Count me among the people who think the offense is a pretty big question mark. Last year Cotrill, Hill, Enright and Cannon counted for about 75% of the team RBIs. Often times the difference between a win and a loss was that those 4 players were getting hits. We lost 3 of those 4 batts, and that's going to sting.

So the reason for the question mark is that there really is only 1 proven replacement, and that's Mac Barbara, whose batt is probably better than any of those 3. The other 2 replacements will have to be developed. Mya Perez is the most obvious candidate; she might be the best offensive recruit to sign with A&M since Tori Vidales. In her first year, though, she didn't have the kind of year Tori had. It's a bit unfair to compare her to the best batt in program history and one of the best in SEC history, but to compete for a championship someone has to be that.

What's the next step for this team? Well anything short of a WCWS appearance is a step sideways or backwards. It's going to take an offense as good or better than last year's to take that step.

I have mentioned pitching in a few recent posts because it will be a LOT different this year with 7 pitchers instead of 4. The three remaining freshman pitchers were all Gatorade POY last season in their states. Two experienced transfers (sophomore Sidne was on the Pac 12 All-Freshman Team). Coach Ford will have a ton of options because of this. Lefty pitched all three games of a series multiple times last season (third game usually short relief) and this will not be necessary this year. I CAN see her start one game of a series and then be used in short relief in a second but that's about it.

The two non-conference tournaments in CS will feature six games each. Will give the coaches ample opportunities to check out a lot of looks at all positions.

SEC starts after the second tourney in CS. Chances are the lineup we see in that tourney will be close to the starting lineup in the first SEC series (Florida, at Davis).

Note that two of the games in the second tourney in CS will be vs Texas Tech. Pretty darn good chance we will get to face the million dollar pitcher, on a team coached by our former (successful) hitting coach - I am really looking forward to it!

Gig 'Em !!!

Pitching will be legit. Lefty and Sidne will be 1a and 1b. When Sidne is on she may be the better pitcher. More importantly you have a legit up ball and a legit down ball pitcher. Grace is the wild card. Didn't show much in the fall. But if Trish can coach her up she could be solid contributor. Sidney Lessentine looked well in front of the other fish in the fall. I really liked what I saw. She may be number 3. Leavitt will have to push to even see the field. Which is good. If she will make that push she can help. The other 2 fish seemed to be further away. There is a lot of time between fall games and SEC play. When mine was in college she was not close to cracking the starting lineup in the fall of her freshman year. It pissed her off enough that by conference play of that same year she never left the lineup. Competitive kids find a way. Hopefully a few with that moxie show up this year for the Ags

Defense should also be stellar. So much speed and athleticism on the field.

It will all come down to how many runs the Ags can score

Boozer92 said:

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cs69ag said:

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I tend to agree. Not hitting in general but power. Not many home runs returning. This team will have to manufacture runs and string hits together. Mac may be the only big bat in the lineup regularly. It will be a puzzle for the coaches to figure out. In the fall they were able to put 3 DPs in the lineup. If Mac or Mya end up at 1B then maybe they could get 2 of those bats in the lineup.

Best guess would be Mac at DP and Mya and Kylei in pinch hit rolls.

They will be athletic and quick though

If Ariel somehow becomes eligible this season that would be another 300 hitter that could hit double digit homeruns but she isn't listed on the roster and it was reported she would have to sit this year

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I'm a softball casual so apologies if this is an obvious answer...

Can someone explain to me how Ariel would be intelligible in the year of our Lord 2025? It's the wild west with the transfer portal, and I feel like I haven't heard about anyone in any sport having to sit out in years.

But of course when A&M gets a big pickup that's transferring back home...

Conference rule is my understanding

The NCAA moves in mysterious and lawsuit-worthy ways???

The Offense being a question is interesting. Its absolutely NOT a question. You played Tu and hung 12 on their World Series pitching staff and scored an obscene amount of runs versus Texas state.

Both of those things didn't happen in the Fall of '23 but did in '24

This team is LOADED and Hungry, and are ready for a LONG run in OKC

Positivelyag512 said:

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The Offense being a question is interesting. Its absolutely NOT a question. You played Tu and hung 12 on their World Series pitching staff and scored an obscene amount of runs versus Texas state.

Both of those things didn't happen in the Fall of '23 but did in '24

This team is LOADED and Hungry, and are ready for a LONG run in OKC

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You might know who I was sitting by at the Super Regionals, so I'm not just blowing smoke. I know what National Championshipteams look like, and yes I had the fan aroundmy neck, it was Fraaking HOT

23 SEC athletes named to 2025 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year watch list - Southeastern Conference

Three Aggies on the National POY watchlist

I also tend to be an optimist. I think we will do really, really well. Maybe, just maybe, even host a super regional. But the SEC is very, very tough so we will have to be 'super' great to do so!

At the same time wondering about the offense this Spring is perfectly normal and a great question because there are a lot of unknowns. Half of our players are new. Always an unknown. Speaking of RBI's ...

Stats from: https://12thman.com/sports/softball/stats/2024

Possible 2025 starting lineup with 2024 RBI's:

DP - Various (about 30)
C - Ojo (NEW)
1B - Mac (NEW)
2B - KK (NEW)
SS - Koko (12)
3B - KP (24)
LF - Eschete (17, but did not start whole season)
CF - Allie (41)
RF - Frankie (NEW)

Total RBI's in 2024 = 323

Graduated or transferred, 2024 RBI's:

Trinity (63)
Jaz (41)
Cottrill (45)
Rylen (30)
Aiyana (18)

Also note the five players above 'took with them' 50 of the 68 HR's last year. Those are a large part of the Runs and RBI numbers.

We had multiple PH's and those counted for some but was simply looking at starters, for the most part.

With half of the position players gone, taking 197 RBI's with them, there IS a huge unknown. I think Mac will contribute a LOT but Ojo has been up and down in college and the two freshmen are unknown (but a chance to be really good). As I mentioned in previous posts, can Allie get her groove back and produce like she did early last season? Can KP produce more like she did at UCLA? Can Eschete do even better? So many questions. Unknowns.

But then I add the coaching staff - they have done an outstanding job both coaching and bringing in great players. I have a ton of respect for what they have done in Aggieland in only two years. We have a lot of studs on the current team AND we have some very, very highly rated players in the pipeline (signed and commits) and I think it will only get better in the coming years.

Sorry about the length of the post but opening day only a couple of weeks away and I am pumped !!

The offense might take a step back, but pitching took TWO HUGE steps forward, too

I'm going off the fall and how they stacked up against last year's fall heading into each season

Average homeruns by World Series teams last year: 80

Fewest homeruns by a World Series team last year: 42 by Alabama. They were the most unlikely team to make the series

A&M hit 68 round trippers last year. 4 World Series teams were above 90. The other 4 were below A&M but close except Bama

A&M returns Enright with 10(4 SEC). No other player returning has multiple SEC homeruns

I am not saying this offense can't or won't succeed.

I am saying they will need to find power bats somewhere or be an extreme outlier if they can score runs against quality competition without the long ball.

This will be an interesting season because they are so loaded on pitching and defense but so many questions scoring runs.

Either way I will be sitting in my seats every game rooting the Ags amd hoping for a World Series run

I'll be looking for 2 tickets to the Aggie Classic for Thursday and Friday if anyone can't make it.