The Texas A&M softball team is hopeful to meet top-seeded Florida for the third straight year in the NCAA Tournament, but first the Aggies have to get past the Lehigh Hawks, something they didn't do three years ago.
A&M (31-20) will play Lehigh (36-16-1) at 2:30 p.m. Friday in opening-round action of the Gainesville Regional in Florida.
Florida A&M will take on national top seed Florida at 6 p.m.
The winners of those two games will play at noon Saturday with the losers playing at 2:30 p.m. in the double-elimination regional.
A&M is seeded second and Lehigh is seeded third, but higher seeding didn't help the Aggies at the Amherst Regional in Massachusetts in 2006. The Aggies, who were seeded 13th nationally, lost a pair of 4-3 games to Lehigh, which became the first Patriot League team to win an NCAA Tournament game.
A&M already has a leg up on Lehigh heading into Friday's rematch. The Aggies were able to complete their workout Thursday in Gainesville, but Lehigh only practiced 15 minutes outside before heading indoors because of bad weather.
"Unfortunately, it was at our expense," Lehigh coach Fran Tryan said in a press release. "But we were able to get some good swings in, and we'll get on the field as a team tomorrow before we play."
Lehigh is led by Lisa Sweeney, who has been the Patriot League's pitcher of the year four times. She allowed only two earned runs at the Patriot League tournament and was 7-for-9 batting with six runs batted in to earn MVP honors.
She is 22-8 with a 2.04 earned run average and is hitting .368 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs. Sweeney got a save in Lehigh's first 4-3 victory over A&M three years ago with a scoreless inning, striking out two and walking one. She was 0 for 6 at the plate against the Aggies.
A&M and Florida have played four times in the last two years. A&M took two of three from the Gators two years ago at the College Station Super Regional. The Aggies also won 1-0 in nine innings over Florida last year at the Women's College World Series. Macie Morrow singled for A&M in the ninth with two outs and scored on Kelsey Spittler's triple. Former A&M All-American Megan Gibson bested Florida's Stacey Nelson, who is 35-3 this season with an 0.43 ERA.
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A&M senior right fielder Holly Ridley, senior catcher Erin Glasco and sophomore second baseman Natalie Villarreal were named to the Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I Central All-Region team Thursday.
Ridley is hitting .299 with a .558 slugging percentage. She has 19 extra-base hits, including eight home runs.
Glasco leads the team with a .494 on-base percentage and is hitting .288 with 28 RBIs.
Villarreal is hitting a team-best .342 batting and was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
Baylor freshman outfielder Kayce Walker, who is from Franklin, also earned all-region honors. Walker, who tore her ACL on April 22 against Texas, finished the season with a team-leading .413 average. She had 23 stolen bases and didn't make an error.
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