Texas A&M softball opened its 2025 NCAA Tournament run with a bang Friday and now faces a talented Liberty team.
The Aggies ran roughshod over Saint Francis, scoring five times in the first inning and 10 times in the second, blowing out the Red Flash, 18-0. A&M is hosting an NCAA regional for the second straight season after finishing No. 1 in RPI and national polls. Three teams — Saint Francis, Marist and Liberty — joined in College Station for the double-elimination tournament.
Head coach Trisha Ford and the Aggies are hoping for their first national title in almost 40 years. Texas A&M’s best finish in the postseason this century was in 2008, when it was still in the Big 12, as runners-up in the national title against Arizona State.
Liberty is one of the teams that the Aggies softball teams of the past are familiar with. The first meeting was March 14, 2009 in Boca Raton, Fla. and the Aggies won 1-0. In the four games the two have played the Aggies lost only once: a 4-2 loss at home. The Lady Flames beat Marist, ending the Red Foxes’ 17-game winning streak, to set up Saturday’s game.
Here is a brief scouting report:
Liberty Flames softball: What to know
Conference: Conference USA
Record:Â 38-25, 19-5
Last season:Â 41-14, 24-0; finished second in Athens regional
The Lady Flames have flirted with the top-25 national rankings but never received enough votes to break through.
Liberty is back-to-back Conference-USA champions and sprinkled nationally ranked teams throughout its schedule. They lost 2-0 to then-No. 13 Duke and then-No. 11 and No. 15 ranked Virginia Tech, but they secured a 7-6 win over No. 12 Alabama.
The Lynchburg, Va. squad is 21st in the NCAA in batting average (.332), 37th in double players (1.58 per game), 42nd in RBIs (5.53 per game), eighth in hits (508) and eighth in ERA (2.22). Junior outfielder Rachel Rouper has 20 home runs on the season, tied for 14th in the country.
It’s a talented group that handled Marist, 10-5, despite allowing three Red Fox home runs. Infielder Brynn McManus and outfielder Paige Doerr each drove in three runs; the Lady Flames built a 4-0 lead in the second inning and never trailed.
First pitch for Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m.
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