It started in Game 1 of Sunday’s regional round, a must-win for No. 1 seed Texas A&M. After the Aggies fell behind 6-0 to unseedeed Liberty, they stormed back to ultimately pull out a 14-11 win in eight innings and force a winner-take-all game against the Lady Flames.
The Aggies then jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the nightcap before Liberty right fielder Rachel Roupe homered to open the scoring for Liberty. Texas A&M gave up another five runs to go down 6-3, before ultimately losing 6-5 following a spirited comeback attempt.
‘I’m just trying to process everything,’ Roupe said about the Flames’ historic win on ESPN2 after the game. ‘ … Weight lifted off your shoulder. We were battling all day long. It took us, I don’t know, many hours? Eight hours? Whatever we needed to do to get it done, we did it.’
Kaylan Yoder was key for Liberty, coming in and tossing 1⅔ innings after ace Elena Escobar was run in the sixth. The five-run sixth was ultimately the difference for the Lady Flames, and the Aggies were unable to overcome the late onslaught.
It’s an inauspicious loss for the Aggies, who became the first No. 1 overall seed to miss the Super Regional round. Texas A&M, of course, got that No. 1 seed when the SEC Championship game against Oklahoma was cancelled, giving the Aggies the top seed in the NCAA tournament and Oklahoma getting No. 2.
Has a No. 1 seed ever missed NCAA softball Super Regionals?
Texas A&M’s loss Sunday made the Aggies the first No. 1 seed to ever fail to advance out of the regional round of the tournament.
In fact, according to the ESPN broadcast, Texas A&M was the only the second No. 1 seed to even lose a game in the NCAA Division I softball tournament. As the No. 1 seed in 2012, California lost a game in regionals to Arkansas then came back to capture two must-win games against the Razorbacks to advance.
The Aggies have not made the Women’s College World Series since 2017, while Liberty’s win Sunday propelled the Lady Flames to the Super Regional round for the first time in program history.
Texas A&M went 47-10 in the regular season and 16-7 in the SEC. It has not won the Women’s College World Series since the current format was introduced in 2005 after winning two national championships in 1983 and 1987.