Texas A&M, Oklahoma earn Top seeds in Softball Tourney

For the first time in school history, two-time national champion Texas A&M is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Softball Tournament. Slugger Mya Perez’s Aggies edged out perennial national power Oklahoma for the top seed.

Texas A&M and Oklahoma, which has won the last four Women’s College World Series, were the top two teams in the powerful Southeastern Conference. The Sooners (45-7, 17-7 SEC) won the SEC regular season by half a game over the Aggies. Texas A&M, which is 45-9 overall, finished the regular season 16-7 after a game against Georgia was rained out.

Ironically, the first scheduled meeting between the schools was rained out Saturday in Athens, Georgia, prompting the SEC to declare the Aggies and Sooners co-SEC Tournament champions.

SEC leads field

The SEC Tournament title was the first for both schools. The Sooners made their debut in the SEC this year, 13 seasons after the Aggies joined the league. Both were previously in the Big 12, but the Aggies’ two national softball titles were when they were members of the now defunct Southwest Conference.

If they meet this season, it will have to be at the Women’s College World Series.

Both schools feature Latino superstars. Perez, a sophomore first baseman/designated player, leads the Aggies in hitting, home runs and RBIs.

More from Our Esquina

Texas A&M’s Mya Perez pays tribute with classic ‘Volver, Volver’
Duke’s Aminah Vega earns third All-ACC First Team honor

A conversation with Texas A&M’s Mya Perez

Freshman Gabbie Garcia hit a walk-off home run for the Sooners in the SEC Tournament semifinals.

”It’s huge,” said Trisha Ford, who is in her third season as Texas A&M’s head coach. “I knew when we took over this program our staff talked in great detail about our vision and how we felt like with the support of Texas A&M, the 12th Man, beautiful Davis Diamond that we could build something and build something fast.

”So I’m very, very excited for this team and this program.”

The Aggies are trying to win their third NCAA Softball title and first since 1987. They also won the title in 1983.

Mya Perez leads Texas A&M bats

The Aggies feature a pair of Latinas – Mya Perez and Larisa Perez, who are not related. Mya Perez is leading the Aggies with a .447 batting average, 14 home runs and 68 RBIs.

Mya leads the SEC in on-base percentage (538) and OPS (1.408). She’s also second in the conference in batting average and third in slugging (.830).

Garcia, an All-SEC Second Team selection, leads the Sooners with 16 home runs. The freshman from Chandler, Ariz., was named to the All-SEC Defensive team. She is hitting .351 with a 1.150 OPS.

The top four seeds are from the SEC. Florida was seeded No. 3, followed by Arkansas.

ACC regular season champ Florida State, which is led by Isa Torres, is the top seeded non-SEC team at No. 5.