6/5/24 Hour 3: Segment 2: Andrew Haynes talks about the WCWS

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Back to the Craig Way Show.Connect with Craig through the text line by
texting Texas to eighty one by threezero followed by your message standard message and
Dane arrange me a lot. Allright, thanks again to Chuck Erstein,

(00:31):
Dallas Maverick's played by Playboys joining us. And of course it's there's always a
healthy debate, a healthy debate,I would say, on what is the
best month on the sports calendar?It usually comes down to one of two

(00:53):
months. Uh, October or April. I mean, excuse me, March,
October or March. The reason forOctober is because obviously you have the
World Series going on. Football isgoing full blast. Uh, Basketball and
hockey are starting up, so youhave all that going on. March obviously
you have March madness. You're headingdown the home stretch of the NBA and

(01:19):
the NHL regular seasons, and baseballis just getting ready to crank up.
There's dramatic moments in both of thosemonths. So, uh, the the
the the most favored month, soto speak, is you know, it's
it's always a good healthy debate.Now. Having said that, and I'm

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I'm a summertime kid. I alwaysleft summer, and I love baseball and
all the other kind of stuff inthe summer. I also realized that once
we get, you know, tothe backside of June and on into July.
Once we get to that in Juneand July, once we get to
that, it's kind of a flatline other than Major League Baseball. But

(02:04):
that's a pretty good thing as well. We had soccer going on and all
that, but it's it would havejust wrapped up the College World Series for
baseball for men, but the women'sCollege World Series gets underway. The National
Championship Series tonight in Oklahoma City atDevon Park. He's ready to call his
second National Championship Series in three years. He's Andrew Haynes, who joins us

(02:25):
on the hotline. Now, isthat kind of sunk in on you that
it's like, dude, you're gettingready to call a second National Title series
and in three years. Yeah,it's pretty fun. I'm looking forward to
it. It's a pretty wild rideit's been the past couple of years.
Yeah, Well, let's talk aboutthis. I'm going to ask you a

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similar question to what I asked ChuckCooper's team when I had him on talking
about the Mavericks. I'm not goingto ask you if you are whatever surprised
that the Longhorns are in the NationalChampionship Series, after all, they were
the number one overall seed. Iguess my question is what has stood out
to you the most about it?It Has it been the way that the

(03:07):
pitching has dominated, or has itbeen the timely hitting, the belly flop
catches, the hydromula. What hasstood out to you as much as anything
else about this particular ride for thisTexas team to arrive in this National Championship
Series. Yeah, you know,especially after the back and forth Super Regional

(03:28):
with Texas A and M. Ithink certainly the way the pitching has dominated.
You know, they've gone against acouple of teams that you know,
Florida, a team that beat TexasA and M all four times they've played
in this year, and the Longhornsrun ruled them ten nothing. And you
know the pitching Mac Morgan allowed onehit, no runs, you know,
taking Kevan against Stanford team that didn'tquite have the offense, but you know

(03:50):
had the vaunted pitcher Nigerie Kennedy.Kevan two one hit shutouts against them,
and she wasn't phased that you know, she had to be practically perfect and
you know, to keep the teamin the game, and they've just up
their game, Cavaon and Morgan tolevels that we haven't seen all year.
You know. The other thing thatsurprises me and I don't know. You

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certainly have more insight than I do, and maybe there's something we don't know
with regard to health status or somethinglike that is I know, during the
course of the season said Lilly gudierreswas was so big and she had won
ten strikeouts against Oklahoma in that BigTwelve Tournament championship game. But the defense's
Mike White is in a unique positionabout having some relatively rested arms. The

(04:35):
way this goes as perhaps Oklahoma maynot have that luxury in Kelly Maxwell being
the grinder that she's been, andif Keegan Rothrock had at Florida and made
it there, she would have beenjust running on fumes, I would imagine.
So how does all of that shapewhat you feel Mike White wants to
do with his rotation or with hispitchers overall here in this championship series.

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Yeah, I think the rest andthe success they've had definitely gives him a
lot of confidence. You know,during the regular season Estelle check after they
beat Oklahoma two out of three,she pitched six innings total out of the
bullpen without allowing a run and earnedthe National Pitcher of the Week award.
You know, Silali in that BigTwelve Big Twelve Tournament championship got those ten

(05:23):
strikeouts. I think he probably knowsthat anyone he throws out there is going
to get the job done. Andso I would imagine that, especially after
a couple of years ago, cominghere and you know, the Longhorns were
in kind of Oklahoma's position. HaileyDolcini was running on fumes, and you
know, the other pitchers were good, but they weren't you know, you

(05:46):
know, top of the line typeof pitchers at that point at least.
And so I think this is absolutelya huge luxury for Mike White. Has
he decided and or and I hadn'tseen anything. Has he announced too he
was going to go with in Gameone? He hasn't announce anything yet.
Yeah, do you have a gutfeeling, not necessarily based on any conversation
you would have with image, isjust the way things have gone. Yeah,

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you know, it's tough to say, I mean Teagan has pitched so
well that it would be hard toignore the hot hand. You know,
Mac pitched so well that she'd bea good option, said LOLLI through against
Oklahoma so well last time. Butit is maybe one of the ones that's
a little mourn has an issue withnerves on from time to time, and

(06:30):
so maybe she's not running, soit's it's tough to say. Yeah,
yeah, absolutely, talking Texas Softballhere with Andrew Haynes, who will call
the actions tonight. Obviously you canhear it online at Texas Sports dot com
and you connect to it through theiHeartRadio app. Okay, I made this
comment earlier, and we're gonna hearlater on and you've heard it all because

(06:50):
you were there, But we're goingto play a little bit later on in
the show. Some comments from MikeWhite from the presser yesterday. But the
I think this amalgamation, this mixtureof the experience and the youth seems to
have paid dividends in a way thatmaybe a lot of folks hadn't realized to

(07:12):
see a Caiten Henry be able tocontribute in ways that are right there within
Alyssa Washington to see youngsters and veterans, and you and I talked about it
in an our two preview shows aswell. For this deal, is that
something you think has been a keyto this deal, the way that the
mixture has worked with this group ofyouth and veteran leadership. Absolutely. Absolutely,

(07:36):
You know, the veterans are theones that are the steady contributors.
The youths are the big, flashyput up the big numbers for the most
part. And I think having theveterans here who were here two years ago
and played in the World Series,they've provided some good leadership. They've been
able to let the younger players know, you know, how things go and

(07:57):
how you need to act, howyou need to prepare yourself, and how
to stay calm on the field.And so it's absolutely it's mixed very well.
I think the that is has ithas been the key to their success
here in the World Series. Uh. In looking at some of the key
I like the question that you hadabout the rundown, uh that that that

(08:24):
Washington was in and uh the waythat when when you ask did you think
that she planned it that way?And he said, I don't know.
I kind of leave it up toher. I mean that's that that also,
I think is is pretty interesting abouta coaches trust and the player to
try to draw someone into a rundownlike she did. Yeah, and especially

(08:48):
with Alyssa Washington, who's a veteran, She's been around the block, she's
the captain, she's a middle infielder, she knows how rundowns go. I
think that was it might have beenthe perfect player to get in a rundown
and kind of feel it out andsee what was needed to score and make
that happen. When you look atOklahoma, I know you could probably do

(09:09):
the do a broadcast against them withyour eyes closed because you know all of
those players so well. This willbe the fifth time you've seen them this
year, and then of course you'veseen them last couple of years as well.
Do they do they based on theTexas series win, based on the
fact that Florida beat them once andhad them on the rope yesterday, do

(09:30):
they appear even a little bit morevulnerable than in the past. It really
feels like it, it does.You know, last year they graduated a
couple of players, They had ayou know, a big arm Jordi Ball
transfer out and this year they returneda ton of talent. But it just,
you know, looking through their seasonthis year, they've been challenged a
little bit more. They haven't beenblowing teams out as much as they did

(09:54):
last year. And you know,even though they have you know, three
four time All Americans on their teamand a whole bunch of a host of
other All Americans and possible All Americansfor the future, something just seems a
little bit different. You know,some of their senior players toward the end
of the year almost kind of feltlike they had a little senioritis and you

(10:15):
know, lost some focus here andthere. Now, you know, being
on this stage, them going forthat you know, unprecedented fourth straight national
title. I don't know if that'llhelp them focus better, if they'll be
nervous a little more, but theyseem to have some more chinks in the
armor. Is it safe to say, Andrew that Mike White's point that he
made early in this tournament about howhe felt the tournament should be rotated from

(10:39):
site, We're going to see exhibita of that tonight, right. I
Mean, it's ninety nine percent goingto be wearing crimson and cream and going
crazy for ow you and booing thelong words and all that kind of stuff.
This is what he's talking about,what they're going to encounter tonight,
right it is. Yeah. Iremember two years ago in that Championship Series

(11:03):
seeing the stadium packed out and therewere maybe a couple hundred Longhorns fans in
the section right behind the dugout andeveryone else was rooting against them. And
I think it'll be a little moreeven this time. I think, you
know, maybe Longhorns fans have alittle more preparation to come on up here
and be cheering their team, butit'll still be the vast majority of rooting
for Oklahoma, which you know,obviously gives them a huge boost. And

(11:28):
I mean, it's a team thatdoesn't even need the boost, but it
could be interesting to see how thatplays out, no doubt about it.
All. Right. It is sixforty five the pregame start time. Seven
o'clock is the first pitch As Texastakes on Oklahoma Game one of the National
Championship Series. Andrew Haynes will beon the call there and again and follow
it online texasports dot Com. Connectto the lean stream there and you can

(11:50):
do it also connect through the iHeartRadioapp. Hey, have fun, enjoy
it and appreciate you taking the time. All right, we'll do thanks,
all right, you bet that's Andrew. We're gonna hear from Mike White,
Texas head coach coming up when wecontinue on sports Radio AM thirteen under the
Zone and the iHeartRadio app.