UNLV is 7-3 this season after finishing 3-2 at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic last weekend. Senior Marissa Nichols has seven doubles and posts a .467 batting average with 12 runs and eight RBIS on 14 hits. The Aggies are 8-2 against the Rebels.
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
The Aztecs return six starters from their 33-20 2009 season, including senior Brittany Knudsen who posts a .332 batting average overall. The outfielder averaged .317 in 2009 with 13 doubles. Redshirt senior Monica Alnes leads the team this year with a .353 average. San Diego State was 2-2 at its Campbell/Cartier Classic last weekend and holds a 7-3 overall record. The series between the Aztecs and the Aggies is tied, 2-2.
SCOUTING STANFORD
The No. 10 Cardinal are 8-1 in 2010. The team hosted the Stanford Nike Invitational last weekend, where it was undefeated. Alissa Haber posts a .500 batting average this season with nine runs and nine RBI on 14 hits. The senior standout ended the 2009 season with a .443 average overall and 89 hits, including 26 doubles. The pitching duo of freshman Teagan Gerhart (4-0) and junior Ashley Chinn (4-1) has a combined ERA of 1.58 in 2010. Chinn had a 13-3 record in 2009 and posted a 2.27 ERA. Texas A&M is 4-0 against Stanford.