They’re baaaack.
Three Texas A&M softball alumni are returning to Davis Diamond on Thursday, now as professional athletes playing in the big leagues.
It’s a homecoming for Kennedy Powell, Tori Vidales and Mac Barbara, who return for the Athletes Unlimited Softball League Championship.
“When I found out we were coming back to A&M, I’m not going to lie, I teared up,” Barbara said. “The love from the 12th Man is everything. I feel like it’s home away from home.”
Barbara, who plays for the Chicago Bandits, will face Powell, Vidales and the Portland Cascade in the championship play-in game on Thursday for the right to play the defending-champion Utah Talons in a best-of-three series.
This will be the first time Aggies will play fellow Aggies at Davis.
“We have a great relationship,” Powell said of Barbara. “I pray she does well today, but we do want to get the win.”
Barbara and Powell were teammates in 2025 as A&M ascended to No. 1 in the national polls.
The pair have already left their marks on the program, and they will only add to their legacy as professional athletes returning as foes.
“I feel really good coming into this,” Barbara said. “The game is going to respect those who respect the game, and I think we’ve done a good job of earning and not being given.”
In just one 58-game season as an Aggie, Barbara hit .366 with 34 runs scored, 68 RBI and 12 home runs as she helped A&M earn the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed for the first time.
She then played for the Orlando Monarchs in Women’s Professional Fastpitch before joining the Bandits from the AUSL reserve pool this year.
“It was one of the greatest opportunities I could have ever asked for,” Barbara said. “I was ugly crying on the plane when I found out. This is honestly one of the best pro teams I’ve played for.”
She finished the regular season with a .289 average, 13 hits, 11 RBI and one homer in 16 games for Chicago.
Powell is the most recent Aggie grad, spending three seasons at A&M from 2024-2026.
It only took three months for the former A&M third baseman to return to Davis, now as a proud alum.
“Let me tell you something, the 12th Man loves softball,” Powell said. “It’s so much fun just to be able to bring this back to Davis Diamond and have so many people that have watched us play and grow up. To come back and watch us play pro ball, that’s really cool.”
After her final game at Davis ended in a loss to Arizona State, Powell now plays with former ASU pitcher Kenzie Brown on the Cascade.
Despite pitching as an A&M competitor, Brown shares memories of what the Aggieland environment has to offer.
“I play with Kenzie Brown,” Powell said. “She was on Arizona State, and she’s like, ‘Oh, no guys. It’s a hostile environment, but it’s so much fun to play there.’ Even she said it.”
Powell isn’t the only Aggie in Cascade colors.
Six years removed from Aggieland, Vidales has made her mark on the sport, playing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics for Team Mexico.
“Whenever they announced that I would join (Portland) full time, she texted me,” Powell said. “She said, ‘I knew your career wasn’t over, and I’m so glad to play with you.’ That was one of the big things for me.”
Vidales has competed in the Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball league, the AUX and AUSL over the past six years and also serves as a softball analyst for the SEC Network.
She was drafted in the sixth round of the AUSL expansion draft this year and has spent one season with the Cascade.
The former A&M first baseman still holds school record for most career runs (198), RBI (219) and total bases (481).
“She’s on the wall in the batting cage as an All-American,” Powell said. “Our relationship is great, and getting to learn from her and share things in common, we get to stick together.”
On Thursday night, the jerseys may not be Maroon & White, but the setting will stay the same.
For Powell, Vidales and Barbara, Davis Diamond is no longer just where they built their college careers.
It’s where they’ll showcase their next chapter.
And for the 12th Man, it’s a chance to welcome the Aggies back home.
