2013 Softball World Series College Station Regional Breakdown
#16 Texas A&M, Baylor, Arizona, Penn
Texas A&M’s Mel Dumezich has had yet another great season. She leads the Aggies in the circle, tallying 26 wins with 218 strikeouts in 201.2 innings of work. Dumezich has not had to carry the load quite as much this season with the emergence of sophomore pitcher Lauren Ainsley. Ainsley finished the regular season with 2.66 ERA and a 12-7 record. Dumezich will be the ace for the Aggies, but they do have another solid option should she run into any trouble. Dumezich will also get plenty of help from the rest of her team. Texas A&M ranked fourth in the nation in home runs per game and slugging percentage. Cali Lanphear, Nicole Morgan, Amber Garza and Jenna Stark all knocked the ball out of the park at least ten times this season. Those four also bat at least .300. Lanphear has had the best season and is only getting better. The freshman batted .363 on the year with 18 homeruns and 53 RBIs.
The Aggies are talented, but this may be the toughest regional in the 2013 tournament. Heading to College Station are Baylor, Arizona and Penn. Baylor will rely heavily on pitchers Whitney Canion and Heather Stearns, but they can score some runs too. With Kaitlyn Thumann and Kathy Shelton getting on base relatively consistently from the top of the lineup, this is a team built to play small ball. Against a team like Texas A&M that is strong on the mound, one or two manufactured runs will be huge. And the Bears hope Canion can do the rest. Arizona has had a bit of a disappointing 2013 campaign, finishing just 9-15 in Pac-12 play. At times junior pitchers Shelby Babcock and Estela Pinon had major trouble against the tough west coast competition. However, the young hitters, led by sophomores Chelsea Goodacre and Hallie Wilson can make up for it. But in this group the pitchers better be delivering their best stuff or the Aggies and Bears will make them pay. Penn will likely struggle against the tough teams in College Station. They do have some very experienced hitters, most notably Samantha Erosa and Brook Coloma, but any success the Quakers have will need to come from the mound. Sophomore Alexis Borden has had a great season, yet the hitters from Texas A&M, Baylor and Arizona have been hitting good pitchers all year long.
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