No. 13 Aggies Open Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Thursday

Thursday, February 19

Cathedral City, Calif.

2:30 PM

Texas A&M

Oregon

Photo by: Evan Pilat/Texas A&M Athletics

Feb 18, 2026 | Softball

By: Tyler Pounds, Athletics Communications

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – The No. 13 Texas A&M softball team opens the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic Thursday against a pair of top-20 foes, beginning with No. 14 Oregon at 2:30 p.m. and No. 14 Duke at 7:30 p.m. at Big League Dreams.

The Aggies continue action Friday against UC San Diego at 10:30 p.m., followed by a Saturday night doubleheader against No. 6 Nebraska at 7 p.m. and LMU at 9:30 p.m. The Maroon & White wrap the weekend up Sunday against No. 11 UCLA at 1:30 p.m. Each game will be streamed on FloCollege ($), while Matt Simon will provide the call on the 12th Man Mobile app and locally on Willy 1550 AM.

WHERE THE AGGIES ARE NATIONALLY
Texas A&M (7-3) ranks No. 11 in the NFCA poll, No. 13 in the ESPN/USA Softball and D1 Softball rankings and No. 14 in the Softball America poll. A&M's pitching staff ranks third nationally in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.33) and ninth in WHIP (0.98), while the Aggie offense ranks No. 14 in batting average (.381) and No. 19 in home runs (16).

AGGIE NEWCOMERS
Aggie newcomers have accounted for 46.7% (36-of-77) of Texas A&M's run production this season. Micaela Wark leads the group with 10 runs, while Ariel Kowalewski has scored eight times. Wark leads the Aggies with six home runs, and the newcomer group has accounted for 10 of the team's 16 homers.

Maddie Sauni had a breakout weekend, slashing .583/.615/.917 at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational. The freshman hit her first career home run and added a double while finishing the weekend with four RBI and three runs. She also caught her first career base stealer by throwing out a runner at second.

Taylor Pannell has made five appearances, including three starts, striking out nine batters in 8.2 innings. Pannell recently earned her first save in Maroon & White, marking the 26th save of her NCAA career. True freshmen Annsley Groce and Piper White have each appeared in five games in pinch-running roles. Groce ranks second on the team with two stolen bases.

LOCKED CORNER, OPEN BASEPATHS
Senior Kennedy Powell has been a fixture at the hot corner, starting every game of the 2025 season at third base. Since joining the Aggies in 2024, she has appeared in 127 games and started 126.

Powell is the only Aggie to score in every game this season and enters the weekend with a 10-game hitting streak. She has successfully stolen 30 consecutive bases, a streak dating to early February 2024 after finishing a perfect 19-for-19 in stolen base attempts in 2025.

As the primary leadoff hitter, Powell led the team with 63 runs scored in 2025, setting a program single-season record. The Aggies went 36-5 in games in which she scored at least one run. Powell tied the Texas A&M record for most runs scored in an SEC season with 24 and ranked second in the conference in stolen bases and third in runs during league play.

MARY NUTTER COLLEGIATE CLASSIC
Texas A&M returns to the Mary Nutter Classic for the ninth time in program history, holding a 28-10 all-time record and a 10-9 mark against ranked opponents. The Aggies return for the second time in the Trisha Ford era after going 2-2 in 2023 with wins over BYU, 8-6, and CSUN, 3-1, and losses to No. 1 UCLA, 3-0, and No. 2 Oklahoma, 8-0.

The Aggies face No. 14 Duke for the second time in as many weeks after falling to the Blue Devils, 8-6, at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational. Kennedy Powell led the Aggies by going 3-for-3 with her first career grand slam, while Ariel Kowalewski added a two-run homer. Sydney Lessentine, Kate Munnerlyn and Grace Sparks each pitched, with Munnerlyn taking her first loss of the season.