Page 7
Tuesday • February 11,1997
Lady Aggies open season with new players, coach
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By Nicki Smith
The Battalion
Not only did the Texas A&M Softball Team en
gage in spring competition last year, but it did some
spring cleaning along the way.
Despite the loss of former Head Coach Bob
Brock, All-American pitcher Erin Field, and All-
American and Big 12 Co-Player of the Year Kendall
Richards, this year’s Lady Aggies have cleaned their
slate and are prepared to enter the 1997 Big 12 Con
ference season.
With new Head Coach Jo Evans
and 11 returning lettermen, the
Lady Aggies hope to improve on
last year’s 39-21 overall record,
while re-evaluating something
they feel was put on the shelf in
the years past — team unity.
Senior captain and starting first
baseman Mya Truelove said the
Lady Aggies do not want to consid
er this a rebuilding year.
“This year, coach Evans is help
ing us to become more of a unit,”
Truelove said. “We want to contin
ue where we left off, because we have always had
a good team. It is just that now the team has
someone who is positive and has helped us to get
closer than before.”
The team has six returning starters including
Truelove at first base, senior outfielders Heather
Hayden and Gina Perez, junior outfielder
Machelle Weldon and sophomore infielders Jessi
Cady and Kami Tucker.
Additionally, there are five newcomers, two
of whom are projected starters. Infielder Angie
“We have a hard
working group of
players who are
anxious to start
playing."
Jo Evans
A&M head coach
Long is expected to take the second base posi
tion, while Jamie Smith is slated to fill the short
stop position.
Evans feels the team is ready, for the most part,
to begin conference and tournament play, and has
what it needs to go farther than last year’s NCAA re
gional performance.
“Although I don’t know the players really well,
we have a hard-working group of players who
are anxious to start playing,” Evans said. “The
only way I will be able to see our strengths and
weaknesses is to see them at game
time, but we have spent a lot of
time on hitting and conditioning,
and we feel like we are ahead in
those aspects.
“From a coach’s standpoint
though, I always feel like we need
more time to spend on fine-tuning.”
Although the Big 12 is missing
two participants, Kansas State
University and Colorado State
University, this season will be the
first all 10 teams will have softball
programs to play in the Big 12
Conference. The University of
idents, he said,
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Rogge Heflin, The Battalion
Sophomore third baseman Kamie Johnson waits
for the ball to tag freshman Emmie Melancon.
Texas and Baylor University joined the group af
ter spending their inaugural softball season as
independents.
Senior Lori Gioco, expected to fill the starting
pitching position, said the Big 12 competition will
be tough and will leave no room for error.
“There are very strong teams in this conference,
but we can be up there with everyone else,” Gioco
said. “We have the defense and overall depth, so all
we have to do is work on our lack of concentration.
I think that if we discipline ourselves, we have the
talent to bring it all together.”
Evans said the Lady Aggies have their work cut
out for them in Big 12 competition, but still have
set many goals, including winning an away tour
nament and their two tournaments at home.
“There are three teams in the Big 12, in the top
20, so it is going to be a real challenge for us,” Evans
said. “We are a very young, untested team with only
four seniors.
“We understand the caliber of the teams and
athletes we will be up against, especially because
the University of Nebraska, Oklahoma State Uni
versity and the University of Oklahoma are all in
the same conference as us. However, we still have
our goals in mind and want to be a threat to any
one we play.”
Perhaps two of the biggest threats in the Big 12
are OU and Nebraska.
See Softball, Page 10
Rogge Heflin, The Battalion
Truelove lends vast experience to young 1997 team
By Nicki Smith
The Battalion
A s a 5-foot-10 senior on the
Texas A&M Softball Team, Mya
Truelove has the height to fit
the typical first-baseman mold. How
ever, the athletic abilities she pos
sesses go beyond what is considered
the typical mold of an outstanding
softball player.
Not only is Truelove a team cap
tain and three year letter winner,
but she has been the Lady Aggies’
starting first baseman since her
freshman year.
Head Coach Jo Evans said Tru
elove is one of the integral parts of the
Lady Aggie team.
“She is very vocal during games,
and has done a good job of taking the
freshmen under her wing,” Evans
said. “Once you understand her bet
ter, you realize that she is a competi
tor who has high expectations of her
self and her teammates. She
demands it of herself to do whatever
it takes to win a game.
“At the same time though, she can
be laid back and humorous; she is fa
mous for rolling her eyes while giving
the ‘oh, brother’ expression.”
Aside from playing first base, Tru
elove is slated to take the No. 3 posi
tion in the batting line-up, a position
considered to be given to the best hit
ter on the team.
In addition to returning with a
.304 batting average and placing
third best on the team last year and
highest among returning players,
Truelove missed only four of 192
games the Lady Aggies have played
since she arrived. As if that is not
impressive enough, Truelove has
started 180 of those games.
Junior catcher and Truelove’s
roommate, Mari McGuire, said Tru
elove is a confident player who plays
the joker on the team.
“She is definitely not the quiet
type,” McGuire said. “She has an out
going personality and is always fun to
be with. Her attitude and her talent
make her an overall good player.”
Originally from Deer Park, Truelove
does something that few softball ath
letes can do—she bats left-handed and
throws right-handed.
Evans said this attribute helps Tru
elove to be a solid overall player.
See Truelove, Page 8
Aggies hope to continue successful home stand with win over UTA
n m
id Paquita
tiva! Ballet
Ryan Rogers, The Battalion
inior first baseman Jason Stephens bats against the University of Texas-Pan
nerica this weekend. The Aggies took all three games from the Broncs.
By Chris Ferrell
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Baseball Team (4-1), fresh off
a weekend sweep of University of Texas-Pan
American, will look to stay on the
winning track as they welcome
University ofTexas-Arlington (1-
3) to Olsen Field today for an af
ternoon doubleheader.
A&M will look to push their
home record to 3-0 and current
winning streak to four. The Aggies,
ranked 14th in the latest Colle
giate Baseball poll, are in the
midst of a season-long 13-game
home stand.
A&M Head Baseball Coach Mark
Johnson said weather set the team
back slightly, but he is encouraged
by A&M’s early season play.
“The hustle, the want to, the desire to work
hard, those things are all there,” Johnson said.
“I think that we’re going to be a better defen
sive team than what we’ve shown. The ingre
dient that I look for now, at this time of year, is
adjustments.”
The Aggies were able to make the necessary
changes to come from behind and pick up a 4-3
victory over UT-Pan American this weekend.
“I think we were
better this weekend
than we were against
Southwest Texas State
and I was encouraged
by that,” Johnson said.
Texas A&M’s bats
have started strong
this season boasting a
team .385 batting av
erage. Sophomore Ja
son Tyner (.571) and
juniors Brian Bene
field (.556) and Scott
Sandusky (.538) are all
batting over .500.
The Aggies have also scored 42 runs in their
first five games.
“We’ve put the ball into play,” said Johnson.
“Our batting average is pretty good. We’ve struck
“I think we
were better
this week
end than we
were against
[SWT]"
Mark Johnson
A&M head coach
out too much (34 times compared to 24 by their
opponents).”
The Aggies look to get over their strikeout
woes against a UTA staff, which has struck out
only 13 batters this season.
The UTA staff is lead by senior right-hander
Roger Lancaster. Lancaster was shelled in his last
outing against Texas Christian University, losing
24-2. However, he helped UTA beat the Universi
ty of Texas on opening day and pitched well
against the Aggies last season.
“They have Lancaster, who pitched against
us, and pitched very well against us, last year
and I think he’s going to start against us the
first game,” Johnson said. “We’ll have our
hands full with him.”
UTA is batting .283 as a team and is led by ju
nior outfielder Michael Kopecky, who has start
ed the season by batting .600, UTA is batting .283
as a team.
To combat the UTA Maverick hitters, A&M will
send junior right-hander John Snped (1-0) to the
mound in the first game and freshman right-han
der Chris Fulbright in the second. Fulbright will
make his first start for the Aggies.
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