Longhorns, Aggies downplay Lone Star Showdown rivalry headed into softball super regional

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The storied rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M gets another life when the Longhorns rejoin the Aggies in the Southeastern Conference next season, but as far as Texas head softball coach Mike White is concerned, the upcoming super regional series simply pits two great programs against each other, no matter what history says.

"For us to win the national championship, we have to play everybody and beat good teams," he said during a press conference Thursday. "This is just an opportunity to play a very good team from a very good conference, and the extra added piece is the rivalry, but the game tomorrow night won't know that."

It's an edition of the Lone Star Showdown a round later than last season when the Longhorns beat the Aggies twice to claim the regional tournament at McCombs Field. While she didn't start in the circle either game, Aggies left-handed pitcher Emiley Kennedy threw the bulk of the innings and White fully expects to see her high-velocity style again.

"She's tough," White said. "She's controlling her emotions better than she was before, so she's smoothed that out. She knows she's the ace and the team depends on her, and she takes that and rides with it. She's got the same kind of stuff and velocity, she'll throw a little bit of offspeed but she wants to power the ball by you."

Kennedy is No. 22 in NCAA Division I with a 1.57 ERA, .01 lower than Texas' ERA leader Citlaly Gutierrez, and she has struck out 191 in 187 innings. She's a true workhorse of the staff with 23 complete games and 40 appearances on the year. To go with her 23 wins, she also has five saves. She can get a little wild, however. She's walked 82 batters to build a 2.32 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a number outside of the top 150 Division I pitchers in that category.

She threw a pair of shutouts against Texas State in the regional tournament, the first one 1-0 in seven innings and the other an 8-0 five-inning contest, and she's an Aggie through and through and isn't focused on the rivalry aspect.

"I personally am not a fan of Austin, Texas," she said. "I grew up in the College Station area. It's just a school rivalry so we're not really making it too big." Kennedy went to Lake Creek High School in Montgomery, about an hour's drive from the Texas A&M campus.

Texas A&M was given the No. 16 overall seed in the national tournament to set up the super regional series, making it seven teams from the SEC to receive a seed, the most of any conference. Aggies head coach Trisha Ford said playing that kind of competition consistently, something Texas will get to experience next season, prepares them for this kind of moment.

"The balance of attack in the SEC is much higher than a lot of conferences, top to bottom," Ford said. "Every team has a pitcher who can throw 70 mph and 5-6 players that are top-notch, players who can put up a crooked number with one swing."

Texas (50-7) comes into the series as the No. 1 hitting team in Division I with a .383 batting average and No. 2 in scoring with an average of 8.16 runs per game. The Longhorns are also great in the circle with a team ERA of 1.75 that's No. 4 in the country. The Aggies (43-13) are hitting .307 as a team and they are great defensively with a .975 fielding percentage that's No. 19 in the country.

The first game of the series is at 5 p.m. Friday at McCombs Field and will air on ESPN2. The second game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday with a third game Sunday if necessary. The winner of the series will advance to the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City.