College Station Regional: Preview

Aggie Softball Complex

Teams: Texas A&M, LSU, Syracuse, Sacred Heart
Location: Aggie Softball Complex (College Station, TX)

Players to watch:
Rhiannon Kliesing, Texas A&M
Brittany Mack, LSU
Jenna Caira, Syracuse
Liz Tsipouras, Sacred Heart

Interesting storyline: Syracuse is headed down to College Station, where they will face its former head coach Mary Jo Firnbach, who is currently an assistant coach at Texas A&M. Firnbach built a solid program at Syracuse, but she was never able to take it to the next level like Leigh Ross has. All of Firnbach's former players have graduated, but it is always interesting to see coaches face their old teams.

Runner up: How will illegal pitches impact this regional? Jenna Caira and Rachele Fico are notorious leapers in the circle, so depending on the umpiring crews they could be in for a rude awakening.

Outlook: This regional features three evenly matched teams and it would not be surprising to see any of them advance on to Supers.

Sacred Heart is back in regionals after a one year hiatus. The Pioneers are a solid team in their own right and they actually have the best batting average at this regional out of any of the teams. This doesn't mean that Sacred Heart is going to win the regional, but they are not going to be walked all over. Two years ago, the Pioneers were able to score on Danielle Lawrie in regionals, so it will be interesting to see how they do at this regional. In the circle, Jen Russell will get the ball and she is going to rely on her defense to get groundball outs. At the plate, Liz Tsipouras and Taylor Froelich lead the way, hitting .401 and .361 respectively. Sacred Heart is going to count on these two to lead the offensive charge in a difficult regional.

Jenna Caira

Syracuse has one of the top pitchers in the country in Jenna Caira, but this squad is much more than just her. Caira is having an amazing season for the Orange and with her in the circle, Syracuse is a very dangerous team. Caira can really bring it in the circle, but the key to her success is a devastating changeup. That changeup is extremely difficult to hit and opponents are going to be hard pressed to hit it. The Orange are a solid offensive team as well, hitting .288 with 66 HR and 72 steals. Lisaira Daniels leads the way for Syracuse and she is a true triple threat with the ability to bunt, slap, and hit away. Behind Daniels, the Orange have some real power in their lineup with Hallie Gibbs, Stephanie Watts, and Lacey Kohl all having at least 11 HR.  Syracuse was kind of disrespected with this regional and they have the ability to win this regional.

LSU comes into this weekend with a lot of motivation to extend Coach Yvette Girouard's career another weekend. This hasn't been the fairytale ending that she wanted to end her career, but the Tigers were sent to this regional and it is definitely one that they can win. LSU strength lies in the circle and with its defense. Brittany Mack and Rachele Fico are two solid pitchers in the circle and Coach Girouard will not hesitate to turn to either pitcher in a big situation and for LSU to advance they need to be on top of their game. On offense, Anissa Young leads the way for this Tiger squad that is hitting just .253. Young is hitting .286, but she does have 10 HR and 41 RBI. The Tigers probably have the pitching and defense to advance, but it is all going to come down to how well they can hit.

Texas A&M has the luxury of playing at home, which may be just the edge that they need to pull out a victory at this regional. The Aggies are a solid all around team and they are hungry to return to Supers. In the circle, Melissa Dumezich is the Aggies' ace and workhorse in the circle and she should be able to keep her team in any game. The Aggies have a powerful offense, hitting .281 with 71 HR this year. Rhiannon Kliesing and Meagan May are two huge bats in the A&M lineup with 16 HR and 11 HR respectively. Natalie Villarreal leads things off for the Aggies and when she gets on the Aggies score. Coach Evans will need these three players to have big weekend for the Aggies to get past a difficult field at this regional.

Rhiannon Kliesing

Winner: Texas A&M...just barely over Syracuse