No. 16 seed Texas A&M travels to Austin to face top-seeded Texas

Press conference video courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.

What: Austin Super Regional 
Who: #1 Texas & #16 Texas A&M
Where: Red & Charline McCombs Field – Austin, Texas
When:

• Friday: 5 p.m. CT (ESPN2)
• Saturday: 4 p.m. CT (TV TBD)
• Sunday (if needed): TBD (TV TBD)

#1 Texas Longhorns

• RPI: 1
• Record: 50-7 (23-4 Big 12)
• Team average: .383
• Team ERA: 1.75
• Fielding percentage: .966
• Offense: 8.16 runs/game
• Defense: 2.07 runs/game

Top Pitchers

• Citialy Gutierrez (11-1, 1.58 ERA, 18 starts)
• Teagan Kavan (18-2, 1.87 ERA, 20 starts)

Top Hitters

• Reese Atwood (.433 avg, .901 slug, 88 RBI, 22 HR)
• Ashton Maloney (.420 avg, .906 OPS)
• Mia Scott (.415 avg, .497 OBP, 49 RBI, 9 HR)
• Jolie Mitchell (.394 avg, 1.133 OPS, 33 RBI)

Scouting Texas 

Texas softball claimed the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, and for good reason.

Led by sixth-year head coach Mike White, the Longhorns blazed through conference play to take the Big 12 crown. In addition to the Longhorns’ impressive 50-7 record, their pitching and offensive numbers jump off the page.

Texas leads the country in batting average, with all nine spots in the lineup sitting at or above .320, with three beyond the .410 mark. Fifth in the nation in home runs, Reese Atwood — the Big 12 Player of the Year — has knocked 22 out of the park in the cleanup slot.

The Longhorns’ offense will strike early and often. They’re 40-0 when scoring first this season, and once Texas’ bats get going, it has proven difficult for opposing competition to slow them down.

Forty-three feet away, Texas boasts the fourth-best pitching staff in the country with a 1.75 ERA.

Citlaly Gutierrez, Teagan Kavan and Mac Morgan make up a three-headed monster. Kavan earned Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors with her team-leading 20 starts. Gutierrez ranks No. 23 in the country in ERA. Morgan opened last weekend’s Austin Regional with a no-hitter.

A powerful squad in the circle and at the plate, the Longhorns will have to command the Aggies’ attention early and win the free base war to escape a sneaky-good A&M club.

#16 Texas A&M Aggies

• RPI: 15
• Record: 43-13 (15-9 SEC)
• Team average: .307
• Team ERA: 2.47
• Fielding percentage: .975
• Offense: 6.28 runs/game
• Defense: 2.64 runs/game

Top Pitchers

• Emiley Kennedy (23-10, 1.57 ERA, 27 starts)
• Shaylee Ackerman (8-1, 2.89 ERA, 14 starts)

Top Hitters

• Koko Wooley (.389 avg, .465 slug, 12 RBI)
• Amari Harper (.351 avg, .460 OBP)
• Trinity Cannon (.336 avg, 1.219 OPS, 55 RBI, 15 HR)
• Allie Enright (.328 avg, 1.048 OPS, 41 RBI, 10 HR)

Scouting Texas A&M

The Aggies are coming off a successful weekend at Davis Diamond, where they claimed the Bryan-College Station Regional and advanced to the super-regional round for the first time since 2018.

Star pitcher Emiley Kennedy led A&M’s charge, pitching 12 innings of shutout ball in both of the Aggies’ wins over Texas State. “Lefty” has been dominant all year, having only given up eight long balls and racking up 191 strikeouts.

The Maroon & White’s star hurler will be a key cog in A&M’s attempt to upset the Longhorns. Additionally, the rest of A&M’s pitching staff must hold their own to alleviate some innings for Kennedy. If not, it will be all on the left-hander from The Woodlands to disrupt a powerful Longhorn offense.

At the plate, A&M’s top-of-the-order is producing at a high rate heading into the super regional round. Last week, Koko Wooley batted an astonishing .700 on the weekend, raising her season batting average to .389.

Ahead of Wooley, Kennedy Powell has provided an uptick in production this postseason as she finished with a .667 batting average in the SEC Tournament. Trinity Cannon’s big bat follows the duo with a team-leading 15-roundtrippers.

In order for A&M to knock off the Longhorns and secure their first trip to the Women’s College World Series since 2017, the Aggies must embrace the underdog role. The city of Austin is not too fond of the Aggies and will definitely not be this weekend with a chance to end A&M’s season.

As head coach Trisha Ford has stated all year: If the Aggies can play their brand of ball, they can compete with any team in the country.

What better way to prove it than against the No. 1 overall squad?