Matthew (Moose) Lopez
Managing Editor
As the softball season approaches, the Jaguars are ready to make a statement in the Red River Conference.
Head Coach Nicole Dufour discussed the team’s goals for the upcoming season.
“One of our short-term goals is to get to the conference tournament,” Dufour said during an interview in November 2021. “We could have participated last year and now that we’re full-fledged members, we want our spot back.”
Last season the Jags qualified for the conference tournament but couldn’t participate because they were only probationary members. In the spring of 2021, A&M-San Antonio received full membership in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
“Looking back on it (last season), we came together — we hadn’t even been together one year. I recruited these girls via video just because of COVID and we came together and were competitive as we were, we made conference tournament.”
Dufour says the team’s strongest attribute is their drive. She emphasized that the freshmen have come in “guns blazing,” making a statement to the upperclassmen while pushing the team to do better.
“We have a really strong freshman class… I definitely appreciate their tenacity and their hunger,” Dufour said. “They came in and want to be impact players.”
Dufour is optimistic about the spring season, praising the team’s mental focus and improved chemistry during the off-season.
“Last year we did really well for the circumstances put in front of us,” Dufour said. Knowing now that we’re getting stronger. We were actually able to have a full seven-week fall season. we didn’t have that last year so we’ve been able to practice together, get to know each other a little bit more, conditioning, strength training, and all those factors we didn’t have so it’s going to be exciting to see what that looks like in the spring.”
The team will have four scrimmages during the last weekend of January before starting the season at home Feb. 8 against Southwestern Assemblies of God University.
For more information and news about A&M-San Antonio’s softball team, visit their social media account on Twitter @TamusaSoftball or follow the teams’ coverage @tamusasports on all other media sources.
Raul Lopez contributed to this story.
