June 10, 2025 • 20 mins
Craig Way talks with Joley Mitchell about what went through her mind when she was on deck during the game-winning run of Game 1 in the National Championship, and how the team used it's momentum to come out on top in Game 3. It's all here on The Craig Way Show!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here on a Tuesday afternoon on the program.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm glad to have you with us here and with
you up till five o'clock this afternoon as always, so
happy to have you with us this afternoon. Okay, As
I mentioned, we will be visiting with Texas softball head
coach Mike White coming up on Thursday on the program,
as he was en route.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Today in the air today.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And the great thing about this gave us an opportunity
to have one more visit with one of our favorites
over the past couple of weeks, and that is to
visit with long Horn's grad student first baseman. Let the
record show that this season Jolie Mitchell batted three seventy five,
(00:46):
was seventeen home run sixty three runs, batted in, drew
thirty five walks, got hit by a pitch three times,
and had a.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Fielding percentage ninety two.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Is she joins it and also stole four bases in
five attempts, and she joins is now as a national
champion A little bit different than when we visit with
her a week ago. A little over a week ago, Jolie,
I appreciate the time. Is it kind of just trite?
For me to say that everybody's still soaking it all
in and enjoying this and letting and letting all of
(01:18):
this settle, because one thing I heard all of the
players say is that it hadn't sunk in yet. It
hadn't sunk in yet, and of course it wouldn't right
in the immediacy of the moment other than the jubilation.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Now, has it all sunk in for you?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I would say yes, I mean, this is something that
we work for. And so when you finally get to
bring it back to Austin and had a great showing
of all of our fans here after we got back,
that was pretty awesome. So now and I'm just kind
of hanging out driving in the car, I'm thinking, oh
my goodness, like we're a national champion. So I would say,
yes that it's kind of settled in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Okay, well that's good now. Everything I know folks described
the way the National Championship Series ultimately evolved was kind
of bordering on the unreal and ill.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
And I'll get back to that in a moment. I
want to go back to.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You know a lot of folks that the eyebrows were
raised when when after you guys got the win over Tennessee,
and then after Texas Tech had beat Oklahoma, and there
was like when somebody asked you, would you rather played
Oklahoma or Texas Tech? And and I salute you because
you know a lot of folks are going to go
ahead and take the diplomatic path and it doesn't matter.
We're just glad to be in the championship. And you said, no,
(02:33):
I'd rather been against Oklahoma to be the man. You
got to beat the man, the old Hult Cogan thing.
I guess that's a Rick Flair line. Did did your
teammates kind of share that feeling or was it just, hey, look,
we're in the final.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
We're ready to go, no matter who it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I think that everybody was just waiting to see who
it was going to be. I mean, I just said
I wanted it to be OU because I think that
that's a cool way to go out, and especially you know,
we just beat them, and I think that we had
a little bit of momentum.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Then again, I think the same thing happened last.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Year when Florida forced them to the double elimination game
and the IF Games.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Last year, I even said no, I still want to
play OU.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
And so I kind of take the route of like
I want to make it really difficult on myself. But again,
I trust my team and I trust that regardless, we
would have done great against either team. But yeah, just
got to a point where we had to focus on
what was in front of us. But I don't think
that it should go un noticed that, you know, it
doesn't matter who it is, we were going to give
up a fight. And yeah, but again had to recognize
that we had a challenge right in front of us
(03:33):
with Tech and Nigerie Kennedy.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, Okay, So you just made me laugh when you
talked about picking the more difficult route, because when we
had the last time visit, we talked about your path
and everything you went through in the physical challenges and
everything else. So so just playing Oklahoma compared to everything
else you've been through, probably you felt you were you
and your teammates were going to be able to handle
that based on everything you personally had been through.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Right, absolutely, I mean we've faced them plenty of times
and they're a great team and a great program and
always will be. But again it's like, hey, we had
some momentum going into this after we beat them last week,
so you know, I was ready for it, but just
didn't work out that way.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And that's okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I got to ask you this question because and rooted
in history like I like to do sometimes, you kind
of had a unique place in history the other night.
Whether anybody brought this up to you or not. At first,
I want to make sure I'm right about this. When
Reese Hadwood's at the plate and on the three to
(04:35):
zero pitch he gets the base hit, You're in the
on deck circle, correct, You're the on deck batter, Okay,
all right. I just want to make sure I didn't
go off the tracks on that, because this is what
goes through my mind and stuff like this, someone who
follows the history of the game and the history of
all professional sports and things like that. And I don't
know if anybody said this to you, but in nineteen
fifty one, there's this famous baseball playoff game between the
(04:59):
Giants and Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Both were in New York at the time.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
The Giants were playing the upper part of Manhattan and
the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and they played at the
Polo Grounds, and the Dodgers are on the verge of
winning this final game of a best of three series
to decide the National League pennant, and Bobby Thompson hits
this game winning walk off home run in the days
before the term walk off was even invented. He hits
(05:22):
this walk off home run, the Giants win. There's this
famous announcement of Russ Hodges crying out over and over again.
The Giants win, the pennant, the Giants win, the Pennate
does it all over the point of all this is
that he hits this walk off home run. Waiting in
the on deck circle was Willie Mays, who was a
rookie that year and of course went on and had
this unbelievably incredible career. So here you were in the
(05:43):
on deck circle. And the reason I bring this up,
or you're the on deck batter, is Reese is at
the plate. When did it occur to you that what
was going to happen and might unfold, that she was
looking for a pitch to hit, and beyond that, what
was going through your mind, if you know, when it
looked like they were good, that Kennedy was going to
(06:05):
intentionally walk her and that you would then walk to
the to the plate with the bases loaded into outs.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think several times this year it's kind of been
the scenario to where even before I walk out of
the dugout, I'm like, oh, this is going to be
an intentional walk situation.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
I'm going to have to be the person to do it.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
So honestly, before I even stepped down on the field,
I knew that they were going to at least attempt
to intentionally walk her, which is fine. I mean, that's
no big deal, and I still have to go out
there and do what I'm supposed to do. But I
think it was pitched too, I believe for the second ball,
and it was actually we said it was fat, that's
what we were calling it. It was fat, and coach
(06:42):
saying is in the cage over here in the dugout,
and he.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Told Reese swing it.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So I think Reese was just kind of like I
could even see a change in her body language where
she's like, Okay, I'm going to take this next one,
and then after that, I'm just gonna hammer it if
it's there.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
And she did.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I honestly was fully not paying attention because it was
faced to be the fourth ball and I'm walking and
I looked down a little bit and then I hear
the crack of the bat and I'm like what And
I look up and the balls going past the shortstop
and so it was like, oh my god, we're gonna
score two runs.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And so that's what we needed.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So I went to the plate and was just gonna
tell me if she needed to slide or not.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
But yeah, I think just.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
The whole scenario, I was fully prepared to go up there,
and I mean I was gonna be the one to
hit the ball, so I was fully prepared to go
up there and do it. And I was pretty hot then, so,
like you know, I was, I was trusting myself. But
when we said that, I think it was just a
huge confidence boost for everybody. And even after the fact,
the whole night it was just totally insane. Twitter was
blowing up, so we were laughing about that on the
bus and TikTok was going off.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
So it was just a really cool moment.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
To see us take a big risk like that and
see it work out for us, and that's what led
us to the championship.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
At the end of the week.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Okay, all right, so I want to make sure I
got this right, because I haven't heard anybody else tell
it to this point that that coach Singh was saying,
go ahead and do it again. And the plan was
to swing on three and oho, not two and oh.
When that second pitch was fat, was to let her
(08:10):
go ahead and try to get another one over there.
And I think all the replay showed that the third
pitch for ball three might have been a little further
out any way than that fourth pitch, So it was
perfect timing. Everything worked out obviously perfect, but for the
purposes of accuracy, So that that was the plan.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
What you heard coach sing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Talking about was get ready to hit, and then in
everybody's mind it was going to be on the fourth pitch.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I think it just kind of worked out that way.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I mean, I don't he was just telling her to swing,
and so when he said that, I was like, oh,
you know, I didn't know if Reese was going to
do it or not. And so yeah, the third the
three oh pitch was a little bit or the going
to be three zero pitch was a little bit further out,
but what was supposed to be ball four was actually
right there. And so I think Reese was just like
Seaball hit ball, and I mean it just happened to
(08:55):
work out, and I think it just kind of caught
the defense off guard just in general. You kin watch
the replay back and they're not really like in their
position ready to go, and sour stop was kind of cheating.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
So it's just I think it just happened. It just
was so perfect.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
But he was telling her like, Hey, if it's close,
you need to go ahead and swing, and then we
trust Reese and I don't restrust herself. So for her
that to be her first hit of the week, I
think it was probably the most legendary one of the weeks.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, no question about that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Now you'll have to refresh my memory on this in
some other situations, on other occasions when that situation was
coming up, whether the bases would have been loaded or not,
when they were when someone was in the process of
intentionally walking Reece, Uh, did you have some good at
bats in some of those situations that you had come
(09:41):
up and make them pay for that decision that they made.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
A few I could have done better, but a few.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I think the big thing is when something like that's
gonna happen, I have to take it as they don't
trust that I can do the job right. I am
not able to you know, score a couple of runs
here to tie the game up or you know, jump ahead.
But I think it's just a matter of if I
believe in myself. I mean I have to tell myself
several times that it's no different. The game's no different.
The game doesn't know. So I had to get up there.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I have to make.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Contacts, she has to throw across the plate, And just
because there's a few runners on base doesn't make the
situation more intense. It might externally, but internally and out
there on the field, it's the same thing.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
So yeah, I was successful a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I wish I could have done better most times, but
you know, it just got to go up there and
do my job.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, and you were going to be ready regardless. I mean,
if the intentional walk had been properly executed on there,
you were going in standing in there knowing what you
needed a good pitch to drive the ball and get
runs home.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I mean there were two outs, so I mean it
was gonna come down to it where I had to
get the ball through the infield, and so yeah, just
make square contact, hit it hard, and good things are
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I did point out that you drew thirty five walks
as your second only to Rees who had forty one,
So obviously you have a good eye at the plate.
And even though you're going up there, hit a walk
would have tied the score at somebody watch it or
as they did.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And three other times hit you with a pitch.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
By the way, those three times that you were hit
by a pitch this year, to any of those, like,
really give a good sting. Did they hit you in
the like, say whatever, a shin bone or a place
where it might hurt a little more than say some
other part.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yeah, okay. Funny thing is those were my only three
career hit by pitches.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
First time I was hit by pitch was this year.
It was middle of April. We played Texas State at
home and I kind of got hit right here in
the forearm, on my thirst arm.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And we played Tennessee that weekend and then Carlin Pickens,
you know, throws gas hits me in the same exact spot,
and so that was pretty tough and I'm still kind
of recovering from it.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I have like a little Nott.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
There, so but yeah, getting juiced at seventy five in
the same place, of course you're gonna have something. Yeah,
So I mean, yeah, but I never really experienced it.
But it's kind of like, Okay, we get a free
base runner and I got hit in intense moments, so
it's like, hey, if we need a base runner, just
take it.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And so yeah, a couple of times it just happened.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But I was, you know, kind of going through the
scenario too, where if I do walk, if I do
get hit by a pitch, then yeah, that's gonna score
run for our team.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
But I don't want to be super passive.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I mean, I quite am passive just because I had
thirty five walks, but I like to take my time
and I like getting deep accounts.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
It kind of just challenges me personally.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
So if I can get to a three two count,
I'd rather do that than just kind of maybe hit
the first pitch. And that's what I did last week too.
It was just jumping ahead and not seeing as many pitches.
But yeah, I get a lot of walks because I
just trust myself in a deep count.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Visiting with Jolie Mitchell here on thirteen under the zone
for a couple more minutes. All right, let me move
it forward to after Tech wins Game two, and you
guys had a really spirited effort in the final at
bat to pull the four three and had the time
run at third, and I thought I heard a couple
of plays. Maybe it was you, maybe it was Reached,
maybe it was Katie Simmus, somebody in the press conference
(12:56):
saying we had good momentum at the end of it.
So the conversation was what amongst the players about, let's
take this into the top of the first or the
bottom of the first of the final game.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Is that is that how all of that unfolded.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
For you because of how the final at bat for you,
even in a loss, produced some positivity.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Absolutely, we always talk about that too. I mean we
jumped into the SEC this year. We were saying, hey,
conference is going to be tough, and there's gonna be
days where you might lose the first game, second game,
or whatever, But how can you take momentum into the
next day. And so clearly we had the momentum. I mean, yeah,
Nija got the last strikeout, but Naja strikes everybody out,
So I mean that's nothing new. For her, and we
(13:42):
were gonna have to go out there and we knew
we were going to see her again.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
So our biggest thing was that we just had to
stick to our plan.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And I think it's great when we have people going
up there, they're finally chipping away.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
And it was in a big moment. It didn't go
our way in the second game, but.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
We walked into the meeting room afterwards as a team
and we said, we have the momentum going into so
let's not wait until the seventh inning to do it.
Let's do it the first inning. And so I think
that we all bought into that. I mean that was huge.
That was huge for us. I mean, jump out the
first inning and put up five. I mean the game
was pretty much going to be over at that point.
We still had to fight throughout the game. But in
(14:16):
a tough situation like that, in a tough series, Texas
always comes out in the third game.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So we were super confident in each other.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And even that morning we gathered together, we huddled up
and we were giving each other hugs, and we were saying,
we're gonna go win a national championship today.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Let's jump out in the first inning and let's just
put them away. Let's leave no.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Doubt when when you guys stepped to the plate there
in that first inning and you were getting you were
getting good hits obviously off Nije and lee Anne hits,
the three run homer and.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
All of these other things.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
How much of it was maybe you guys could sense
a little bit of fatigue from her even in the
first inning, and how much of it was.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And I think this was the vast majority of it.
But you correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
You'd seen enough pitches from her during the course of
the season and and were a lot more comfortable based
on what you'd seen on the first two games.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I mean we saw a little bit of a speed difference,
and some of her movement wasn't as movement as it
was the first day.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
But even then, I mean, I give a lot of
credit to her.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I mean, she pretty much has to pitch every single
inning of the postseason, and I can't imagine, like I
can barely play defense and hit the ball without being
sore every single day, so I can't imagine what she
goes through.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
So I give her a lot of credit for that.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
And you know, I mean She's a huge part of
that team, and so I think that she was given
her all anyway.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
But I just think that, you know, it gets to
a point.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Even most of the girls that were on the team
on our team last year, we saw her when she
played for Stanford and we saw them twice in the
World Series last year. We saw her once here and
then we saw her again at the beginning of this
year and it was even a tough game, but it's
the first time we had seen her in a while,
and that we didn't see her until now, So I
think it was just a culmination of we were watching
film from last year, we were watching film from the
(15:58):
first game we played them this year, and then while
film from the series itself, so we knew what we
were going to get, We knew what we were successful at,
and we knew what was working for her. So I
also think that we just trust ourselves when hitting the ball.
So if she throws it up there, we're gonna put
up a good fight regardless. But I do think that
you know, Nija, she gets she gets the credit that
she deserves. But you know, you see somebody over and
(16:19):
over again, you're getting to the ninth, tenth at bat
you're going to be successful.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Sure you are positioned when you were playing just a
few feet away from Tiguan Kevan, did you sense from
Tiguan even though she's a pretty affable person and look
it seemingly you know, comes across as as you know,
kind of laid back and to join all.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Did you sense a little more fire in her?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Not because of all the flowers that Nija was getting
and like you said, deservedly so, just that she felt
the competitor in her as she was going into the
circle every time throughout the course of the tournament, when
she didn't allow a single learn run in what thirty
one in there? So I mean, did you get that
kind of vibe from her as she was going back
(17:04):
into the circle, especially for the final game.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Absolutely, I mean Tiegan's just a competitor in general. She's
one of those quieter ones and sometimes you have to
get it out of her a little bit. But I
think going into the champ series, I think that people
were pressing as far as you know, like, oh it's
Niga versus Tiag and Kaban, but Nija this and so
I think that it might have lit a little.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Fire in her.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
But Teagan is focused on Teagan. So Tigan's gonna go
out there and do what she needs to do. And
I think she did that all of the postseason, where
she's saying, I need to make one pitch, so she's
focused on each pitch. She's not focused on what people
are saying about her. Outside of that, I think that
she understands that the best thing for her is her
and us, and I think that we all bought into
the infield talking.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
To her and Leanne and Mia.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
They're kind of quiet sometimes, but we all came in
and we were just encouraging her the best that we could,
and she's encouraging us back.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
So I think that she had.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
A little motivation, maybe a little bit from all the
NYGA talk, But then again, she's one of those people.
She recognizes that Nija is a fierce competitor as well,
but that doesn't change anything that she's going to do
about her game. So I think Teagan was just focused
on Teagan and doing what she could for our team.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
All right, now, before we let you go.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
When we visited with you last I was asking you
about the down the road planned for you to You
talked about how being in the professional in the medical
field was going to be ultimately the destination.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
If you were to have.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
The opportunity to play professional for a while or try
to balance all that out, would that be something consists
you would consider or are you just diving headlong into
the next realm of your life Professionally.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I think I'll be a part of the game, just
not as a player. I want to be a coach
and mentor just encourage girls to chase their dreams. I mean,
I'm a small town kid from Rosebud, Arkansas, and I.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Got to do all the things that I dreamed of.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I got to go to Notre Dame, I got to
come to UT and I got to win a national championship.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
So as far as the player, I would say no.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
But as a professional in the sport, I would love
to be somebody that others look up to and encourage
them to do what they can do. But yeah, as
far as the job part of it, yeah, I'm jumping
all into the nursing school and jumping into the medical field.
So I'm really excited about it, and I'm glad that
I'm going to have a good life balance of staying
in soup on also being a professional in the medical field.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Here's the other reason why I'm asking this, Jolie. If
we were to, like, you know, offer to stick you
in the broadcast booth with Andrew Haynes, you know, in
given opportunities next year or something like that, is that
something you'd be interested in?
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Absolutely? I think that, even like the last month or two,
just like media stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
I'm like, wait, I kind of like this, so yeah,
I mean, if I can do something and be a
part of it and talk about it, I'm gonna talk.
So I would love to. That'd be really awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Hey, the media loves talkers. That's just it's just the
way we roll that. Hey, I appreciate the time that
we've had to visit with you. We congratulate you again
on everything that's happened, including the national championship, and we
look forward to visiting with you again down the road
and and wish all the best in the next chapter.
But I appreciate the time, Joey, thanks so much.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
All right, look that is Jolie Mitchell, Longhorns grad student,
first baseman and national champion.
Here on a Tuesday afternoon on the program.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm glad to have you with us here and with
you up till five o'clock this afternoon as always, so
happy to have you with us this afternoon. Okay, As
I mentioned, we will be visiting with Texas softball head
coach Mike White coming up on Thursday on the program,
as he was en route.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Today in the air today.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
And the great thing about this gave us an opportunity
to have one more visit with one of our favorites
over the past couple of weeks, and that is to
visit with long Horn's grad student first baseman. Let the
record show that this season Jolie Mitchell batted three seventy five,
(00:46):
was seventeen home run sixty three runs, batted in, drew
thirty five walks, got hit by a pitch three times,
and had a.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Fielding percentage ninety two.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Is she joins it and also stole four bases in
five attempts, and she joins is now as a national
champion A little bit different than when we visit with
her a week ago. A little over a week ago, Jolie,
I appreciate the time. Is it kind of just trite?
For me to say that everybody's still soaking it all
in and enjoying this and letting and letting all of
(01:18):
this settle, because one thing I heard all of the
players say is that it hadn't sunk in yet. It
hadn't sunk in yet, and of course it wouldn't right
in the immediacy of the moment other than the jubilation.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Now, has it all sunk in for you?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I would say yes, I mean, this is something that
we work for. And so when you finally get to
bring it back to Austin and had a great showing
of all of our fans here after we got back,
that was pretty awesome. So now and I'm just kind
of hanging out driving in the car, I'm thinking, oh
my goodness, like we're a national champion. So I would say,
yes that it's kind of settled in a little bit.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Okay, well that's good now. Everything I know folks described
the way the National Championship Series ultimately evolved was kind
of bordering on the unreal and ill.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
And I'll get back to that in a moment. I
want to go back to.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
You know a lot of folks that the eyebrows were
raised when when after you guys got the win over Tennessee,
and then after Texas Tech had beat Oklahoma, and there
was like when somebody asked you, would you rather played
Oklahoma or Texas Tech? And and I salute you because
you know a lot of folks are going to go
ahead and take the diplomatic path and it doesn't matter.
We're just glad to be in the championship. And you said, no,
(02:33):
I'd rather been against Oklahoma to be the man. You
got to beat the man, the old Hult Cogan thing.
I guess that's a Rick Flair line. Did did your
teammates kind of share that feeling or was it just, hey, look,
we're in the final.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
We're ready to go, no matter who it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I think that everybody was just waiting to see who
it was going to be. I mean, I just said
I wanted it to be OU because I think that
that's a cool way to go out, and especially you know,
we just beat them, and I think that we had
a little bit of momentum.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Then again, I think the same thing happened last.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Year when Florida forced them to the double elimination game
and the IF Games.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Last year, I even said no, I still want to
play OU.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
And so I kind of take the route of like
I want to make it really difficult on myself. But again,
I trust my team and I trust that regardless, we
would have done great against either team. But yeah, just
got to a point where we had to focus on
what was in front of us. But I don't think
that it should go un noticed that, you know, it
doesn't matter who it is, we were going to give
up a fight. And yeah, but again had to recognize
that we had a challenge right in front of us
(03:33):
with Tech and Nigerie Kennedy.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, Okay, So you just made me laugh when you
talked about picking the more difficult route, because when we
had the last time visit, we talked about your path
and everything you went through in the physical challenges and
everything else. So so just playing Oklahoma compared to everything
else you've been through, probably you felt you were you
and your teammates were going to be able to handle
that based on everything you personally had been through.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Right, absolutely, I mean we've faced them plenty of times
and they're a great team and a great program and
always will be. But again it's like, hey, we had
some momentum going into this after we beat them last week,
so you know, I was ready for it, but just
didn't work out that way.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
And that's okay, all right.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I got to ask you this question because and rooted
in history like I like to do sometimes, you kind
of had a unique place in history the other night.
Whether anybody brought this up to you or not. At first,
I want to make sure I'm right about this. When
Reese Hadwood's at the plate and on the three to
(04:35):
zero pitch he gets the base hit, You're in the
on deck circle, correct, You're the on deck batter, Okay,
all right. I just want to make sure I didn't
go off the tracks on that, because this is what
goes through my mind and stuff like this, someone who
follows the history of the game and the history of
all professional sports and things like that. And I don't
know if anybody said this to you, but in nineteen
fifty one, there's this famous baseball playoff game between the
(04:59):
Giants and Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Both were in New York at the time.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
The Giants were playing the upper part of Manhattan and
the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, and they played at the
Polo Grounds, and the Dodgers are on the verge of
winning this final game of a best of three series
to decide the National League pennant, and Bobby Thompson hits
this game winning walk off home run in the days
before the term walk off was even invented. He hits
(05:22):
this walk off home run, the Giants win. There's this
famous announcement of Russ Hodges crying out over and over again.
The Giants win, the pennant, the Giants win, the Pennate
does it all over the point of all this is
that he hits this walk off home run. Waiting in
the on deck circle was Willie Mays, who was a
rookie that year and of course went on and had
this unbelievably incredible career. So here you were in the
(05:43):
on deck circle. And the reason I bring this up,
or you're the on deck batter, is Reese is at
the plate. When did it occur to you that what
was going to happen and might unfold, that she was
looking for a pitch to hit, and beyond that, what
was going through your mind, if you know, when it
looked like they were good, that Kennedy was going to
(06:05):
intentionally walk her and that you would then walk to
the to the plate with the bases loaded into outs.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I think several times this year it's kind of been
the scenario to where even before I walk out of
the dugout, I'm like, oh, this is going to be
an intentional walk situation.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
I'm going to have to be the person to do it.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
So honestly, before I even stepped down on the field,
I knew that they were going to at least attempt
to intentionally walk her, which is fine. I mean, that's
no big deal, and I still have to go out
there and do what I'm supposed to do. But I
think it was pitched too, I believe for the second ball,
and it was actually we said it was fat, that's
what we were calling it. It was fat, and coach
(06:42):
saying is in the cage over here in the dugout,
and he.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Told Reese swing it.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
So I think Reese was just kind of like I
could even see a change in her body language where
she's like, Okay, I'm going to take this next one,
and then after that, I'm just gonna hammer it if
it's there.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
And she did.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
I honestly was fully not paying attention because it was
faced to be the fourth ball and I'm walking and
I looked down a little bit and then I hear
the crack of the bat and I'm like what And
I look up and the balls going past the shortstop
and so it was like, oh my god, we're gonna
score two runs.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
And so that's what we needed.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
So I went to the plate and was just gonna
tell me if she needed to slide or not.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
But yeah, I think just.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
The whole scenario, I was fully prepared to go up there,
and I mean I was gonna be the one to
hit the ball, so I was fully prepared to go
up there and do it. And I was pretty hot then, so,
like you know, I was, I was trusting myself. But
when we said that, I think it was just a
huge confidence boost for everybody. And even after the fact,
the whole night it was just totally insane. Twitter was
blowing up, so we were laughing about that on the
bus and TikTok was going off.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
So it was just a really cool moment.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
To see us take a big risk like that and
see it work out for us, and that's what led
us to the championship.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
At the end of the week.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Okay, all right, so I want to make sure I
got this right, because I haven't heard anybody else tell
it to this point that that coach Singh was saying,
go ahead and do it again. And the plan was
to swing on three and oho, not two and oh.
When that second pitch was fat, was to let her
(08:10):
go ahead and try to get another one over there.
And I think all the replay showed that the third
pitch for ball three might have been a little further
out any way than that fourth pitch, So it was
perfect timing. Everything worked out obviously perfect, but for the
purposes of accuracy, So that that was the plan.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
What you heard coach sing.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Talking about was get ready to hit, and then in
everybody's mind it was going to be on the fourth pitch.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I think it just kind of worked out that way.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I mean, I don't he was just telling her to swing,
and so when he said that, I was like, oh,
you know, I didn't know if Reese was going to
do it or not. And so yeah, the third the
three oh pitch was a little bit or the going
to be three zero pitch was a little bit further out,
but what was supposed to be ball four was actually
right there. And so I think Reese was just like
Seaball hit ball, and I mean it just happened to
(08:55):
work out, and I think it just kind of caught
the defense off guard just in general. You kin watch
the replay back and they're not really like in their
position ready to go, and sour stop was kind of cheating.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
So it's just I think it just happened. It just
was so perfect.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
But he was telling her like, Hey, if it's close,
you need to go ahead and swing, and then we
trust Reese and I don't restrust herself. So for her
that to be her first hit of the week, I
think it was probably the most legendary one of the weeks.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Yeah, no question about that.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Now you'll have to refresh my memory on this in
some other situations, on other occasions when that situation was
coming up, whether the bases would have been loaded or not,
when they were when someone was in the process of
intentionally walking Reece, Uh, did you have some good at
bats in some of those situations that you had come
(09:41):
up and make them pay for that decision that they made.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
A few I could have done better, but a few.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I think the big thing is when something like that's
gonna happen, I have to take it as they don't
trust that I can do the job right. I am
not able to you know, score a couple of runs
here to tie the game up or you know, jump ahead.
But I think it's just a matter of if I
believe in myself. I mean I have to tell myself
several times that it's no different. The game's no different.
The game doesn't know. So I had to get up there.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
I have to make.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Contacts, she has to throw across the plate, And just
because there's a few runners on base doesn't make the
situation more intense. It might externally, but internally and out
there on the field, it's the same thing.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
So yeah, I was successful a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
I wish I could have done better most times, but
you know, it just got to go up there and
do my job.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, and you were going to be ready regardless. I mean,
if the intentional walk had been properly executed on there,
you were going in standing in there knowing what you
needed a good pitch to drive the ball and get
runs home.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
Absolutely, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I mean there were two outs, so I mean it
was gonna come down to it where I had to
get the ball through the infield, and so yeah, just
make square contact, hit it hard, and good things are
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
I did point out that you drew thirty five walks
as your second only to Rees who had forty one,
So obviously you have a good eye at the plate.
And even though you're going up there, hit a walk
would have tied the score at somebody watch it or
as they did.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
And three other times hit you with a pitch.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
By the way, those three times that you were hit
by a pitch this year, to any of those, like,
really give a good sting. Did they hit you in
the like, say whatever, a shin bone or a place
where it might hurt a little more than say some
other part.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
Yeah, okay. Funny thing is those were my only three
career hit by pitches.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
First time I was hit by pitch was this year.
It was middle of April. We played Texas State at
home and I kind of got hit right here in
the forearm, on my thirst arm.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
And we played Tennessee that weekend and then Carlin Pickens,
you know, throws gas hits me in the same exact spot,
and so that was pretty tough and I'm still kind
of recovering from it.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
I have like a little Nott.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
There, so but yeah, getting juiced at seventy five in
the same place, of course you're gonna have something. Yeah,
So I mean, yeah, but I never really experienced it.
But it's kind of like, Okay, we get a free
base runner and I got hit in intense moments, so
it's like, hey, if we need a base runner, just
take it.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And so yeah, a couple of times it just happened.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
But I was, you know, kind of going through the
scenario too, where if I do walk, if I do
get hit by a pitch, then yeah, that's gonna score
run for our team.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
But I don't want to be super passive.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I mean, I quite am passive just because I had
thirty five walks, but I like to take my time
and I like getting deep accounts.
Speaker 4 (12:18):
It kind of just challenges me personally.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
So if I can get to a three two count,
I'd rather do that than just kind of maybe hit
the first pitch. And that's what I did last week too.
It was just jumping ahead and not seeing as many pitches.
But yeah, I get a lot of walks because I
just trust myself in a deep count.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Visiting with Jolie Mitchell here on thirteen under the zone
for a couple more minutes. All right, let me move
it forward to after Tech wins Game two, and you
guys had a really spirited effort in the final at
bat to pull the four three and had the time
run at third, and I thought I heard a couple
of plays. Maybe it was you, maybe it was Reached,
maybe it was Katie Simmus, somebody in the press conference
(12:56):
saying we had good momentum at the end of it.
So the conversation was what amongst the players about, let's
take this into the top of the first or the
bottom of the first of the final game.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Is that is that how all of that unfolded.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
For you because of how the final at bat for you,
even in a loss, produced some positivity.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Absolutely, we always talk about that too. I mean we
jumped into the SEC this year. We were saying, hey,
conference is going to be tough, and there's gonna be
days where you might lose the first game, second game,
or whatever, But how can you take momentum into the
next day. And so clearly we had the momentum. I mean, yeah,
Nija got the last strikeout, but Naja strikes everybody out,
So I mean that's nothing new. For her, and we
(13:42):
were gonna have to go out there and we knew
we were going to see her again.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
So our biggest thing was that we just had to
stick to our plan.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
And I think it's great when we have people going
up there, they're finally chipping away.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
And it was in a big moment. It didn't go
our way in the second game, but.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
We walked into the meeting room afterwards as a team
and we said, we have the momentum going into so
let's not wait until the seventh inning to do it.
Let's do it the first inning. And so I think
that we all bought into that. I mean that was huge.
That was huge for us. I mean, jump out the
first inning and put up five. I mean the game
was pretty much going to be over at that point.
We still had to fight throughout the game. But in
(14:16):
a tough situation like that, in a tough series, Texas
always comes out in the third game.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So we were super confident in each other.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
And even that morning we gathered together, we huddled up
and we were giving each other hugs, and we were saying,
we're gonna go win a national championship today.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
Let's jump out in the first inning and let's just
put them away. Let's leave no.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Doubt when when you guys stepped to the plate there
in that first inning and you were getting you were
getting good hits obviously off Nije and lee Anne hits,
the three run homer and.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
All of these other things.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
How much of it was maybe you guys could sense
a little bit of fatigue from her even in the
first inning, and how much of it was.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
And I think this was the vast majority of it.
But you correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
You'd seen enough pitches from her during the course of
the season and and were a lot more comfortable based
on what you'd seen on the first two games.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
I mean we saw a little bit of a speed difference,
and some of her movement wasn't as movement as it
was the first day.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
But even then, I mean, I give a lot of
credit to her.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
I mean, she pretty much has to pitch every single
inning of the postseason, and I can't imagine, like I
can barely play defense and hit the ball without being
sore every single day, so I can't imagine what she
goes through.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
So I give her a lot of credit for that.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
And you know, I mean She's a huge part of
that team, and so I think that she was given
her all anyway.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
But I just think that, you know, it gets to
a point.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
Even most of the girls that were on the team
on our team last year, we saw her when she
played for Stanford and we saw them twice in the
World Series last year. We saw her once here and
then we saw her again at the beginning of this
year and it was even a tough game, but it's
the first time we had seen her in a while,
and that we didn't see her until now, So I
think it was just a culmination of we were watching
film from last year, we were watching film from the
(15:58):
first game we played them this year, and then while
film from the series itself, so we knew what we
were going to get, We knew what we were successful at,
and we knew what was working for her. So I
also think that we just trust ourselves when hitting the ball.
So if she throws it up there, we're gonna put
up a good fight regardless. But I do think that
you know, Nija, she gets she gets the credit that
she deserves. But you know, you see somebody over and
(16:19):
over again, you're getting to the ninth, tenth at bat
you're going to be successful.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Sure you are positioned when you were playing just a
few feet away from Tiguan Kevan, did you sense from
Tiguan even though she's a pretty affable person and look
it seemingly you know, comes across as as you know,
kind of laid back and to join all.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Did you sense a little more fire in her?
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Not because of all the flowers that Nija was getting
and like you said, deservedly so, just that she felt
the competitor in her as she was going into the
circle every time throughout the course of the tournament, when
she didn't allow a single learn run in what thirty
one in there? So I mean, did you get that
kind of vibe from her as she was going back
(17:04):
into the circle, especially for the final game.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Absolutely, I mean Tiegan's just a competitor in general. She's
one of those quieter ones and sometimes you have to
get it out of her a little bit. But I
think going into the champ series, I think that people
were pressing as far as you know, like, oh it's
Niga versus Tiag and Kaban, but Nija this and so
I think that it might have lit a little.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Fire in her.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
But Teagan is focused on Teagan. So Tigan's gonna go
out there and do what she needs to do. And
I think she did that all of the postseason, where
she's saying, I need to make one pitch, so she's
focused on each pitch. She's not focused on what people
are saying about her. Outside of that, I think that
she understands that the best thing for her is her
and us, and I think that we all bought into
the infield talking.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
To her and Leanne and Mia.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
They're kind of quiet sometimes, but we all came in
and we were just encouraging her the best that we could,
and she's encouraging us back.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
So I think that she had.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
A little motivation, maybe a little bit from all the
NYGA talk, But then again, she's one of those people.
She recognizes that Nija is a fierce competitor as well,
but that doesn't change anything that she's going to do
about her game. So I think Teagan was just focused
on Teagan and doing what she could for our team.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
All right, now, before we let you go.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
When we visited with you last I was asking you
about the down the road planned for you to You
talked about how being in the professional in the medical
field was going to be ultimately the destination.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
If you were to have.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
The opportunity to play professional for a while or try
to balance all that out, would that be something consists
you would consider or are you just diving headlong into
the next realm of your life Professionally.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
I think I'll be a part of the game, just
not as a player. I want to be a coach
and mentor just encourage girls to chase their dreams. I mean,
I'm a small town kid from Rosebud, Arkansas, and I.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Got to do all the things that I dreamed of.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
I got to go to Notre Dame, I got to
come to UT and I got to win a national championship.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
So as far as the player, I would say no.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
But as a professional in the sport, I would love
to be somebody that others look up to and encourage
them to do what they can do. But yeah, as
far as the job part of it, yeah, I'm jumping
all into the nursing school and jumping into the medical field.
So I'm really excited about it, and I'm glad that
I'm going to have a good life balance of staying
in soup on also being a professional in the medical field.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Here's the other reason why I'm asking this, Jolie. If
we were to, like, you know, offer to stick you
in the broadcast booth with Andrew Haynes, you know, in
given opportunities next year or something like that, is that
something you'd be interested in?
Speaker 4 (19:31):
Absolutely? I think that, even like the last month or two,
just like media stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
I'm like, wait, I kind of like this, so yeah,
I mean, if I can do something and be a
part of it and talk about it, I'm gonna talk.
So I would love to. That'd be really awesome.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
Hey, the media loves talkers. That's just it's just the
way we roll that. Hey, I appreciate the time that
we've had to visit with you. We congratulate you again
on everything that's happened, including the national championship, and we
look forward to visiting with you again down the road
and and wish all the best in the next chapter.
But I appreciate the time, Joey, thanks so much.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
All right, look that is Jolie Mitchell, Longhorns grad student,
first baseman and national champion.
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