Jo Evans responds to Mizzou smack, previews regional

Notes from Jo Evans interview

* The team is very excited about landing the eighth national seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Landing the seed speaks to their strength of schedule and the consistency the team has had throughout the season.

* She isn’t surprised by the negative comments made by Missouri head coach Ehren Earleywine and freshmen Corrin Genovese. She really tries her best not to let her players get distracted, and right now their focus is totally on winning and preparing for the upcoming tournament. Every coach has a different way to motivate their kids, and A&M simply has a different style than Missouri.

* The kids were jumping up and down when they found out they received the eighth national seed. The team was stuck in the Denver airport coming back from Boise and was huddled around a computer without audio. She loved how ESPN featured the top eight seeds before talking about the pairings during their selection show, and once the number eight came up and their name was next to it, the girls went nuts.

* Their regional is a tough one. Bethune-Cookman, the four seed, has experience in the tournament, so this isn’t new to them. Texas State, the three seed, is a really dangerous team who is on a 13 game winning streak and won both the regular season and postseason Southland Conference titles. Their RPI is around 40 which is pretty high for someone out of the Southland Conference, and they will be a tough test for everyone they play this weekend. LSU, the two seed, comes from a loaded SEC and are used to playing a tough schedule, so it won’t be easy by any means. The pitching in the regional is really tough. LSU has two aces, Texas State has two really good pitchers and of course, A&M has Mel Dumezich.

* She didn’t think about the possibility of playing LSU in the regional for the third straight year much, but at the same time, it didn’t surprise her once the pairings were announced. It’s kind of weird to face the same team three years in a row, and they will be coming with a vengeance because A&M has beaten them the past two years.

* The SEC has really improved as far as softball goes as of late. They’ve hired a lot of really good coaches which has helped that resurgence. Mississippi State got in for the first time in a few years with a new coach. Kentucky also got in, and those are schools that can be in and out sometimes. The league has really done a great job with hiring coaches, and of course, all of these football schools with money can afford to build nice facilities which always helps.

* The Aggie Softball Complex brings a good deal of home field advantage to the team. Last year, seven of the eight teams at the College World Series hosted a super regional, so that alone shows how important it is to play at home. The A&M fans know the game, have a lot of fun and come ready to be a part of the game and get out with the win. That makes the Aggie Softball Complex a special place to play, and being able to host all the way through gives A&M a little bit of an advantage over other teams.

* The first 100 students to the games get in free, thanks to the A&M Softball Double Play Club. No one wants the students to not be able to come out because they can’t afford it, especially since they are some of the loudest in the park.

* Patience is going to be key to having success in this regional because the team will see a lot of great pitching. Lately, the team has been putting up 8-10 runs a game, which may not be the case this weekend. If that doesn’t happen, the team needs to be patient, let the game come to them and know that they are good enough to stay in the game long enough to figure out how to score some runs.