Despite body of work, NAIA leaves Eagles out of national tournament

The A&M-Texarkana Eagles were unable to successfully defend their Red River Athletic Conference tournament title last weekend, but they hoped that with their body of work in the 2023 season, the NAIA selection committee would reward them with a return trip to the national tournament.

Despite a 32-10 overall record that includes wins over four nationally ranked teams and being ranked in the national Top 10 for much of the year, the committee left the Eagles on the outside looking in when the NAIA softball tournament field was announced Tuesday.

The Eagles were ranked No. 11 in the final NAIA Coaches Poll, but went 1-2 at the RRAC tournament, the first time the program has not advanced to the conference championship game. A&M-Texarkana won its first 17 games of the season, including a sweep of five games during the Gulf Coast Invitational, with wins over Baker (KS), Southeastern, Columbia (MO), and Campbellsville (KY). All four of those teams received spots in the NAIA tournament.

The Eagles continued to stack wins, reaching a record of 28-3 at one point before a slew of injuries took its toll on the lineup. The team was forced to forfeit a pair of rained out games against Our Lady of the Lake by conference officials and split series with Louisiana Christian, A&M-San Antonio and Texas College before weather forced the cancellation of their final two series at Jarvis Christian and LSU-Alexandria.

In the RRAC tournament, they were upset in the opening round by LCU but rebounded to beat Jarvis in the second day before falling to Houston-Victoria to end the season. Unfortunately, this unexpected ending marks the conclusion of seven Eagle careers, including All-RRAC performers Patti Swimley, Molly Harrison, Katie Slamer, and Macie Reeves, as well as Meadow Gonzales, Alyssa Gillen, and Anne-Elise Gest.