Strong Field Awaits Softball Team This Weekend at Texas A&M

Thursday, February 27

College Station, Texas

8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT

Princeton University

Texas A&M

Photo by: Shelley M. Szwast

Strong Field Awaits Softball Team This Weekend at Texas A&M

February 23, 2025 | Softball

Five opponents, including two in the top 15 across the national rankings, await the Princeton softball team this weekend at Texas A&M.

Here's a look at where the Tigers and their opponents stand heading into the week:

• Princeton is 2-2, splitting four games two weekends ago at North Carolina with wins over Drexel and George Mason and two losses to UNC. The Tigers were away from competition last weekend. Four Tigers hit .400 or better over that weekend, with Karis Ford hitting .667 (6 for 9) to win Ivy League Player of the Week honors. Julia Dumais, a first-team All-Ivy Leaguer last year, hit .429 (6 for 14) while Sonia Zhang, also a first-teamer last year, hit .417 (5 for 12) and Abby Hornberger hit .400 (4 for 10), co-leading the team with seven RBI over the weekend. In the circle, the three Tiger returning arms saw action, with Cassidy Shaw going 2-0 with a 1.91 ERA.

• Princeton returns all five of its All-Ivy League honorees from last year, including third baseman Zhang, outfielder Lauren Sablone, utility player Dumais, first baseman Sophia Marsalo, and outfielder Allison Ha. Head coach Lisa Van Ackeren won her third straight Ivy Coach of the Year award last year, giving her five Ivy Coach of the Year awards during her tenure with the Tigers.

• Princeton enters the season as a three-time defending Ivy League champion, hosting the Ivy League Playoff Series/Tournament in each of those years. Princeton won the ILCS over Harvard in 2022, fell in the Ivy League Tournament final to Harvard in 2023, and defeated Harvard in the Ivy League Tournament final last year, going on to defeat Ole Miss in an NCAA regional elimination game at Louisiana for the program's first NCAA tournament win since 2005.

vs. Texas A&M, Thursday, 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT | ESPN+ | Live Stats
The Aggies are ranked No. 5 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, No. 4 in the D1Softball poll, and No. 6 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll. A&M has won seven straight since its lone loss of the season, to No. 10 Oklahoma State 6-5 back on Feb. 15, to stand at 15-1 entering this Thursday afternoon's game against Texas State. A&M was forecast to finish fifth in the SEC preseason softball poll. Texas A&M had infielder Mac Barbara, pitcher Emiley Kennedy and infielder Koko Wooley on the 24-player preseason All-SEC softball team. The Aggies were an NCAA super regional team last year, losing in three games to Texas.

Princeton and Texas A&M have met just twice, with A&M winning both meetings, 7-2 in a 1994 game played at Florida State and 6-0 in a 2004 game played at Cal State Fullerton. The Aggies were head coach Lisa Van Ackeren's last win as a pitcher at Lehigh when she helped knock the Aggies out of a 2009 regional, lifting the Mountain Hawks into the regional final.

vs. Texas Tech, Friday, 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. CT | Live Stats
The Red Raiders are ranked No. 13 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll, No. 15 in the D1Softball poll, and No. 13 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches poll. Heading into Wednesday's game against North Texas, Texas Tech has won seven straight to stand at 15-3. Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco came over after last season from Louisiana, which hosted Princeton in an NCAA regional last spring. After Princeton lost its NCAA regional opener to Louisiana in a run rule defeat, 8-0 in five, the Tigers bounced back to knock out Ole Miss in an elimination game and battled Louisiana for eight innings in another elimination game before a 2-1 loss. Five players followed Glasco from Louisiana to Texas Tech, and four of those played in the two games against Princeton, including Victoria Valdez, Alexa Langeliers, Mihyia Davis and Chloe Riassetto. Valdez drove in both runs on sacrifice flies in the 2-1 win, scoring Davis for the first run and Langeliers for the winning run. Riassetto started both games in the circle, going the distance in the 2-1 game while allowing a run on four hits without a walk, striking out one.

Texas Tech was picked second in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll with outfielder Davis and pitcher NiJaree Canady, a Stanford transfer who was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year last year, among the 18 players on the preseason All-Big 12 team. The team finished 29-21 a year ago, losing to top-seeded Texas as the eighth seed in the Big 12 quarterfinals to end the Red Raiders' season.

Friday's game will be the first meeting in program history between Princeton and Texas Tech.

vs. Texas State, Friday, 5:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. CT | Live Stats
Texas State is 10-3 heading into Thursday's weekend opener at Texas A&M. The Bobcats were the pick to win the league in the Sun Belt preseason all-conference poll with Madison Azua as the preseason Pitcher of the Year and joined on the 15-player preseason all-conference team by outfielder Ciara Trahan. The team went 47-15 a year ago, winning the Sun Belt Conference tournament and knocking Penn State out of the Texas A&M-hosted NCAA regional before being eliminated by the host Aggies.

Friday's game will be the first meeting in program history between Princeton and Texas State.

vs. Idaho State, Saturday, 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT | Live Stats
Idaho State enters Friday's game against Texas Tech at 10-3 and having won five straight games. The team was picked second of six in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll. Catcher Olivia Robison and outfielder Gracie Smith were first-team All-Big Sky honorees last season and are back this season. The Bengals held the second seed in last year's Big Sky tournament but lost to third-seeded Sacramento State and fourth-seeded Portland State in the double-elimination tournament, ending the team's season at 25-27.

Saturday's game will be the first meeting in program history between Princeton and Idaho State.

vs. George Washington, Saturday, 12:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. CT | Live Stats

GW stands 7-3 heading into Friday's weekend opener against Idaho State and was picked seventh in the Atlantic 10 preseason coaches poll. The team has several familiar faces to the Tigers, as five former Ivy Leaguers are on the Revolutionaries' roster in Allison Heffley, Madi Mays and Anna Reed, all who previously played for Harvard, Carolyn Skotz, formerly of Yale, and Lilly Travieso, formerly of Cornell.

As the closest opponent to Princeton of this weekend's teams, the Tigers have the longest history with GW of any of this weekend's opponents, with the Revolutionaries holding a 4-2 all-time series lead. Princeton won an 11-4 game in D.C. in 2011 and a 7-3 game in D.C. in 2013. The teams played three times in 2018, all in D.C., with GW winning 3-1, 11-0 in five, and 9-6, and the most recent meeting was in 2020, also in D.C., a 7-5 GW win in Princeton's penultimate game before the season was canceled due to the pandemic.

Following the weekend, Princeton will begin its spring trip with a March 9 doubleheader at San José State.