There were so many moments where, so many reasons why it would have been easy to say that this was just not going to be the Aggies' weekend.
On Friday, A&M looked as out-of-sync as it had all season, playing its worst game of the year against a great Tennessee team, on the road, in a Super Regional.
With backs against the wall Saturday and down three runs, the Aggies started making their own moments.
The result? A thrilling 6-5 win in front of a stadium record crowd to force a winner-take-all battle.
As the sun rose in the east Tennessee mountains Sunday, 21 outs is all that stood between the Aggies and their first trip to Oklahoma City in nine years.
Facing the home-standing Vols inside a rowdy, jam-packed Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, A&M had just seen Tennessee use a pair of infield singles, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly and an ensuing error to push two runs home and open up a 3-0 second-inning lead.
The game was in danger of getting out of control.
Out of the dugout came Jo Evans.
"Coach had to kind of come out there and set us straight a little bit," Tori Vidales said.
After the not-so-friendly chat from Evans, the team regrouped.
They would escape a bases-loaded jam in that same frame to keep themselves in the game.
Then they made play, after play, after play, after play in the field.
Big time plays at that. Too many to count. Almost enough to fill up a SportsCenter Top 10.
Trinity Harrington, who captured the hearts of a softball nation and sported a wide grin from ear to ear all weekend long, took over in the circle.
She put it on cruise control from there, plowing through one of the country's most potent lineups in business-like fashion.
"I could not be more proud of Trin," Kristen Cuyos said. "We had her back. We told her to go out there and throw strikes, and that we would have her back. And we did."
Showing the fight it had all season, A&M punched right back in the third. Ashley Walters' sacrifice fly would score Kaitlin Alderink from third, as the sophomore got a great read and used her speed to slide around a possible tag at the plate.
Riley Sartain—the team's top hitter—then followed by taking out over a month's worth of frustration and round-tripper drought. She crushed the first pitch she saw from Matty Moss off the light pole in left to give her team its first lead of the day.
"In the first inning, I didn't come through for my team with the bases loaded," Sartain said. "I told myself walking back to the dugout, look, if you get that chance again you better come through. I was just happy that I got that second chance—not many people get that. I was just happy that I could get that opportunity to help my team win that game."
It was an emphatic momentum-changing, season-extending swing.
Texas A&M got its swagger back.
"I'm so proud of my team," Keeli Milligan said. "We've come from behind a lot this season, but we've never been so strong-minded on defense and in the batter's box while doing it. As soon as Riley hit the home run, I was positive we were going to the World Series."
Tennessee never really threatened after that.
A&M's defense—and Harrington—refused to let them.
Harrington retired 16 of the final 18 hitters. Vidales added a colossal solo blast in the fifth for insurance.
In the seventh inning, staring a trip to OKC in the face, Harrington used just 10 pitches to quietly, almost anticlimactically, carve through UT's three best hitters.
Celebration ensued.
There were hugs, high-fives, tears. Emotions ran high as a dream, on a team featuring no senior starters, was realized.
"The thing that I'm most impressed with is how this entire season you've stayed together," Evans told the team on the field after the game. "You've not one time turned your back on each other or your coaching staff. If something didn't go great, you always stayed with us. That's how you take a team to the College World Series. It has a lot to do with team chemistry. It has a lot to do with belief in your system and who you are as a ball club. It has so much to do with how important everyone is to you."
To a person, in the emotion of the moment everyone realized it was a team that got them to this moment.
"As a freshman, it's unbelievable," said Payton McBride, whose heroics in the circle on Saturday helped keep the Aggies' season alive. "My first year here and we're going to the World Series? That's ridiculous. It's awesome.
"It was so exciting to know that I was a part of it. Not this game…I was a part of this team, whether I played or not. I know that each and every person can say that on this team. It was awesome."
"To be able experience this with my 17 sisters and this staff, nothing can be put into words to describe this feeling," said Sarah Hudek. "And it's only the beginning."
"It's a dream come true," Samantha Show added. "It doesn't feel real right now, but it is real. And I'm so proud of everyone and all that we've done to contribute to this team."
The joy and pride of that moment on the field in Knoxville was felt not only by those in maroon on the dirt, but those in the stands and all the Aggies watching around the country and world.
"I take a lot of pride in the 12th Man and being the head softball coach at Texas A&M University," Evans said to the team. "I'm the luckiest coach in the world, and you guys are the luckiest ball players in the whole world to be able to play for Texas A&M University. For us to go back, and have those people celebrate us, and have them in Oklahoma City – this is so important to our alums and all those players who've come before."
Evans made sure to stop the team for just a second during the celebration and soak it all in.
"Don't forget this moment," Evans emphasized. "I promise you, for the rest of your life you'll remember this day. Enjoy this."
That elicited a loud roar from the group in the infield dirt.
"It's a good day, right?" Evans asked her team.
No, coach.
It's a great day.
On Friday, A&M looked as out-of-sync as it had all season, playing its worst game of the year against a great Tennessee team, on the road, in a Super Regional.
With backs against the wall Saturday and down three runs, the Aggies started making their own moments.
The result? A thrilling 6-5 win in front of a stadium record crowd to force a winner-take-all battle.
As the sun rose in the east Tennessee mountains Sunday, 21 outs is all that stood between the Aggies and their first trip to Oklahoma City in nine years.
Facing the home-standing Vols inside a rowdy, jam-packed Sherri Parker Lee Stadium, A&M had just seen Tennessee use a pair of infield singles, a wild pitch, a sacrifice fly and an ensuing error to push two runs home and open up a 3-0 second-inning lead.
The game was in danger of getting out of control.
Out of the dugout came Jo Evans.
"Coach had to kind of come out there and set us straight a little bit," Tori Vidales said.
After the not-so-friendly chat from Evans, the team regrouped.
They would escape a bases-loaded jam in that same frame to keep themselves in the game.
Then they made play, after play, after play, after play in the field.
Big time plays at that. Too many to count. Almost enough to fill up a SportsCenter Top 10.
Trinity Harrington, who captured the hearts of a softball nation and sported a wide grin from ear to ear all weekend long, took over in the circle.
She put it on cruise control from there, plowing through one of the country's most potent lineups in business-like fashion.
"I could not be more proud of Trin," Kristen Cuyos said. "We had her back. We told her to go out there and throw strikes, and that we would have her back. And we did."
Showing the fight it had all season, A&M punched right back in the third. Ashley Walters' sacrifice fly would score Kaitlin Alderink from third, as the sophomore got a great read and used her speed to slide around a possible tag at the plate.
Riley Sartain—the team's top hitter—then followed by taking out over a month's worth of frustration and round-tripper drought. She crushed the first pitch she saw from Matty Moss off the light pole in left to give her team its first lead of the day.
"In the first inning, I didn't come through for my team with the bases loaded," Sartain said. "I told myself walking back to the dugout, look, if you get that chance again you better come through. I was just happy that I got that second chance—not many people get that. I was just happy that I could get that opportunity to help my team win that game."
It was an emphatic momentum-changing, season-extending swing.
Texas A&M got its swagger back.
"I'm so proud of my team," Keeli Milligan said. "We've come from behind a lot this season, but we've never been so strong-minded on defense and in the batter's box while doing it. As soon as Riley hit the home run, I was positive we were going to the World Series."
Tennessee never really threatened after that.
A&M's defense—and Harrington—refused to let them.
Harrington retired 16 of the final 18 hitters. Vidales added a colossal solo blast in the fifth for insurance.
In the seventh inning, staring a trip to OKC in the face, Harrington used just 10 pitches to quietly, almost anticlimactically, carve through UT's three best hitters.
Celebration ensued.
There were hugs, high-fives, tears. Emotions ran high as a dream, on a team featuring no senior starters, was realized.
"The thing that I'm most impressed with is how this entire season you've stayed together," Evans told the team on the field after the game. "You've not one time turned your back on each other or your coaching staff. If something didn't go great, you always stayed with us. That's how you take a team to the College World Series. It has a lot to do with team chemistry. It has a lot to do with belief in your system and who you are as a ball club. It has so much to do with how important everyone is to you."
To a person, in the emotion of the moment everyone realized it was a team that got them to this moment.
"As a freshman, it's unbelievable," said Payton McBride, whose heroics in the circle on Saturday helped keep the Aggies' season alive. "My first year here and we're going to the World Series? That's ridiculous. It's awesome.
"It was so exciting to know that I was a part of it. Not this game…I was a part of this team, whether I played or not. I know that each and every person can say that on this team. It was awesome."
"To be able experience this with my 17 sisters and this staff, nothing can be put into words to describe this feeling," said Sarah Hudek. "And it's only the beginning."
"It's a dream come true," Samantha Show added. "It doesn't feel real right now, but it is real. And I'm so proud of everyone and all that we've done to contribute to this team."
The joy and pride of that moment on the field in Knoxville was felt not only by those in maroon on the dirt, but those in the stands and all the Aggies watching around the country and world.
"I take a lot of pride in the 12th Man and being the head softball coach at Texas A&M University," Evans said to the team. "I'm the luckiest coach in the world, and you guys are the luckiest ball players in the whole world to be able to play for Texas A&M University. For us to go back, and have those people celebrate us, and have them in Oklahoma City – this is so important to our alums and all those players who've come before."
Evans made sure to stop the team for just a second during the celebration and soak it all in.
"Don't forget this moment," Evans emphasized. "I promise you, for the rest of your life you'll remember this day. Enjoy this."
That elicited a loud roar from the group in the infield dirt.
"It's a good day, right?" Evans asked her team.
No, coach.
It's a great day.