No. 8 Texas A&M Slated for Shriners Clearwater Invitational
Feb 12, 2026 | Softball
CLEARWATER, Fla. – The No. 8 Texas A&M softball team opens the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational against No. 23 Oklahoma State at 9 a.m. on ESPN2, followed by No. 19 Duke at 12 p.m. on ESPN+ Friday at the Eddie C. Moore Complex.
The Aggies return to action Saturday against NC State at 8 a.m. before wrapping up the weekend Sunday against JMU at 8 a.m. on SEC Network and Northwestern at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
WHERE THE AGGIES ARE NATIONALLY
Texas A&M (4-1) ranks No. 8 in the NFCA and ESPN/USA Softball Week 1 polls, while Softball America moved the Aggies up three spots to No. 11 and D1 Softball dropped the Maroon & White to No. 13. The Aggies rank in the top 20 in numerous categories, including strikeout-to-walk ratio (23.5), WHIP (0.65), ERA (0.90) and slugging percentage (0.664).
HOWDY NEWCOMERS
Aggies making their debut in the Maroon & White accounted for 52.8% (19-of-36) of Texas A&M's run production on opening weekend. Tallen Edwards and Micaela Wark led the group, scoring five runs, followed by Ariel Kowalewski and Annsley Groce with three runs each. The newcomer group also accounted for 54.5% (18-of-33) of Texas A&M's RBI production, led by graduate Micaela Wark with eight runs driven in. True freshmen Groce and Piper White made their collegiate debuts in pinch-run situations. Groce finished the weekend with two stolen bases.
Top Aggie Newcomer Debuts
ONE CIRCLE, ONE STANDARD
The pitching staff controlled the zone, yielding just two walks in 31.0 innings pitched while compiling a 0.645 WHIP with a 74.4 strike percentage (335-of-450) on opening weekend. Sydney Lessentine shined in the season opener, hitting the zone on 58-of-65 (89.2%) pitches thrown in 5.0 innings of work and striking out seven while allowing just one hit. Sidne Peters led the corps with 20 strikeouts in 11.1 innings of work while allowing just one walk and one run in four appearances. Taylor Pannell made two appearances on opening weekend, including one start. She totaled seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work while yielding just two hits, one run and no walks.
FROM COWGIRLS TO AGGIES
Graduate Micaela Wark and senior Tallen Edwards traded in their orange and black for Maroon & White, transferring to Aggieland from Oklahoma State. In three seasons in Stillwater, the two combined made 325 starts while appearing in 370 games, totaling 265 hits and driving in 173 runs. The duo are off to a hot start, going a combined 15-for-26 at the plate with seven extra-base hits while driving in 14 runs and scoring 10 runs.
HOW TO FOLLOW
All games will be featured on the ESPN family of networks, while Texas A&M Hall of Famer Amanda Scarborough will be on the call as the analyst for the Aggies' pair of games on Friday. All Aggie softball games can be heard on the 12th Man Mobile app or locally on Willy 1550 AM with Matt Simon as the play-by-play voice in his 12th season with Texas A&M softball.
The Aggies return to action Saturday against NC State at 8 a.m. before wrapping up the weekend Sunday against JMU at 8 a.m. on SEC Network and Northwestern at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
WHERE THE AGGIES ARE NATIONALLY
Texas A&M (4-1) ranks No. 8 in the NFCA and ESPN/USA Softball Week 1 polls, while Softball America moved the Aggies up three spots to No. 11 and D1 Softball dropped the Maroon & White to No. 13. The Aggies rank in the top 20 in numerous categories, including strikeout-to-walk ratio (23.5), WHIP (0.65), ERA (0.90) and slugging percentage (0.664).
HOWDY NEWCOMERS
Aggies making their debut in the Maroon & White accounted for 52.8% (19-of-36) of Texas A&M's run production on opening weekend. Tallen Edwards and Micaela Wark led the group, scoring five runs, followed by Ariel Kowalewski and Annsley Groce with three runs each. The newcomer group also accounted for 54.5% (18-of-33) of Texas A&M's RBI production, led by graduate Micaela Wark with eight runs driven in. True freshmen Groce and Piper White made their collegiate debuts in pinch-run situations. Groce finished the weekend with two stolen bases.
Top Aggie Newcomer Debuts
| PLAYER | AVG/OB%/SLG% | HR | 2B | H | RBI | R |
| 44 - Tallen Edwards | .636/.688/.909 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| 14 - Micaela Wark | .533/.556/1.333 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
| 47 - Ariel Kowalewski | .400/.471/.533 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
ONE CIRCLE, ONE STANDARD
The pitching staff controlled the zone, yielding just two walks in 31.0 innings pitched while compiling a 0.645 WHIP with a 74.4 strike percentage (335-of-450) on opening weekend. Sydney Lessentine shined in the season opener, hitting the zone on 58-of-65 (89.2%) pitches thrown in 5.0 innings of work and striking out seven while allowing just one hit. Sidne Peters led the corps with 20 strikeouts in 11.1 innings of work while allowing just one walk and one run in four appearances. Taylor Pannell made two appearances on opening weekend, including one start. She totaled seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings of work while yielding just two hits, one run and no walks.
FROM COWGIRLS TO AGGIES
Graduate Micaela Wark and senior Tallen Edwards traded in their orange and black for Maroon & White, transferring to Aggieland from Oklahoma State. In three seasons in Stillwater, the two combined made 325 starts while appearing in 370 games, totaling 265 hits and driving in 173 runs. The duo are off to a hot start, going a combined 15-for-26 at the plate with seven extra-base hits while driving in 14 runs and scoring 10 runs.
HOW TO FOLLOW
All games will be featured on the ESPN family of networks, while Texas A&M Hall of Famer Amanda Scarborough will be on the call as the analyst for the Aggies' pair of games on Friday. All Aggie softball games can be heard on the 12th Man Mobile app or locally on Willy 1550 AM with Matt Simon as the play-by-play voice in his 12th season with Texas A&M softball.
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