The Florida A&M softball team has officially reached the peak of the 2025 season, with just six games to go in the regular season schedule.
The Rattlers are 17-17 on the season and the No. 1 team in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with an impressive 13-4 conference record under first year head coach Brittany Beall.
The conference schedule kicked off against immediate past head coach, Camise Patterson, and the Alabama State Hornets.
The Hornets got away with a win for the first game, but the Rattlers took the final two games of the series to open SWAC play on the right foot.
FAMU then traveled to Dayton Beach, where they dropped their first conference series of the season to their bitter rival.
While the games in Dayton revealed that FAMU was capable of coming out of the game and getting ahead early, it also revealed at times the Rattlers’ struggle to close out games. In the rubber match, the Wildcats were able to score four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the series.
The Alabama A&M Bulldogs and Mississippi Valley Delta Devils were shown no mercy following the two losses against BCU during back to back weekends of straight wins and two shutout games from the Rattlers.
This season, the softball program has shown improvements in the areas of rallying back.
On April 4, in a must-win game to even the series against Jackson State, the Rattlers fought back in the fifth inning after trailing 1-0. The Rattlers put three runs on the board in the sixth inning to end the game with a 3-1 win over the Tigers.
Amari Brown, a junior pitcher, has had a standout season amongst the FAMU program and the SWAC where she earned Co-Hitter of the Week.
Freshman hitter, Ciara Maple, has also had a great first season in both the batting and fielding arenas.
This weekend is Senior Day for the program. Within Beall’s first graduating class are four seniors who will be walking the stage in May– Brianna Duggins, Samantha Smith, Kayla Alexandre, and Kiauna Watson.
“Seeing how much they contribute to the team in these short months has been important,” Beall said. “I’m excited to celebrate them.”
While they are excited for the next step in their career, the Rattlers know that the job isn’t finished.
Up next are back-to-back weekend tournaments against Bethune Cookman and Alabama State ahead of the SWAC tournament.
The 2025 Softball SWAC Tournament will be held in Gulfport, Mississippi from May 6 to May 10.