Non-conference tournaments


College Station, 5 games, 4 days

Florida, 5 games, 3 days

Cali, 6 games, 4 days

College Station, 6 games, 4 days

(1 mid-week game vs LA Tech on Wednesday)

San Marcos, 5 games, 3 days


Six pitchers again, like last year. Hope to see all of them get a lot of innings but Lessentine will probably get the most.

Three listed catchers plus Ariel. Wonder who will see the most action?

Wonder how our bats will do?

I think our defense and base running will be really good again. Pitching and hitting unknowns.

I'm not sure what to expect on the hitting. I'm optimistic about the pitching until proven otherwise. Very excited for Taylor Pannell (and everyone else of course). I think if Lessentine emerges as a legitimate ace and/or they operate successfully by committee and Taylor can operate as a true closer we will be pleasantly surprised by the pitching staff.

Purely my opinion but if Peters doesn't end up being the ace I think this will be a long year. Peters at times has ace stuff. Lessentine has really good stuff and has been more available and consistent. She would need a big jump to an SEC ace this year. I like Pannell for an inning or 2 against anyone. Happy Lessentine if I am wrong about her being a year away from being a number 1.

Even if the pitching works out this team needs to hit much better than I saw in the fall. I think there is plenty of potential for that to happen but the fall was very concerning.

The one thing I am fairly certain we won't see this year is the big time arms we are used to from the outfield. No one showed they could throw down a runner like Allie or Kramer have done the past 2 years. Their arms won a few games last year.

I am a in more of a wait and see than negative opinion of this team but certainly not overly positive. Mostly clinging to the competitive nature that Ford has been able to get from her teams. So many new faces I am hopeful they will look like a Ford coaches team by the time the season starts.

Thanks for the comments, I really appreciate them. Note that I have come to rely on the after action reports from Boozer92 during the Fall games the past few years since I am out of state and am not at the games AND, of course, comments during the regular season. Straight up calm reporting, the type I value the most. Tell it how it is. No emotion-fueled rants good or bad. I look forward to another season of your reporting.

I tend to be an optimist. We did not hit well during the Fall and our hitting has been up and down the last few years, with lots of slumps, but they came through when they had to more times than not. Regardless of how the last season turned out we did hit well enough to reach a #1 ranking (first time since the 1980's?). I am keeping my fingers crossed and holding my breath hoping and hoping that the bats come around.

Sidne made the Pac12 all-Freshman team in her one year at Washington, usually in a relief role, and she showed signs of brilliance last year in what we saw of her (darn injury). Pannell was awesome two years ago in a relief role at Mizzou, with 16 saves (no starts), but not as good last year (7 starts, lot of appearances but only 3 saves). Lessentine was really, really good at times last year but other times not. Best on the staff in BA against (.179). These three need to have a lot of success this year. Hopefully at least one of the other three will 'really step up' and do well. I am still really interested in what Taylor Brown can do (have her for four years so hopefully good things!). We have given away far too many free bases the past few years. Walks, hit batters, wild pitches. Unfortunately, at some really bad times. Maybe, just maybe, we can get this under control.

I will miss the arms in the outfield (and Jaz had a rocket arm, too) but I think they have a lot of range and great gloves so they might keep a lot of balls from falling that normally would. I still remember Kramer's catch over the bullpen wall in LF last year. I have the video saved somewhere.

The coaches will probably continue with their aggressive base-running. Annsley is super-fast and should do really well in a PR role (as will Hailey and Scout) but we once again have some burners in the starting lineup. Annsley had a great BA in HS and a ton of SB's. If she has a great glove might be hard to keep her out of a starting role if she gets a chance to show what she can do. Gosh, imagine her range in the OF with that speed - wow!

Hard to tell since I do not see the practices but if Ariel really is going to see action behind the plate we might see Ariel and Maddie get most of the time there in February. The one who hits best might be the starter when SEC play starts. We have had some really great hitters at that position in the past - past time to have that again. [in 2027 might be Ariel at 3B and Maddie at C]

The last SEC series of the season is against OU. They are still the premier pro team in college softball even though Tech and the sips are catching up. It is great that it will be at home and hopefully by that time we can give them a run for the money. Early tests vs Tech, Oregon (Amari !!) and UCLA will be interesting.

It will be interesting to see how the starting lineup changes from opening day to the first SEC game.

Sure am looking forward to opening day, as always.

Aggie Softball is Built Ford Tough !!

Lessentine just has the ability to miss barrels. In my opinion, she has the best stuff on the team and hopefully she progresses to a level that can win us a bunch of games. I do agree that having a true reliever coming out of the pen is huge. Especially in today's game. I believe in our offensive staff and our approach to hitting and putting pressure on the defense. I think we will figure out how to score runs. Ultimately I think our pitching will decide how our season goes. (I know that's not much of a reach and not very exciting)

Don't be surprised if 1-2 more mid-week games get added later. Once SEC play starts we alternate home vs away every weekend though.

2026 SEC bye week is week 1 for the Aggies. We are playing in San Marcos tournament - extra time to tune up ahead of SEC play against varied teams Last year bye week we hosted 3-game uncompetitive series vs LMU. I think this is largest difference in number of home games vs last year.

Get to Know: Kate Munnerlyn

https://12thman.com/news/2025/12/3/softball-get-to-know-kate-munnerlyn

Adding Aggie connection info from her bio because of 'Aggie Tradition' mentioned in the article:

"Her parents are former Texas A&M students class of 1993, while her grandfather, Charles Munnerlyn '62 and numerous aunts and uncles also attended Texas A&M."

Does anyone know if they already opened / closed seat selection for new buyers (assuming there were any available)? It was this week last year

Get to Know: Maddie Sauni

https://12thman.com/news/2025/12/9/softball-get-to-know-maddie-sauni

dz_ag16 said:

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Does anyone know if they already opened / closed seat selection for new buyers (assuming there were any available)? It was this week last year

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They have not. Per an email update I received today they are still working through the requests from existing season ticket holders ex: additional seats, relocations.

Oh great, that is what I was trying to figure out was if that part of the process had been completed or not. Thanks!

I hope she doesn't regularly get Dutch Bros before games… sugar crash is a real thing

Get to Know: Kelsey Mathis

https://12thman.com/news/2025/12/16/softball-get-to-know-kelsey-mathis

This is it, have gone through the current roster.

Anyone heard any updates on season ticket processing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Munnerlyn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munnerlyn_Formula

floorguy16 said:

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Anyone heard any updates on season ticket processing?

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My season ticket renewal has not been processed yet.

This ended up being one of my long posts but my excitement for the coming season has been bottled up for months and it had to be let out !!

Opening Day a month from today - can't wait !!! Looking back to last year's Opening Day lineup (vs Utah State) and guessing at this year's Opening Day lineup (vs Abilene Christian). Note that we also play Utah State in this year's opening tournament. The 'big game' will be versus Tech and their professional lineup (15 transfers on the roster, including a few that I hoped A&M could get). Will be a HUGE game.

Feb 6, 2025 starters vs Utah State in the Aggie Classic
Spot, position, player

1 SS Koko
2 3B KP
3 DP Mac
4 1B Mya
5 CF Allie
6 RF Amari
7 2B KK
8 C Gracyn
9 LF Kramer
10 P Grace

Not going to 'guess' at the batting order but WILL guess at the starting lineup. Might be some shifting in the outfield. Maybe Kelsey in LF instead of CF? I did not see any of the Fall games and do not know what kind of arms they have so that's something to think about. At this point I would guess that Lessentine is the 'ace', the Friday night starter, BUT this could easily be Sidne Peters. Or even someone else! Pitcher rotation a huge IF at this point in time although the coaches probably have a very good idea.

P - Lessentine
C - Ariel (guess or hope?!)
1B - Micaela
2B - Tallen
SS - KK
3B - KP
DP - Mya
LF - Paislie or Annsley? Small chance Hailey?
CF - Kelsey
RF - Frankie

I think Annsley will be the #1 PR (if she does not start!) with Hailey being #2 and Scout or Piper #3. Annsley had a ton of SB's in HS and comments from the Fall mentioned her awesome speed and quickness. A huge advantage of her (eventually?) starting! We have some quickness in the lineup and the coaches will no doubt continue the aggressive base-running. IF she has a good glove and arm I have a feeling that Annsley will end up starting regularly some time this year. I really want to see her getting a lot of PH opportunities if she does not start at the beginning of the year.

Sortable stats from last year:

https://12thman.com/sports/softball/stats/2025

Just like last year, we lost a lot of offense. But we ended up doing pretty well last year. Whilst hitting in the recent Fall games was disappointing there were some good signs.

There was a separate thread recently about Ariel. Called her AK 47. I thought this was cool because the AK 47 was a hard-hitting weapon that was very, very dependable in all conditions. I think Ariel could be the same. Although she was 'only' 6th or 7th on the Florida team in the various hitting categories I think she will do well in Maroon and White. Her defense (at 3B) was her strong point and IF she starts at catcher it might be again even though a different position. Her .308 BA at Florida is waaaay above what we have gotten from the catcher position the past few years (except for the few times Mac played the position last year) so that or greater would be a huge increase.

Overall, I think hitting and pitching are the big question marks. Base-running and defense the strong points.

In just a few weeks we will start to see what happens - Gig 'Em, Ags !!! WHOOP !!!

Outstanding! Any news yet on season tickets???