College Station, TEXAS -Â The 24th-ranked Texas A&M softball team opens the 2015 season this weekend when it travels to California to take on Utah, No. 7 UCLA, San Diego State and Purdue in the SoCal Collegiate Classic.
The Aggies start the outing with a 12:30 p.m. Friday game against Utah, followed by a 5:30 p.m. matchup with No. 7 UCLA. Saturday's slate features a 12:30 p.m. game between the Aggies and the San Diego State, and a 5:30 p.m. rematch with the Bruins. Texas A&M ends the weekend with a 12:00 p.m. Sunday game against Purdue. All times are CT, and all games are played in Los Angeles.
Fans unable to attend the game can listen to it live on 12thMan.com or RadioAggieland.com. Each game this season can be heard worldwide on HD radio or smartphone via 95.1-3 The Zone HD. Download the RadioAggieland app to listen to the games, or tune in online.
Instantaneous live mobile stats can be seen from any mobile device, as well as any computer at TAMUstats.com. Live stats will also be available for every game of the 2015 season through 12thMan.com. Click on the live stats link on the Aggie softball schedule page any time after first pitch to follow the action.
AT FIRST GLANCE
The Aggies open 2015 at the SoCal Collegiate Classic, facing off against head coach Jo Evans' alma mater, Utah. Returning five starters and four pitchers, the Aggies bring back experienced talent while also welcoming a crop of seven fresh faces to the diamond. Despite returning 13 letterwinners and four pitchers, Texas A&M will take the field without its top three hitters last season. Sophomore April Ryan, who looks to pick up where her teammates left off, is coming off a season where she hit .295 with 14 doubles and 40 RBIs. The Aggies also bring back their top two pitchers in seniors Rachel Fox and Katie Marks. The duo combined for 15 wins and Fox led the team wiht 123 strikeouts.
LAST AT BAT
The Aggies ended their 2014 run with a 2-2 record at the NCAA Regional level. A&M continued the tradition of excellence that head coach Jo Evans has instilled in the program, finishing 37-22 for the 17th straight, 30 win season. 2014 also saw Evans's 1,000th career win and 700th win in the Maroon & White. In their second season in the Southeastern Conference, the Aggies finished 9-15 and in 11th place, with the league doing away with divisions after the 2012-13 season.
SCOUTING UTAH
Head Coach Jo Evans and the Texas A&M softball team will open 2015 against the Utah Utes. Evans will face her alma mater, now led by former player Amy Hogue in both team's first game at the SoCal Collegiate Classic. Utah finished 2014 at 31-24, the most wins under Hogue, which was good for a 6th place finish in the Pac-12. Sophomore Hannah Flippen was named to the 2014 NFCA All-American second team after hitting .382 with 54 runs in her first campaign. The Utes return seven position starters, all three primary pitchers and a complete infield from last year.
SCOUTING UCLA
The UCLA Bruins enter 2015 ranked seventh by the NFCA/USA Today poll and sixth by the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and will be the first of several ranked teams the Aggies will face this season. UCLA returns 18 letterwinners, including seven starters and four pitchers, from the 2014 team, which posted a 52-8 record, finished second in Pac-12 play and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals. The Bruins are coached by Kelly Inouye-Perez, who is in her ninth year with the team. Eight of the returning Bruins hit .300 or better last season as they bring back almost all of their firepower and runs from 2014.
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE
San Diego State enters 2015 returning nine letterwinners, including seven starters and two pitchers, from last year's squad. The 2014 team posted a 40-19 record en route to winning the Mountain West Conference and advancing to the NCAA Regoinals. Coach Kathy Van Wyk is in her 19th season at the reins of the Aztecs, who return most of their hitting leaders but must replace star pitcher Danielle O'Toole, who struck out 196 batters over 256 innings to finish with a 31-10 record.
SCOUTING PURDUE
The Boilermakers finished 2014 at 27-28-1 after falling in the Big Ten Tournament. Eleven letterwinners from last year's squad will make an apperance on the 2015 Purdue squad, including three members of an impressive pitching staff that registered 281 strikeouts over 361 innings. The Boilermakers add five new members, including Katie Harrison, a junior college All-Amerian who batted .440 with 86 RBI and 24 homeruns last season.
VS. THE FIELD
The Aggies are 18-5 all-time against OUtah, after hosting the Utes in the teams' last meeting – a 7-5 A&M win in 2009. UCLA leads the series with Texas A&M, 7-8. The teams last met in the 2013 Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, also in Los Angeles, with the Aggies winning 7-6 in eight innings. The Aggies and Aztecs last played in Culver City, Calif., in 2014, a Texas A&M win that moved the all-time record to 7-2 in the Aggies' favor. Texas A&M holds a 2-1 lead in the series against Purdue, with two victories coming at the 2013 Aggie Invite.
GOING BACK TO CALI
The Aggies have become a mainstay in several California tournaments, taking at least one trip to the West Coast over the past four seasons. Texas A&M has a 16-9 record in the Golden State since 2011 including a 5-0 turn to open the 2014 season in Santa Barbara. The Aggies will participate in the SoCal Collegiate Classic and the Mary Nutter Classic this February.
THE 2015 AGGIES
In its third season in the Southeastern Conference, Texas A&M welcomes seven newcomers to the 2015 squad with freshmen Kristen Cuyos (Pearland), Erin Hoothoufd (Beach City), Kayla Ober (Katy), Hailey Rebar (San Antonio), Erica Russell (Bryan), Tori Vidales (La Porte) and Ashley Walters (Kerrville). Returning to action are five sophomores, four juniors and in incredibly experience four-member senior class. The Aggies will have to replace a prolific group of eight seniors from 2014 but retain four members of their pitching staff and several fresh faces who worked their way up the stat columns last season.
WELCOME BACK
The Aggies 13 student-athletes from the 2014 squad, including an experienced pitching staff and plenty of hitting power. Right-handed pitchers Rachel Fox and Katie Marks led the Aggies in 2014, putting together 30 wins with a combined 193 Ks. Sophomore April Ryan is A&M's leading hitter, batting .295 with 43 runs and 40 RBIs.
RANKING THE AGGIES
Texas A&M starts the 2015 season with a No. 24 preseason ranking in both national polls. The Aggies' remaining 2015 opponents in the top 25 are No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3/4 Alabama, No. 7/6 UCLA, No. 6/7 Kentucky, No. 19/18 LSU and No. 20/19 Auburn. In addition, South Carolina, Cal State Fullerton and Mississippi State are receiving votes.
SEC PRESEASON POLL
The Southeastern Conference coaches predicted a No. 9 finish for the Aggies in 2015, finishing behind No. 1 Florida, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Georgia, No. 6 Missouri, No. 7 Auburn and No. 8 Tennessee. Rounding out the preseason poll are No. 10 South Carolina, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 12 Arkansas and No. 13 Ole Miss. Nine of the 13 SEC softball teams appeared among the nation's top-25 in the USA Today/NFCA Preseason Poll. Points for the SEC poll were awarded on a 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12 basis. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. The SEC did away with East-West divisions after the 2012-13 season in all sports but baseball and football.
FULL FEBRUARY
With four tournaments and two nonconference midweek games at the beginning of the season, the Aggies will play over one third of their regular-season schedule in the month of February. Of the 56 scheduled games in 2015, 22 of them will take place during the first four weeks of the season.
LISTEN LIVE
Aggie Softball fans worldwide can listen to each game of the 2015 season live on 12thMan.com. All contests are provided by The Zone and can be heard on smartphones and HD radios via 95.1-3 The Zone HD on the Radio Aggieland app. Select games are also available in the Bryan-College Station area on Sports Radio 1150 AM. Every game will be live online at RadioAggieland.com and 12thMan.com.
MOBILE LIVE STATS
Fans who wish to follow the action of each game this season can also receive free, instantaneous live stats on any computer or smartphone by visiting TAMUstats.com. Users can access current live stats and stats from past games.
UP NEXT
The Aggies return home next week to host the Aggie Classic. Texas A&M will play Penn State and Eastern Michigan on Friday and Saturday, February 13-14, before taking on Missouri State on Sunday, February 15. Full notes packet can be found at 12thMan.com. To learn more about Texas A&M softball, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @AggieSoftball on Twitter.