News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The No. 7 Texas A&M softball team is set to host the Aggie Classic to open the 2025 campaign beginning Thursday at 4:30 p.m. against Utah State, followed by Purdue at 7 p.m. at Davis Diamond.
The Maroon & White return to action Friday for a top 20 matchup against No. 19 Baylor. Saturday features games against ACU at 4:30 p.m. and Villanova at 7 p.m., before wrapping up the weekend with an 11:30 a.m. first pitch on Sunday against Purdue.
Quick Look at the Aggies
Head coach Trisha Ford enters her third season in Aggieland and 15th overall as a head coach. Texas A&M returns 13 letterwinners from a 2024 squad that finished 44-15 overall and reached the NCAA Super Regionals for the first time since 2018. Fourteen newcomers have made Davis Diamond their new home, including nine true freshmen and five transfers.
PRESEASON NOISE
A lot has been talked about Texas A&M as the Aggies enter the 2025 season ranked in the top 10 in all four national polls, including No. 7 in the ESPN poll and Softball America rankings, while the NFCA poll put the Aggies at No. 8 and D1 Softball listed the Maroon & White at No. 9. The No. 7 ranking in the ESPN poll marked the highest preseason ranking since 2008 when the Aggies began No. 3 in the country. Aggies Mac Barbara, Emiley Kennedy and Koko Wooley were named to the USA Softball Top 53 Player of the Year Watch List. The trio also garnered top 100 player rankings given out by D1 Softball and Softball America, while each were named to the Preseason All-SEC Team. After finishing 2024 as a second team All-American, Kennedy highlights the preseason recognitions after being named to the D1 Softball and Softball America Preseason First Team All-America lists. The left-handed pitcher was also ranked the No. 6 overall player by Softball America and No. 7 overall by D1 Softball. True freshman KK Dement raked in preseason acknowledgements after D1 Softball and Softball America listed the Selma, California, native, on their preseason top 100 freshmen watch lists.
Built Ford Tough
Known for her blue-collar mentality, Ford has instilled that attitude into her program leading the Aggies to a 79-36 record in her first two seasons. During that span, the Maroon & White have won 11-of-16 SEC series and have finished in the league’s final standings five placings higher than what it was picked in each of the season’s SEC coaches preseason poll. Texas A&M takes 2025 head on facing one of its toughest schedules in recent years. The Aggies are slated to play 31 games against teams either ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes in the NFCA Preseason Poll, including 26 games against top 15 teams.
Old Army
Texas A&M has the nation’s most experienced pitching staff with a combined 983.2 innings pitched as a group. The senior duo of Kennedy (462.1 IP) and Emily Leavitt (332.0 IP) combined have tossed nearly 800 innings, while junior transfer Grace Sparks has thrown 126.2 innings and sophomore transfer Sidne Peters has registered 62.2 innings pitched. Despite graduating four Aggies who each started 200-plus career games, Ford picked up a pair of veteran players in the transfer portal in San Diego State graduate Mac Barbara and Washington transfer Olivia Johnson who have each played 135-plus games. Barbara’s 45 career round trippers are fourth most on the active career home run leader list entering the season. The Aggies return a handful of upperclassmen from a season ago, including seniors Kramer Eschete and Koko Wooley who have each appeared in 160-plus career games, while fellow senior Allie Enright has appeared in 111 games in the Maroon & White after transferring in as a sophomore in 2023. Eschete and Wooley each garnered All-SEC Second Team honors in 2024, while Enright was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team.
How to Follow
Each Texas A&M game at the Aggie Classic will be streamed on SEC Network+ with Olympian and Texas A&M great Tori Vidales on the call as the analyst, while Will Johnson will add commentary as play-by-play. All Aggie softball games can be heard on the 12th Man Mobile app or locally on Willy 1550 AM with Matt Simon as the play-by-play voice in his 11th season with Texas A&M softball. For more information on parking, ticketing and promotions visit gameday.12thman.com/softball.