*** 2025 Aggie Softball Season Thread ***

451,789 Views | 2670 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by Danny Vermin
dixichkn
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9:13p, 6/2/25
AG
F sip always and forever.

But if this isn't the epitome of buying a championship, nothing is. Absolutely despise what college sports has become. Yes I'm old and antiquated and I don't care. Kiss off.
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frankie00
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9:13p, 6/2/25
It IS kind of poetic in a way - OU got beat by a team that did the same thing they do.
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jmcfar_98
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In reply to frankie00 • 9:14p, 6/2/25
AG
frankie00 said:
It IS kind of poetic in a way - OU got beat by a team that did the same thing they do.


They've been doing it before NIL became legal.
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Hamburger Dan
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In reply to Bucketrunner • 10:03p, 6/2/25
Bucketrunner said:
Cody Campbell trying to force tech into the spotlight and generate some interest in his school.
And it's working.


Perhaps they'll win the Big 12 Football Championship this this year, then make the CFB Playoff. Tex Ags heads, will explode.
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BiochemAg97
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In reply to frankie00 • 10:47p, 6/2/25
AG
frankie00 said:
I have mentioned several times that NIL reminds me of the Yankees. For many years they bought the best players in MLB, paying them many times more than what they were making at their old teams to get them to switch teams, and won a ton of championships because of it.

I read an article the other day that the wonderful NCAA is going to try to stop the obvious 'pay for play' deals by setting up a 'clearing house' of sorts to review all NIL deals to try to rule out the obvious 'pay for play' deals. It's going to be a bureaucratic mess. They let the horses out of the barn and now trying to round 'em up. NCAA will never change.


Clearing house is being run by one of the big accounting firms. Their trial indicates most NIL deals with companies would be approved, but most deals with collectives would be denied. That sounds great in theory, but it suggests there is a way to structure a collective agreement that is allowable.

A lot of collectives have been shutting down or being folded into the AD. Part of it is the IRS rules that make non-profit collectives disallowed, part due to the AD needing the pile of cash to do revenue sharing. However, I haven't seen the richer schools folding their collectives into the AD yet.

What is really going to set some schools apart is signing up some big corporate sponsors to do NIL deals with the players rather than rich donors just contributing to a collective.
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Wabs
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7:30a, 6/3/25
AG
Who on our team last season received the most NIL? And how much did she get?
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frankie00
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7:41a, 6/3/25
I would be interested in what NIL money Aggies get compared to other schools. But, for the most part, the information is not considered public information so we will probably never know. I think it is probably a fairly large amount but most going to the large sports.
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frankie00
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7:52a, 6/3/25
I looked up a few articles on 'pay to play', 'fair market value', etc. this morning (after I mentioned one in a post yesterday) and there are a ton of them. As BiochemAg97 mentioned above several of them mentioned 'collectives', a couple on how they would benefit larger schools over smaller schools, well known athletes over lesser known athletes. NIL has simply opened a huge can of worms. The intent of NIL is/was worthy but it has really gotten out of hand, an obvious unintended consequence. Most of the articles also suggest that all of the fixes will mean just another round of lawsuits. The following is just one of the many articles I went through this morning:

https://frontofficesports.com/will-the-house-v-ncaa-settlement-actually-end-pay-for-play-nil-deals/
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Wabs
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7:58a, 6/3/25
AG
I would be interested in how much total goes to softball and who are the top 2-3 on our roster. I mean do we even come close to $1M total?
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frankie00
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8:17a, 6/3/25
I know what you mean - how much does softball get, who gets the most, does it come anywhere close to the 1 million total, etc. I think it is non-public information and we will never know. I think all we can do is guess.

But from a few comments she made, we paid Mac quite a bit, Lefty probably got a good amount and we may have paid Grace quite a bit. Koko and Sidne, too, perhaps. KK might get a nice bonus after grabbing First Team All-American. I think the first First Team for an Aggie since the 2008 and 2007 teams grabbed three.
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Bucketrunner
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In reply to Hamburger Dan • 8:31a, 6/3/25
Nah. I forget they're even out there until someone else brings them up. They may as well be in outer Mongolia.
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frankie00
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8:40a, 6/3/25
PG class of 2025 commits. I have mentioned this a few times but never supplied a link. Look at the OU commits - six of the top 11. How many are pitchers? How many in the 50 are A&M? I think we will get better over the next few years but for now ...

https://www.perfectgame.org/softball/Rankings/PlayerRankings.aspx?sprid=7
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Wattson Stumjack
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8:54a, 6/3/25
I mean I doubt we are even close to 1 million for the whole roster.

I think it was basically one tech donor couple that paid for their pitcher.

I think the only sports where our NIL is in top 10/5 are football and baseball. We don't spend much anywhere else (though given Bucky's transfer portal haul we might be spending more in MBB). I think tu is top 5 in pretty much every sport.

I think Campbell and co are making a play to make tech relevant when super conferences come. That said, I am not sure that is going to be based necessarily about how good you are or how much you spend on athletics. tech's issue in that sense is that it is just not as big as A&M or tu and its like in most remote part of the state.

A&M has lots of rich people but the donate to lots of things besides sports. What A&M has lacked is that true billionaire/near billionaire who seizes control of AD and puts a ton of their resources to it, like pickens (which is who I liken campbell to most) at okstate, knight at oregon, etc.

We have too many cooks and those guys basically have more money and willpower than next nearest donor when it comes to athletics, so they can exert control that tends to have more positive outcomes at least for a while. You can even have it when a couple of donors come together and can all go in same direction.

I would think if a team wants Canady next year, they just need to bid more. I could see an OU/tu doing that.
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PlanoGuy
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In reply to frankie00 • 8:55a, 6/3/25
frankie00 said:
PG class of 2025 commits. I have mentioned this a few times but never supplied a link. Look at the OU commits - six of the top 11. How many are pitchers? How many in the 50 are A&M? I think we will get better over the next few years but for now ...

https://www.perfectgame.org/softball/Rankings/PlayerRankings.aspx?sprid=7
OU is currently loaded with position players as only Cydney Sanders is a senior. However, with Landry being a senior, there's a huge hole at pitching. Eventhough OU has a number of supposed elite pitchers coming in from HS, they'll need to hit the portal for a proven ace. Assuming that happens, OU should be much better next season.
"F PlanoGuy!!" - Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium Forum
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frankie00
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In reply to PlanoGuy • 9:09a, 6/3/25
Understand but the sooners already have several star pitchers from HS on the staff, top 10 from the previous two years. Some with awesome numbers. We will have to wait until next year to see how they do now that Landry is gone. I think we might play the sooners home and away the next two years so we will find out soon!

Note that we scored 451 runs this year, setting a new Aggie record. Previous #1 was 429 in 2016. We did have offense but we just could not score enough in a few games when we really needed it and our pitching failed us at critical times. We really could have used a lock down 'closer'.
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frankie00
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9:16a, 6/3/25
Note that this is the kind of press release I would love to see for softball !!

https://12thman.com/news/2025/6/2/womens-golf-aggies-sign-two-time-sun-belt-golfer-of-the-year-louise-reau

"The Bziers, France [native], joins a roster featuring All-Americans Cayetana Fernndez Garca-Poggio and Vanessa Borovilos and the No. 2 recruiting class in the country. The 2025 recruiting class is highlighted by three of the top 10 incoming freshmen in the nation."
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Boozer92
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10:19a, 6/3/25
AG
https://www.kbtx.com/2024/08/08/texas-am-athletes-more-than-tripled-nil-earnings-2023-24-athletic-year/

For the 2023-2024 school year all women's athletes combined made $528k. I am this past year that number was higher but I doubt it was a million. Just to put her Canady's contract in perspective
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LB12Diamond
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In reply to PlanoGuy • 10:20a, 6/3/25
AG
OU pretty much can get whoever they want. So the key for them is making the right choices.

Whenever I am around select softball, the players only care if they get interest from OU. It will be interesting to see how long this continues.

Another thing about softball. Most of the coaches I respect and appear to be good people. OU's Tech's and A&M's are solid people and coaches. Heck I even like the Texas coach at times. In several of his interviews he's real and laid back. Most of the SEC coaches appear to be great people. The only one that has stood out to me as being a jerk is the Vols coach.

Now baseball on the other hand. Many of the good coaches appear to have messed up personal lives.
Gig ‘Em Baby!
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Danny Vermin
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10:55a, 6/3/25
I realize tech is the anomaly ( for now) but if you look at the Texas roster , most of the starters are their high school recruits and one grad transfer. Hired Guns are the future but recruits still matter the most.
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frankie00
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In reply to Boozer92 • 12:00p, 6/3/25
Boozer92 said:
https://www.kbtx.com/2024/08/08/texas-am-athletes-more-than-tripled-nil-earnings-2023-24-athletic-year/

For the 2023-2024 school year all women's athletes combined made $528k. I am this past year that number was higher but I doubt it was a million. Just to put her Canady's contract in perspective
Thanks for the info. Being out of state I miss most local news reporting. Do not recall it mentioned in any A&M press release and I do see a lot of those. I wonder what percentage of the $528k is for softball?
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frankie00
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In reply to LB12Diamond • 12:07p, 6/3/25
LB12Diamond said:
OU pretty much can get whoever they want. So the key for them is making the right choices.

Whenever I am around select softball, the players only care if they get interest from OU. It will be interesting to see how long this continues.

Another thing about softball. Most of the coaches I respect and appear to be good people. OU's Tech's and A&M's are solid people and coaches. Heck I even like the Texas coach at times. In several of his interviews he's real and laid back. Most of the SEC coaches appear to be great people. The only one that has stood out to me as being a jerk is the Vols coach.

Now baseball on the other hand. Many of the good coaches appear to have messed up personal lives.
I am no fan of OU but I have always respected their recruiters because they have a huge pool to choose from and they often make really good choices. And the coaches are great at actually coaching them and getting the most from those who sign with them.

They were one of the first to really jump on the NIL bandwagon in a big way and had Love's money backing them. They really took advantage of it - have to give them credit for that.

That said, NIL is really hurting college sports and it is here to stay no matter what reforms the NCAA tries to put in place.
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Ag1188
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In reply to Danny Vermin • 12:31p, 6/3/25
AG
Danny Vermin said:
I realize tech is the anomaly ( for now) but if you look at the Texas roster , most of the starters are their high school recruits and one grad transfer. Hired Guns are the future but recruits still matter the most.
Yeah, but surely they paid good money for their pitcher Kavan to get her to Austin. Our good-hitting roster at A&M is proof you need a mix of HS & portal, but it'd be nice if we got to a point we didn't need to start freshmen.
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Ag1188
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In reply to frankie00 • 12:35p, 6/3/25
AG
frankie00 said:
ON3 shows Peja Goold, the pitcher I thought would work out really well for us, has committed to MS State. Darn it. The only pitchers left on our offered list is Berzon and Pannell. Pickings are slim after them.
Time to tamper then. Coach should be scouring 1st team all-conference pitchers all around given Landry was able to do as well as she did in the SEC out of U of Louisiana. Proxies can make contact somehow and discuss a dollar amount. Not getting a couple elite pitchers would be a massive fail, and a good way to not make it to OKC again, or just get there and do nothing special.
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Danny Vermin
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In reply to Ag1188 • 12:39p, 6/3/25
No doubt she is getting NIL money but she, like Atwood, was one if those that always wanted to play for Texas. There are still some of those around College Sports, for now. I'm pretty sure she has said multiple times that Cat Oesterman was her hero growing up.
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Ag1188
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In reply to Danny Vermin • 12:41p, 6/3/25
AG
Why did Kavan out of Iowa want to play for Texas if money wasn't a big factor? I guess their coach can claim he's a good pitching coach since he was a good pitcher in men's softball… but I'd imagine many schools could claim to have a good pitching coach..

Edit: Cat Oesterman played at Sips before Kavan was even born, but I guess had some pro-league years in Kavan's adolescence. Strange to me that she's the reference unless a coach used her as the model for her training.
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Danny Vermin
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In reply to Ag1188 • 12:42p, 6/3/25
I edited but mostly because cat oesterman was her hero.
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Ag1188
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In reply to frankie00 • 2:57p, 6/3/25
AG
frankie00 said:
PG class of 2025 commits. I have mentioned this a few times but never supplied a link. Look at the OU commits - six of the top 11. How many are pitchers? How many in the 50 are A&M? I think we will get better over the next few years but for now ...

https://www.perfectgame.org/softball/Rankings/PlayerRankings.aspx?sprid=7
A&M got ZERO players in the Top 50 ?? Holy sh*t
How is that even possible for Coach Ford? Even some bad programs got Top50 recruits.

is our 2026 class loaded? Well, I checked your linked website and the Top50 of 2026 is 90% uncommitted, if it's accurate.

I thought someone said we've got a lot of commits not from California because we're recruiting better more regionally in upcoming classes. I guess that doesn't apply to 2025.
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Boozer92
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3:23p, 6/3/25
AG
Probably because it is just perfect games list. I think their baseball coverage is way ahead of the softball coverage.

Maddie Sauni was ranked 26 by On3

I don't see a ranking for Piper White but she offers from most of the SEC.

It was a small class but highly recruited players in it
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greg.w.h
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In reply to Ag1188 • 3:31p, 6/3/25
AG
Ag1188 said:
Why did Kavan out of Iowa want to play for Texas if money wasn't a big factor? I guess their coach can claim he's a good pitching coach since he was a good pitcher in men's softball… but I'd imagine many schools could claim to have a good pitching coach..

Edit: Cat Oesterman played at Sips before Kavan was even born, but I guess had some pro-league years in Kavan's adolescence. Strange to me that she's the reference unless a coach used her as the model for her training.
Texas shows up in almost all sporting goods stores in Iowa. A&M not so much…
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Boozer92
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3:34p, 6/3/25
AG
I will add that last year which was a big class had 5 players in the Extra Innings softball top Elite 100 rankings.

The highest rated left softball before the season started.

KK Dement and Sidney Lessentine were not among the 5 top rated players in the class. Take all that stuff with a grain of salt.
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Danny Vermin
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In reply to Ag1188 • 3:36p, 6/3/25
It's very possible and Cat is around the program all the time. You will definitely see her on TV during the game tomorrow.
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frankie00
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3:40p, 6/3/25
There are several ranking sites for softball. I can get to PG but not other ones without signing up for them. And they have simply not added any commits at all for 2026 yet. So, posting our 2026 class again. Note we have two really highly ranked outfielders and note that I added "(OU recruited as a pitcher)" to one of them since that actually means something these days and was mentioned earlier today! We ARE getting better recruits in the Ford era. I am confident that we will have really good teams for years to come!

Taylor Hampton, 3B/OF, Gilbert, AZ. Power hitter. Ranked #43 nationally by PG Softball.
Aubrey Moore, SS/P, Acworth, GA (OU recruited as a pitcher), ranked #50
Presley "PK" Kilgore, C/3B, Emory, TX. All-State 3A 2023, 2024
Reagan Rohrlich, CF, The Woodlands, TX. Ranked #1 OF in TX by @ExtraInningSB, track star.
Milan Torres, CF, Buford, GA. Lefty. Ranked #3 nationally by PG Softball.
Darby Burnett, RHP/1B, Bentonville, AR
Abreya Perry, OF, Lefty, Valley Center, KS. #2 Extra Elite 100
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frankie00
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3:48p, 6/3/25
I just saw that Kay posted the following: Mac Barbara joins Monarchs in Women's Professional Fastpitch League

Good for her and I hope she has a lot of success and fun !!
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BiochemAg97
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In reply to frankie00 • 6:47p, 6/3/25
AG
frankie00 said:
Boozer92 said:
https://www.kbtx.com/2024/08/08/texas-am-athletes-more-than-tripled-nil-earnings-2023-24-athletic-year/

For the 2023-2024 school year all women's athletes combined made $528k. I am this past year that number was higher but I doubt it was a million. Just to put her Canady's contract in perspective
Thanks for the info. Being out of state I miss most local news reporting. Do not recall it mentioned in any A&M press release and I do see a lot of those. I wonder what percentage of the $528k is for softball?


Yeah, I don't think anyone wants to really brag about their NIL budget. You either look poor or provide material for other schools to get their donors to pay more.

Also, Texas law on this has changed every session, but generally to limit what has to be shared in an open records request. If you go back further in the local news archives, the reports were broken out by sport. But after a change at the ledge, the best you get is total and by gender.

Will be interesting with revenue share. You still won't see a per player breakdown, but the ADs decision on which sport gets what % should be available by open records request. Of course, that wouldn't include the additional NIL from corporate sponsors and however the collectives evolve.
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BiochemAg97
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In reply to Ag1188 • 6:59p, 6/3/25
AG
Ag1188 said:
Danny Vermin said:
I realize tech is the anomaly ( for now) but if you look at the Texas roster , most of the starters are their high school recruits and one grad transfer. Hired Guns are the future but recruits still matter the most.
Yeah, but surely they paid good money for their pitcher Kavan to get her to Austin. Our good-hitting roster at A&M is proof you need a mix of HS & portal, but it'd be nice if we got to a point we didn't need to start freshmen.


I think that is a double edged sword. Freshman need playing time or they potentially walk. And there are potential team chemistry/culture issues if you just go buy the best players every year.

The number of freshman we started this year is probably an anomaly. Big freshman class and Ford's first real class she recruited for a full cycle. Talent-wise I think it was a step up from what came before so we see a number of spots where the freshman got the opportunity over people already on the roster. As we go forward, I don't think the talent level difference between the incoming class and the previous classes will be there as much.

I think we continue to see freshman get playing time whenever Ford can. She was quick to pull starters and put in backups for experience whenever the game was well in hand. and occasionally you will see a freshman force their way onto the roster, but I would guess more of a once every year or two rather than 2 or 3 a season.
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