Welcome to "The Morning Kickoff Show" with Mike "Hardball" Hardge & "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry. Today, the guys talked with Texas Softball Head Coach Mike White. The coach explains his playing history and how the team has matched his expectations coming into the season. What to expect tonight against Eastern Illinois. What makes bracket possible opponents Michigan and Central Florida so challenging? The status of Pitcher Tegan Kavan and what makes her and teammates Reese Attwood, Mia Scott, and Keyden Henry special. What was his message to the team going into the College World Series Tournament? You can hear it all here on "The Morning Kickoff Show!"
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But this is a very special moment for us here
on the morning kickoff. Not only will you be able
to hear the Texas Longhorn women's softball team take on
Eastern Illinois tomorrow, but you'll get it to hear it
right here on Am thirteen hundred the Zone. And I
am pleased to have coach Mike White of the Texas
(00:22):
softball team joining us for the first time on the
morning kickoff.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning, coach, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning, great, thank you, just getting some scanging in,
getting ready for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I'm excited about this weekend because I've been talking to
Mark about fast pitch softball, a lot of it. We've
been trying to understand, well learn him on what is
going on with this softball, the pitching. And you yourself
was one heck of a pitcher as well.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I spent a number of years playing the men's Open
League and play for two countries, play for New Zealand
and also played for the United States there in ninety six.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So let me ask you this because you know it
is a unique situation for the Texas softball team. Here
you are finishing up the season forty six and ten,
sixteen and eight in conference and the time in the
SEC was something that everybody was anticipating. But were you
expecting it to go to this well for you guys
(01:21):
in the first season.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
We felt like we had a really good team in
a program and hit the depths, and especially in the
pitching and the hitting, we've done really well in those areas.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I think we lived the SEC.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And hitting batting average that was good, and I think
we were signal food and pitching. We just unfortunately lost
a couple of games here and there and got swift
at Oklahoma that cost us the championship.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And for the last couple of seasons it's always been
Texas and Oklahoma battling it out, whether it was in
the Big Twelve, whether it was for the national championship,
or even the time in the SEC. But this weekend,
you guys get the host for the third consecutive time
hosting the regional. Starting tomorrow at three point thirty, you
(02:05):
will be taking on Eastern Illinois. What is the scouting
report on Eastern Illinois?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, I think their strength of their team is their pitching.
They have a couple of kids when one of the
pitchers hits the upper sixties.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
You have sixty eight, and.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Then the other kid has a lot of rise balls
in the mid sixties. So they've you know, for a
number four seed, they got some really good pitching. And
then of course they have a lot of short gamers,
which we mean by slapping and bunting, and they put
a lot of pressure on defenses.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And coach I was thinking about this too because watching
the game, in the evolution of the game, so to speak,
there's a lot of power that has been involved in
this game, a lot of big power from a lot
of different types of hitters. And you talk about the
slap hitters, but some of them can take it out
of the yard. But one of my favorite players on
(02:53):
your team is two of them, Mia Scott and Reese Atwood.
Atwood has done so well behind the play through her
time here, and then you had Mia who's done pretty
much everything at this university.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Me is going to be in our record books and
a lot of areas, I think definitely for runs scored
and then also in the batting average, doubles, triples. You know,
she's going to have those numbers behind her being the
top five for sure, and she's been one of those
generational type players that you'd like to have on your program.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
We're going to be sorry to miss her.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
At least with Reesetwood, we have one more year of
her and she can really vomit as being really steady
for us and and a good leader on that program.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Could you talk about you know, your players having their
time end and have she's got one more year? Like,
is there people in the pipeline that you have in
mind that we could look forward to see end? Is
there somebody that stands out and that you know will
will advance the program?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think you know it's people like Alyssa Snead, Mattias
coming in.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You know, Hannah Wells, a.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Jewel pitcher hitter, which we haven't hit one of those
yet through the program. She's gonna be exciting to watch.
And she's a kid that's been hitting up the sixties.
I heard velosty and pitching. So we're going to welcome.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Here into the program. J C.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Snead another kid that's kind of kind of followed in
the Mia Scott kind of lineage. You got speed, pala
left hand hitter, can play some really good defense in
the infields, you know, so those type of players are
coming in and we're excited about the depth of the
kids coming in to the program.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We're talking to the head coach of Texas Softball Mike
White as his team prepares to host the regional this weekend,
and coach, looking at this regional bracket and who's all here.
Michigan is a thirty eight and nineteen teen. They will
be taking on UCF thirty three, twenty two and one,
and of course Eastern Illinois your first opponent in this
(04:55):
matchup of thirty four and twenty What is it about
Michigan and UCF that makes them so tough?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Well, you see, if we know quite well, they've they've
got a freshman pitcher who throws a lot of change
up and is really good.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's been very effective for them, has a low one.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Point something, uh, you know, so they're tough in that area,
and then have some good hitting throughout the lineup. Coach
by Cindy Bull, who's an excellent coach, and of course
having played them previously last year for the you know,
they were really pretty tough. And then Michigan, I think
it's probably the toughest number three seed in the country.
UH they've recently won the Big twelve, a big sorry
(05:33):
Big ten championship. You know, we're ranked eighth and ended
up beating a lot of the best teams in that
uh in that conference to win the championship. And they
have really good pitching and some really good hitting, number
of kids that hit home runs. So it's gonna be
a tough matchup for us, but we're excited about the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well, I'm also excited about the opportunity to see some
of your players get back into the swing of things. Obviously,
the season didn't end the way that you wanted to,
falling to UH Texas A and M in that matchup,
But once you got back home and regroup, saw what
the bracket play was going to be. Like, what was
(06:11):
some of the messaging from your team to each other
and of course from you to the team.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, I just you know, leave it all out in
the fields, you know, just do it for the seniors.
We have six graduating seniors this year, and you know,
we don't want to finish at home. We want to
finish hopefully in Oklahoma City. And that's the challenge for
us right now is to bring our best softball. It
is a new season. Basically, this flipped the page. Let's go,
and we were ranked number one for a large part
(06:37):
of the season.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So the talent's there. We just got to put it
together in our mind and come out and play attacking
softble and.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
You know, eliminate some of the mistakes we'd been making
lately and get some better pitching.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
To be quite frank, you know, pitching's kind of.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Been a little suspect the last few weeks, and you know,
there's definitely the ability with Teaking Kavan, who's one of
the best pitches in the country, and so we're going
to need some big outings from here the.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Coach.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I want to volunteer my my co host as a
spokesman as a to get people fired up. I'm sure
that you know, he could come over there and get
get everybody fired up and make sure y'all get the
Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Hey man, we did plays in Logie Grido tape the
other day, so.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
You know, just me fired up every day, like come on,
lock in, let's go. We got to do this. And
I was like, hey man, you know we on radio, right,
We're not going to go to.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
War with anybody that's right, that's right. So coach, you
brought it up. I wanted to bring up Teak and
Kavan as well. You know, she has logged a lot
of innings for you, as you mentioned, the last couple
of weeks, it hadn't been as sharp. Do you think
fatigue had a little bit to do with that or
(07:56):
was it just she just got to that point where
she just needed to rest a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You know, a pretty bit of both.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
You know, we were real cognizant of overusing it, but
you know, her innings pitch numbers, we're run in line
with everybody else in the conferences, number one type pitcher,
and so we felt like it wasn't so much over work,
but just one of those things where you get a
little down on yourself and you can kind of not
pitch quite a shop, you know, and then she was
(08:23):
letting one mistake cass Kaiden to others, and so just
not just having that inner excellence to be able to
bounce back and carry us through some tough pitches, you know,
basically being but not break.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And you know, we're excited to see her back at
here this weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, I know that a lot of folks that I've
talked to about this Texas softball team have said the
same thing. The one thing that is very consistent is
the resiliency of this team and the will to go
out there and fight. And before we let you go,
I wanted to ask you about Cad and Henry. Every
time I've watched her play, it seems like year in
(09:02):
year out, she keeps getting better and better and better
and understanding her potential as a ballplayer.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, she's an electric type player. I mean, there's always
something going to be happening for a kid that you know,
she's she's not big in stature, but man, she's got
some pop in her bat, and she can lay the
month down and steal bases. She leads that team to
solemn bases. Plays a really good center field but good actually.
So she's got everything that's needed to be an elite
player at this level and she keeps bringing it. Like
(09:31):
you said, she keeps getting better and keeps learning the game.
And she's a free spirit too. She's one of those
kids that kind of pushes the buttons a little bit.
But you know, those are kind of the fun to have.
They keep you keep you on your toes.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
You need those you need those definitely needs. Mark's excited
about it because her last name is Henry, so he.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Coach, we want to wish you nothing but the best.
You and your team get back to Oklahoma's city and
defend this land and make sure that everything goes well.
So best of luck tomorrow. This game will be heard
right here on AM thirteen hundred the zone starting at
three point thirty, and best of luck all weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Coach.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Now, I appreciate it. Let's get that McCombs field rocking
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And appreciate your friend cool and getting the told two listens,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
There is Mike white Hand, coach of the Texas softball
team and as he mentioned, former number one team in
the land, and now they're on their quest to get
back to Oklahoma City.
But this is a very special moment for us here
on the morning kickoff. Not only will you be able
to hear the Texas Longhorn women's softball team take on
Eastern Illinois tomorrow, but you'll get it to hear it
right here on Am thirteen hundred the Zone. And I
am pleased to have coach Mike White of the Texas
(00:22):
softball team joining us for the first time on the
morning kickoff.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Good morning, coach, how are you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning, great, thank you, just getting some scanging in,
getting ready for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
I'm excited about this weekend because I've been talking to
Mark about fast pitch softball, a lot of it. We've
been trying to understand, well learn him on what is
going on with this softball, the pitching. And you yourself
was one heck of a pitcher as well.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I spent a number of years playing the men's Open
League and play for two countries, play for New Zealand
and also played for the United States there in ninety six.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
So let me ask you this because you know it
is a unique situation for the Texas softball team. Here
you are finishing up the season forty six and ten,
sixteen and eight in conference and the time in the
SEC was something that everybody was anticipating. But were you
expecting it to go to this well for you guys
(01:21):
in the first season.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
We felt like we had a really good team in
a program and hit the depths, and especially in the
pitching and the hitting, we've done really well in those areas.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I think we lived the SEC.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
And hitting batting average that was good, and I think
we were signal food and pitching. We just unfortunately lost
a couple of games here and there and got swift
at Oklahoma that cost us the championship.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
No doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
And for the last couple of seasons it's always been
Texas and Oklahoma battling it out, whether it was in
the Big Twelve, whether it was for the national championship,
or even the time in the SEC. But this weekend,
you guys get the host for the third consecutive time
hosting the regional. Starting tomorrow at three point thirty, you
(02:05):
will be taking on Eastern Illinois. What is the scouting
report on Eastern Illinois?
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, I think their strength of their team is their pitching.
They have a couple of kids when one of the
pitchers hits the upper sixties.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
You have sixty eight, and.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Then the other kid has a lot of rise balls
in the mid sixties. So they've you know, for a
number four seed, they got some really good pitching. And
then of course they have a lot of short gamers,
which we mean by slapping and bunting, and they put
a lot of pressure on defenses.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
And coach I was thinking about this too because watching
the game, in the evolution of the game, so to speak,
there's a lot of power that has been involved in
this game, a lot of big power from a lot
of different types of hitters. And you talk about the
slap hitters, but some of them can take it out
of the yard. But one of my favorite players on
(02:53):
your team is two of them, Mia Scott and Reese Atwood.
Atwood has done so well behind the play through her
time here, and then you had Mia who's done pretty
much everything at this university.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Me is going to be in our record books and
a lot of areas, I think definitely for runs scored
and then also in the batting average, doubles, triples. You know,
she's going to have those numbers behind her being the
top five for sure, and she's been one of those
generational type players that you'd like to have on your program.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
We're going to be sorry to miss her.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
At least with Reesetwood, we have one more year of
her and she can really vomit as being really steady
for us and and a good leader on that program.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Could you talk about you know, your players having their
time end and have she's got one more year? Like,
is there people in the pipeline that you have in
mind that we could look forward to see end? Is
there somebody that stands out and that you know will
will advance the program?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think you know it's people like Alyssa Snead, Mattias
coming in.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
You know, Hannah Wells, a.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Jewel pitcher hitter, which we haven't hit one of those
yet through the program. She's gonna be exciting to watch.
And she's a kid that's been hitting up the sixties.
I heard velosty and pitching. So we're going to welcome.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Here into the program. J C.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Snead another kid that's kind of kind of followed in
the Mia Scott kind of lineage. You got speed, pala
left hand hitter, can play some really good defense in
the infields, you know, so those type of players are
coming in and we're excited about the depth of the
kids coming in to the program.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We're talking to the head coach of Texas Softball Mike
White as his team prepares to host the regional this weekend,
and coach, looking at this regional bracket and who's all here.
Michigan is a thirty eight and nineteen teen. They will
be taking on UCF thirty three, twenty two and one,
and of course Eastern Illinois your first opponent in this
(04:55):
matchup of thirty four and twenty What is it about
Michigan and UCF that makes them so tough?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Well, you see, if we know quite well, they've they've
got a freshman pitcher who throws a lot of change
up and is really good.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
It's been very effective for them, has a low one.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Point something, uh, you know, so they're tough in that area,
and then have some good hitting throughout the lineup. Coach
by Cindy Bull, who's an excellent coach, and of course
having played them previously last year for the you know,
they were really pretty tough. And then Michigan, I think
it's probably the toughest number three seed in the country.
UH they've recently won the Big twelve, a big sorry
(05:33):
Big ten championship. You know, we're ranked eighth and ended
up beating a lot of the best teams in that
uh in that conference to win the championship. And they
have really good pitching and some really good hitting, number
of kids that hit home runs. So it's gonna be
a tough matchup for us, but we're excited about the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well, I'm also excited about the opportunity to see some
of your players get back into the swing of things. Obviously,
the season didn't end the way that you wanted to,
falling to UH Texas A and M in that matchup,
But once you got back home and regroup, saw what
the bracket play was going to be. Like, what was
(06:11):
some of the messaging from your team to each other
and of course from you to the team.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, I just you know, leave it all out in
the fields, you know, just do it for the seniors.
We have six graduating seniors this year, and you know,
we don't want to finish at home. We want to
finish hopefully in Oklahoma City. And that's the challenge for
us right now is to bring our best softball. It
is a new season. Basically, this flipped the page. Let's go,
and we were ranked number one for a large part
(06:37):
of the season.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So the talent's there. We just got to put it
together in our mind and come out and play attacking
softble and.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
You know, eliminate some of the mistakes we'd been making
lately and get some better pitching.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
To be quite frank, you know, pitching's kind of.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Been a little suspect the last few weeks, and you know,
there's definitely the ability with Teaking Kavan, who's one of
the best pitches in the country, and so we're going
to need some big outings from here the.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Coach.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
I want to volunteer my my co host as a
spokesman as a to get people fired up. I'm sure
that you know, he could come over there and get
get everybody fired up and make sure y'all get the
Oklahoma City.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Hey man, we did plays in Logie Grido tape the
other day, so.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
You know, just me fired up every day, like come on,
lock in, let's go. We got to do this. And
I was like, hey man, you know we on radio, right,
We're not going to go to.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
War with anybody that's right, that's right. So coach, you
brought it up. I wanted to bring up Teak and
Kavan as well. You know, she has logged a lot
of innings for you, as you mentioned, the last couple
of weeks, it hadn't been as sharp. Do you think
fatigue had a little bit to do with that or
(07:56):
was it just she just got to that point where
she just needed to rest a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
You know, a pretty bit of both.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
You know, we were real cognizant of overusing it, but
you know, her innings pitch numbers, we're run in line
with everybody else in the conferences, number one type pitcher,
and so we felt like it wasn't so much over work,
but just one of those things where you get a
little down on yourself and you can kind of not
pitch quite a shop, you know, and then she was
(08:23):
letting one mistake cass Kaiden to others, and so just
not just having that inner excellence to be able to
bounce back and carry us through some tough pitches, you know,
basically being but not break.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And you know, we're excited to see her back at
here this weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, I know that a lot of folks that I've
talked to about this Texas softball team have said the
same thing. The one thing that is very consistent is
the resiliency of this team and the will to go
out there and fight. And before we let you go,
I wanted to ask you about Cad and Henry. Every
time I've watched her play, it seems like year in
(09:02):
year out, she keeps getting better and better and better
and understanding her potential as a ballplayer.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Yeah, she's an electric type player. I mean, there's always
something going to be happening for a kid that you know,
she's she's not big in stature, but man, she's got
some pop in her bat, and she can lay the
month down and steal bases. She leads that team to
solemn bases. Plays a really good center field but good actually.
So she's got everything that's needed to be an elite
player at this level and she keeps bringing it. Like
(09:31):
you said, she keeps getting better and keeps learning the game.
And she's a free spirit too. She's one of those
kids that kind of pushes the buttons a little bit.
But you know, those are kind of the fun to have.
They keep you keep you on your toes.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
You need those you need those definitely needs. Mark's excited
about it because her last name is Henry, so he.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Coach, we want to wish you nothing but the best.
You and your team get back to Oklahoma's city and
defend this land and make sure that everything goes well.
So best of luck tomorrow. This game will be heard
right here on AM thirteen hundred the zone starting at
three point thirty, and best of luck all weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Coach.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Now, I appreciate it. Let's get that McCombs field rocking
this weekend.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
And appreciate your friend cool and getting the told two listens,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
There is Mike white Hand, coach of the Texas softball
team and as he mentioned, former number one team in
the land, and now they're on their quest to get
back to Oklahoma City.
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