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A new fan remembers the 2017 Texas A&M softball season

By John Tee

Aug 3, 2016; Huntington Beach, CA, USA; OC Batbusters player Mallory McCrane dives back into third on an attempted pick off against the Birmingham Thunderbolts at Huntington Beach Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 3, 2016; Huntington Beach, CA, USA; OC Batbusters player Mallory McCrane dives back into third on an attempted pick off against the Birmingham Thunderbolts at Huntington Beach Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports /
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A new fan of Texas A&M softball reacts to a magical season that ended in a trip to the Women’s College World Series. Congratulations on a great year ladies!

It was a magical run that went all the way to the Women’s College World Series where they just flat out got beat. They weren’t any heartbreaking 1-run losses, the Aggies got outscored 16-2 by two teams that just played better. Still, it has been a thrilling ride that Aggie fans won’t soon forget. Let’s break it down.

I’ll admit that I personally never paid to much attention to Aggie sports outside of football until fairly recently. Then it was pointed out to me on Twitter that the Aggie Softball team started out its season on a 14-win streak. Yes, I guess that makes me kind of a bandwagon fan for noticing only when they were red hot, but I’d like to think I’ve stuck with them ever since and will continue to support them forever.

Evidently, Texas A&M has always had a very solid softball program, but unfortunately it took me till this season to truly start paying attention. And I’m surely glad I did. It’s been an awesome ride. So let’s start out with a recap.

Starting off strong

I mentioned the hot start, but there were a few losses here and there. The Aggies dropped an early-season tournament game to Houston. They didn’t lose again until they lost to Mississippi State to start out conference play. After that, it was a straight tear through the rest of the SEC where they lost a total of 2 series (to Kentucky and Tennessee). I would be remiss not to mention the loss to Louisiana-Lafayette that nearly turned into one of the greatest Aggie comebacks ever.

How did they accomplish all this? Pitching and hitting. The Aggies were the best hitting team in the SEC with a .494 slugging average and boasted a very solid team ERA of 2.01. They managed all that in what is probably the toughest conference college softball. That’s not lip-service. The SEC sent all 13 of its softball programs to the postseason.