The First 2025 Bulldogs Softball Hour With Matt Norville & Head Coach Stacy May-Johnson

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
On the Bulldog Sports Network from Learfield.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
This is the Bulldog Softball Hour, brought to you by
bud Late, Easy to Drink, Easy to Enjoy, Temple Mountain
Casino Resort, Lucky Days and Epic Nights, and by Pepsi,
official soft drink of Fresno State Athletics. Live from the
crowin Wolf tap Room in Clovis. Here's the voice of

(00:25):
Fresno State Softball, Matt Norvils.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
And good evening and welcome to Crowling Wolf five twenty six.
Bruce Avenue, thanks for listening on AM thirteen forty Fox
Sports Radio, the Bulldog App or the Iheartapp, and we
welcome you. It is the first Bulldog Softball Hour of
the season. I'm Matt Normal talking with head coach Stacy
May Johnson, who is now in her fourth season as
the softball head coach. It just seems like just yesterday, coach,

(00:51):
we were talking about, Hey, coming into your first year.
Now it's year number four. How do you feel?

Speaker 4 (00:56):
Yeah, time flies, It's been fun. You know, it's been
it's been a fun four years.

Speaker 5 (01:00):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
We obviously removed the needle and I mean, yeah, that's
what we're here for. We're here to win, so watching
the needle move is very is very gratifying.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, before we talk about this year, let's talk about
last season. You guys won thirty three games. That's a lot,
obviously in softball, finishing the top four in conference play,
had the Mountain West Pitcher of the Year, also had
an All Mountain West pitcher as well, so your pitching
staff was solid, had some outstanding defensive players, outstanding offenses overall,
just a really solid season.

Speaker 7 (01:28):
Yeah, it was. It was a really well balanced team.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Well, obviously we had some pitching, a little shy on
depth at times, but good pitching, really good defense, and
then offense throughout.

Speaker 7 (01:40):
You know, I think.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
We looked at it and said, we do a lot
of things right, and we want to build off of this.
One thing we really do need to improve on is
power hitting, and and so you know, that's that's what
we've been going to work on internally and then from
a recruiting perspective as well. But you know, we had
a really nice, well balanced team, and I think that's
something we wanted to move forward with.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned power hitting. We talk about
it obviously with baseball and with softball in the Mountain
West because when you go to Elevation, that's when you
see it a lot. How tough is it though, when
you play at obviously Margie right timing where you have
such a pitcher friendly ballpark, obviously you want to have
pitching a defense, but then at the same time get
some power.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, I think what we try to do is create
some adjustability to understand our conditions and understand, you know, hey,
it might take eleven runs to wind to Gay versus
you know, at home, it's gonna take probably five, you know,
So you know, I think we're we're aware of that
as a staff. We do impart that and train that
with the team, and you know, and I think that's
the goal is I mean, we're really trying to build

(02:41):
a squad that is you know, we're not just built
to win at home.

Speaker 7 (02:44):
We're not just built to win on the road. We
want to be able to win everywhere.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
This season, obviously, the Mountain West Conference tournament will be
in San Diego, so you will not have to go
to Elevation, which obviously changes it for you guys. Let's
talk about this season a bit. You guys are four
to zero and your first home weekend got a home
weekend coming up, obviously in the Present State Invitational, coming
off of the Marry Nutter last weekend where you're two
and two, lost a couple of tough ones to Minnesota
and Washington picked up two solid wins as well. How'd

(03:10):
you see last weekend?

Speaker 7 (03:12):
Yeah, you know, we were close.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
Like you said, we walked away two and two. You know,
we had a two run lead on Minnesota and the
seventh and lost that. And that's something that you know,
we're we're looking at, which what adjustments do we need
to make to make sure that doesn't happen again. And
then I thought we were very competitive against Washington. Bunker
came up and hit a home run late in the
game to tie it at four, and so we had
a four to four ball game in the sixth and

(03:36):
you know, I think you give yourself a chance to
win off of really really nice, high caliber team.

Speaker 7 (03:41):
And it was a good showing.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
But we just, you know, we've we've got to do
things a little bit better because I don't want to
be close.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
You guys have had a good schedule so far in
terms of you played a school that's in the ACC
now with Stanford out an old Pac twelve school. You
obviously had Utah to the Big twelve, but you guys
swept and then you played a couple of schools in
the Big ten, so you're getting that bigger Power five
kind of softball coming in. How you felt like your
team's responded.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
Yeah, they're ready to go. You know they were, they
weren't afraid. You know, Stanford outlasted us, but you know
we took it to Utah, I thought, and then gave
ourselves a great chance to win against both Minnesota and Washington.
You know, I don't think that's part of it. That's
part of playing you know, great teams in the preseason
is like we just you know, there's another game we're playing.
You know, it's not we're not playing the jersey the

(04:27):
name on the front. And so I think our squad's
really comfortable.

Speaker 7 (04:31):
In those games.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Speaking of opponents, as you got coming up this weekend,
you guys will have Cal and CSU Bakersfield on Friday,
then you got call in Southern Utah on Saturday and
CSU Bakersfield on Sunday. Let's talk about Cal a team.
It was a tight game. It was really a classic game.
Unfortunate how that one ended last season, ended up losing
by one run. A team that's gone to the NCAA Tournament.
They're now in the ACC. Expect another tight affair this weekend.

(04:56):
How do you see your schedule this weekend?

Speaker 7 (04:58):
Yeah, it's balanced.

Speaker 5 (04:59):
You know.

Speaker 4 (05:00):
Obviously Cal's gonna be really tough. They're very athletic. They
hit for a lot of power. I do you think
their pitching's hit able? But they're gonna be tough. Bakersfield
is not the Baker's Fields past.

Speaker 7 (05:11):
They're very competitive.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
They've done a really great job building that program and
and we know it's it's not gonna be the steam
rolling that you know it has been in years past
and then rounded out with the with Southern Utah those
that game we should win. But you know they've got
a couple of ball players too, So as always, we
better come to.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Play any talking about CEC baks. So they're nine to
nine on this season. They played eighteen games already, which
is crazy, by the way.

Speaker 7 (05:32):
Yeah, No, they've played a lot.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
And they've been and they've been all over the place.
Talk to me about the two student athletes are gonna
be a chatting with here coming up in just a
few minutes, Madison Ray and Faith Jordan.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
Yeah, so Maddie Ray has has come in and you know,
established herself really quickly this year as an everyday player.
She's made tremendous improvements in the off season. She was
always very physical, very strong, excellent athlete. And also, like
I mean, she's got a lot going on between the ears.
I mean, she's really high. I Q her ability to

(06:02):
uh to pick up skills happens faster than other people
just because you know, she's just smart, you know, and
she and she can she could take her adaptability with
her with her mind and take it out into the game.
And so she's she's been really tremendous for us to
play a lot of third base for us. She's probably
also our best first baseman, but we can't have her both,
so so.

Speaker 7 (06:21):
She's been great.

Speaker 4 (06:22):
And then Faith Jordan, you know, we we've had we've
had high hopes for her. We thought she was a
really good pitcher coming out of high school. Needed a
little bit of time to get ready, but you know,
this year she's come back firing, she's throwing strikes, she's
changing speeds and and she's pretty been pretty deadly, especially
a right handed hitter, she just lights them up. So
a couple of really really great young ladies, excellent students

(06:42):
as well, and just awesome additions to her program.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah, they've been really good this year. Faith obviously has
a couple of saves this season. I was actually looking
at the numbers on on Maddie. She's got eight extra
base hits, leaves a team in doubles with seven. I
mean that's that's big time power.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Yeah, big time Yeah, no, for sure. And you know,
we she and I talked today of like, hey, you
know what's really scary is she's hitting those those seven doubles.
She hit almost every single one hard enough to go out.
It just didn't have enough enough air under it. And
so it's like what happens when you figure out how
to get some air under the ball. What then you
know she goes from pretty scary good to like really

(07:17):
scary good.

Speaker 3 (07:17):
Yeah it she'll be scary good in elevation O dot
about that. Yes, we've talked about this over the years. Analytics,
what you what you feel on analytics? You obviously obviously
you trust your eyeballs, but you also are analytical. How
is that when it comes to the approach at the
plate because now you're the hitting coach. Now, so how
do you attack that?

Speaker 7 (07:36):
Yeah, well, obviously, yeah we do.

Speaker 6 (07:39):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (07:39):
I don't pound our athletes with numbers like but I know,
like I know there's strike percentages, I know their ball percentages.
I know, you know what pitches get hit the hardest?
What are the best pitches to attack? I mean, that's
that's all part of the scouting report. And then and
then we go in there and present it to our
young women and say, hey, you know, we think this
is the pitch you should be attacking, or you know,
we think this is the pitch that gets hit the hardest,
and so that's what we're going for.

Speaker 7 (07:59):
So that's that's a little bit of our process.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Let's talk about your staff. I know we've talked about
it in our pregame interviews a couple of times, but
first time on the Bulldog Softball Hours. So let's let's
go through your staff. Let's start with obviously, Shelby's been
there every step of the way, outstanding pitching coach. Talking
me a little bit about her.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
Yeah, So obviously Shelby and I've been working together for
years now. She does a tremendous job with the pitchers. Uh,
she's really good on foundational mechanics and and just really
gets them all cleaned up. They come in as freshman
and she really gets some nice and cleaned up and
gets their command top notch, you know. And then she's
she's really smart. She's she's very hard worker and makes
great decisions in the game. And and so she's got

(08:36):
my my full trust. Obviously, I love working with her,
and uh, you know, I want to keep the street going.

Speaker 3 (08:41):
You got maybe the coolest first base coach in the country,
and Bobby. Everybody loves Bobby. So talk to me about Bobby.

Speaker 7 (08:47):
Yeah, So Bobby is a he's a men's fast pitch pitcher.
He's really good. He's really good.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
So in addition to to really having a lot of
knowledge with with the sport in general, you know, he's
he's a really good armed So he helps our athletes
in a lot of different ways.

Speaker 7 (09:01):
He's and he also is he's just a hard worker.

Speaker 5 (09:04):
You know.

Speaker 4 (09:04):
Anybody that knows, anybody's been around our stadium is Bobby
gets out there and does the things that nobody else
wants to do. And he doesn't without being asked. He's
got the heart of a servant and and he's really
here to help the girls and to help the program
in any way he can. And boy, he's he's just
a huge addition. The other thing people don't know about
Bobby is Bobby is a tremendous recruiter.

Speaker 3 (09:22):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (09:23):
You know, he spends a lot of time on the road.
You know, he's on the phone with the travel coaches,
and you know, he always brings good information to the
table and he's become very very trustworthy source for me.

Speaker 3 (09:34):
Bobby. Oh so, I saw him out there working with
the fields crew to get the field ready one time,
right before a game. I was like, what are you doing, Bobby?

Speaker 7 (09:40):
He's doing things that nobody else wants to do. He's
making the team better.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
All Right, we got to talk about the newbie, Raquel Savoy.
What about her? What does she bring to the table
and how excited are you to have her?

Speaker 4 (09:50):
She's awesome, She's absolutely awesome. She brings a fire, you know,
she brings an energy. You know, she pushes our athletes
as well as any coach on our staff, better than
any coach on her staff. You Know, she brings great
energy to defense and I think she really does a
great job of developing an athlete. Probably in all my
years of coaching, the best developer of athletes than what

(10:12):
I've seen, and so obviously I'm thrilled to have her.
I think she's done a tremendous job with our defense.
They play hard, they play aggressive, and so she's been
an awesome addition.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
Oh, you got the two student athletes coming up after
this break. This is the Bulldog Softball Hour. We're at
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Speaker 3 (13:34):
One ball, one strike, the pitch from the east, that's
gonna be bunted. Ray will feel it cleanly goes the
second got her at second, nicely done by Ray. There
was no slide by my eye, as that was butted
in front of home plate and Ray smartly fielded it
and fired or rope to his second base. And my
eye did not slide. If she slide, she's safe and

(13:56):
everybody's safe. And said they get the lead runner out
at second, smart by Madison Ray. We're talking about Madison
Ray and she is one of the student athletes here
along with Faith Jordan. We are at Curl and Wolf
five twenty Indy Spruces Avenue. It's the Bulldog Softball Hour,
first one of the season. We've got many more coming up.
Thanks for listening to us on AM thirteen forty Fox

(14:16):
Sports Radio, the Bulldog Gap or iHeart or Radio as well.
I'm Matt and Morble talking with Heat softball coach Stacy
may Johnson, and we mentioned the couple of student athletes.
Mattie Ray is the sophomore from Clovis and Faith Jordan
is the sophomore from Washington. I didn't say where you're
from because I want you to pronounce the town that
you're from.

Speaker 6 (14:36):
Oh I'm from Snohomish, Washington.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
That's how you sam? Yeah, Okay, all right, So welcome
for the Bulldog Softball Hour. I've got to ask you guys,
because we didn't have you on. I don't think we
had you guys on last year, I don't believe. So, so,
what made you choose a Fresno State coming out of
high school? Obviously with all the accolades that you guys had,
why did you choose head coach Stacy may Johnson and staff?
Go ahead, Faith Well, I.

Speaker 6 (14:59):
Felt during my visit that I had a really good
connection with the coaching staff, which is honestly probably the
biggest reason that I chose here. And like touring the school,
like I got to see all the great things like
Fresno State Softball Zone with the history and its program,
and I just really wanted to be a part of it.
And they have a really great fan base, which I
was super excited to play for.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
How do you like playing it, Margie right Diamond.

Speaker 6 (15:20):
I think it's one of the coolest things.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:22):
Yeah, just being in the circle and like seeing all
the stadium and all the fans.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, well, you guys are able to travel and you
see all the other ones. All the other stadiums don't
look like Margie right Diamond does, no doubt about it.
And you get all the little girls that show up,
which is really cool too. All right, you're the local kids,
so obviously you grew up. I would imagine going to
games growing up, right, Yes, I did.

Speaker 14 (15:42):
And speaking of little girls, like once at our games,
like we introduced little kids like I was that little girl,
like I got introduced at our games when I was little.
So it's really cool just seeing like now the other
side of it and I get to see the little
girls and you know.

Speaker 15 (15:55):
Go through the same process.

Speaker 14 (15:56):
But a big reason I chose Fresno State was just
to be local and you with my family, And a
big thing for me was just always having my family
at games and they're always there. I always look up
in the stands and wave up, so you know, it's
really cool just to see the full circle moment and
you know, just be here locally.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
Do you remember maybe a kid you looked up to
or a student athlete you looked up to when you
were a kid. Was there a player you really liked?

Speaker 14 (16:20):
No, I kind of just I love Presno State as general.
Like we'd always go to football games together and especially softball,
even growing up in elementary school and middle school, high school,
we'd always go to games like as a team even
and just seeing here now it's you know, it's a
fun experience.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
Got the little girls showing up obviously wanting to be
talk to me about high school. When you, guys, before
you came to college, what was high school softball like
and when did you realize that you wanted to play
at the next level?

Speaker 6 (16:47):
Go ahead, Faith, I think it honestly started like before
high school being in such like a aggressive travel team.
I feel like college softball was always the goal. High
school softball was like it was, it was a blast.
I had a really good experience. I actually played against
Rachel who's on our team now in the state championship. No, K, Yeah,
it was super cool. So yeah, it was a really

(17:10):
good like learning experience, like just building up to hear.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
What was high school like for you? Well?

Speaker 14 (17:17):
I always like the dream ever since we're a little
like starting at t ball, Like, I always wanted to
play in college and just get to the next level.
And a big inspiration for me was Sarah Santana, which
was my travel coach, and something really cool about that
she went to Clovis West, she went to Presno State,
played at Presno State, and I played for her. So
kind of just living the same dream as her was

(17:38):
a big inspiration for me. And you know, kind of
just going through a similar situation. It's really cool of.

Speaker 15 (17:44):
Just living the dream.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
Coach. We've obviously talked about these two a little bit
before they came on, but when you were going through
the recruiting process trying to get these two. Obviously it's
a little different ones from Washington. One's right next door,
just sitting there. So how'd you go about it?

Speaker 4 (17:58):
Yeah, Faith, obviously we caught her I get initially out
on like the travel ball circuit and and saw her
pitching for a team out of Washington, the Lady Hawks,
if I if I remember right, And you know, we
always saw the potential. I you know, we thought we
thought she was gonna come in here and and do
very very well, and so it's been really fun to

(18:19):
watch her kind of come into her own here and
her second year and and boy, she's tough.

Speaker 7 (18:24):
They don't know what to do with her. Sometimes. I
watched her throw the change up like seven times in
a row and they still don't swing.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
You know, It's it's like how many times are you
gonna watch this thing go by? No, she's she's a
really fun player to watch.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
And then for Maddie and be in next door, I mean,
that's obviously different how you're recruiting that she's around and
you see her and obviously you hear about her from
all the local people.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
Right.

Speaker 4 (18:44):
Well, the connection with Sarah Santana was was obviously really
important in her recruitment.

Speaker 7 (18:49):
She came to camp and that was.

Speaker 4 (18:50):
Where I was like, whoa, she's very physical, like that
was that was the thing that jumped off the page.
Is like she throws hard, she hits hard, she's big
and strong and and runs. Well, you know, she's the
whole package that way. And then when you talk to
Sarah and you're like, no, she's really good. And then
also just following the high school travel ball see and
I was actually telling Bobby today and I don't know

(19:11):
if I ever told you this, But when we were
making the decision on like, hey do we think Mattie's
a great fit for the program, we knew we really
loved the athlete. One of the things that I went
in and looked at was I looked at all of
your box scores against Clovis North. You were one of
the few athletes that could hit Ryan Maddox and that
was actually a factor and like, no, if she can
hit Ryan Maddox, then she needs to be a part

(19:31):
of our program. And so that was part of the
decision making. But she's out there hitting the best that
nobody else can hit.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Is there something to that that's pretty cool? Yeah, you
use the word special when you described her. We had
earlier this season, and talk to me guys about the
transition from freshman to sophomore year, because you guys both
have oslely taken a gigantic step ahead getting a lot
more wrong. You guys got run obviously as a freshman.
What's it for you? What were you really working on?
Faith in that circle? You know, you had Gilmour was

(19:57):
the pitcher of the year, Soraya all Mountain West, and
you were really that that third arm and now they're
relying on you big time.

Speaker 6 (20:04):
Yeah, I feel a lot of it came down to
like commanding my pitches, you know, like even last year,
like I knew I had this stuff, but a lot
of it. You know, nothing's gonna work if you can't
you know, command it. And I honestly, pitching is a
very big mental game. And over the offseason I worked
a lot on that. You know, I kind of figured
I have to like step up into a role and

(20:24):
I wanted to be ready and.

Speaker 3 (20:26):
Yeah, well you've made You've done a great job. What
was it like getting that ball in your first start
against Long Beach day for the season, because that's that's
the first time you get the ball, you know, new season,
all the hard work and you pitch brilliantly.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
I'm not gonna lie I was a little nervous, but
you know, one of the things I learned is that
nervous and like excitement all kind of like the same thing.
So it's just kind of how you take it. So
I kind of like took that and kind of just
made it like an exciting feeling and like I get
to do this opportunity and like, you know, just being
confident out there really helps.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
And confidence is keynoteubt about it? What about you, Mattie,
you know going in, Hey, it's going to be They're
expecting a lot from you. You got a lot of power,
you got a lot of potential. What was it like,
you know, transitioning and what were you really working on?

Speaker 14 (21:08):
Yeah, it was a big transition, I would say, but
mainly just like going back to my roots, I'm going
to see, like work harder and just do more and
a lot in the fall, like I moved around, I
moved positions a lot, just trying to figure out where
it was going to be best, what works best for
the team.

Speaker 15 (21:24):
And you know, just keep going after it.

Speaker 14 (21:27):
And the main thing again with the confidence of like
you know, you're here for a reason and just keep working.

Speaker 3 (21:35):
You guys kind of brought it up a little bit,
I know, Faith you did talk about the history and
the tradition. What's it like knowing all the great players
and great teams that have gone through Fresno State and
now you guys are a part of it.

Speaker 6 (21:46):
I think it's super cool. You know, like it's like
you almost want to like try to follow in their footsteps.
So it's definitely like great to have people above you,
you know, to like follow their way and like treat
them as like a role model.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
What about you, Maddie, it's the same thing.

Speaker 14 (22:01):
Like growing up you look up to these people like
you want to do the same for the little kids
now and just make an impact on presidents, date in general.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
So talk to me about the coaches. Obviously you work
with Shelby more, and then obviously you're with coach Stacy.
So what's it like working with coach Shelby.

Speaker 6 (22:17):
I honestly, I have a lot of fun during my bullfit.
Like me and her have definitely made a really big connection,
and you know, like I feel I can talk to
her about almost anything. So I think having that on
in my corner like really helped me.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
What's your relationship like with Kennedy because Kennedy seems like
she's cool with pretty much everyone on here.

Speaker 6 (22:36):
Yeah. No, I love Kennedy. She's definitely like the best
catcher to throw to you, you know, like very vocal,
like she helps you out a lot. You know. It's honestly,
I could ask for a better catcher.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Maddie obviously got coach Stacy. Is now you're hating coach
what's that like breaking down what you need to do
at the plate.

Speaker 14 (22:53):
Yeah, like you said, there's there's always something to fix,
always something to work on. So having coach stacy like
critique all the little stuff like it really helps. Like
even today we went through and what small adjustments can
we make to make hitting even better?

Speaker 15 (23:06):
And just the little adjustments can change so much.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
So coach, obviously you've got a good staff, you got shelby,
the handles, pitchers, and you're now handling the hitting. I
don't think maybe the average person realizes just how much
goes in. They just see, like, you know, there's a
lot of games, but they don't realize how much preparation
goes into those games.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
Uh yeah, I'm pretty sure I don't have a life, no,
Uh yeah, No, it's there's a lot that goes into it.
You know, we spend our our fall trying to obviously
work hard and develop athletes and then also you know,
acquire information on the coaching side of like well how
can we put all this together to make this the
best version possible. So you know, we scout. We scout

(23:44):
a lot this time of year. We play a lot
of teams and that means that we have a lot
of teams to prepare for.

Speaker 7 (23:50):
It's a lot of.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
Fun, though, I you know, there's I do have a
lot of late nights these days where I, you know,
I put my kids to bed and then and then
I'm I'm working, you know, when when it's it's bedtime
for them.

Speaker 7 (24:01):
But you know, I love it and I don't think
I'd have it any other way.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
We're gonna take another break. We'll come back. Tell a
little academics, find out what they're doing in school. This
is the Bulldog Softball Hour. You listening to bulldog softball
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Speaker 3 (27:16):
Two balls, two strikes, runner at second, two gone, we're scoreless,
bottom two and a swing and miss. That's a new
career high in strikeouts for Faith Jordan. Her third k
What a pitch Brozer strikeout number four for Jordan's every
strikeout from here on out is a new career high

(27:36):
for the sophomore. Welcome you back to Crow and Wollf.
It's the Bulldog Softball Hour. Talking a little bit of
strikeouts with Faith Jordan. Eighteen of those this season for
the sophomore. I'm Matt Norvile. It's the Bulldog Softball Hour.
First time we've done that. This season. We got the
head president state softball coach Stacy M. Johnson in her
fourth season, and a couple of the student athletes who

(27:58):
mentioned Faith Jordan and Madison Ray as well. We said
student before athletes. So that means, of course we've got
to talk some academics, as we do every Softball hour.
So tell me about your guys major, how classes are going,
and what you're trying to do with your major.

Speaker 6 (28:13):
Go ahead, Faith, well, I'm a public health science major.
Last well, this past fall, I definitely had a hard
time with my classes, you know, very like aggressive, but
this spring I decided to take it a little easier
and the next fall I was going to attack it
a lot more. But I'm hoping to go into pharmaceutical
sales with mine. Yeah, something my mom's in the business,

(28:36):
and just you know, leaving around it and you kind
of it's something I wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Okay, what about you, Mattie.

Speaker 14 (28:43):
So I'm majoring in Liberal studies and I'm minoring in
psychology and I want to be like a pe teacher
and coach. And I think growing up, my mom's a teacher,
so I always saw like the teaching aspect of things
and growing up in the classroom, so I kind of always.

Speaker 15 (28:58):
Had like a love for teaching.

Speaker 14 (28:59):
And I'm just working with kids even so, trying to
find what I like and also combine that with teaching
is something like I've always wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
How do you guys go about class schedule wise, because
obviously springtime is very busy, you guys are on the road,
you miss a lot, So do you try to basically
take your tough classes in the fall and then make
it a little easier in the spring. I know women's
basketball was talking about they try to get their hard
classes more so in the fall because there's gone so
much in this springtime.

Speaker 6 (29:25):
So what about you guys, Yeah, well definitely, like this fall,
I was in a chemistry class which I knew I
would not be able to take in the spring. We
had like a three hour lab and like it was
just very like hands on, like you had to be
there to like understand all the stuff. But for this spring,
I definitely like cut down my workload. So I use

(29:45):
some softble credits to take down a class and now
I'm just in like gees for my major and they're
all pretty much online, so it's helped me a lot.

Speaker 14 (29:56):
What about you, Maddie, Yeah, I think scheduling classes, especially
around traveling and practice, it is.

Speaker 15 (30:02):
It is challenging.

Speaker 14 (30:02):
But I want to give a big shout out to Kevin,
which is our academic advisor, and Kevin just so great.
He really helps us with everything and anything. And just
like you said, doing harder classes in the fall so
we don't have as much missing classes while traveling it.

Speaker 15 (30:18):
Is really helpful.

Speaker 14 (30:19):
And like they said about academic classes, courses, I'm in
that too right now, and it is really helpful to
just take a lighter load in the spring when we travel.

Speaker 3 (30:29):
Talk about the academic advisor, how important I think Kevin.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
Kevin is one of the best of the business. And
he's younger guy, but he's he's unbelievable. His follow up
is awesome, you know, shows a lot of care and
and just just really invests in every single one of
our athletes.

Speaker 7 (30:45):
So they all say the same thing. You know, you've
done enough of them.

Speaker 4 (30:47):
They all say the exact same thing, like we're going
to shout out the academic advisor. How often does that happen?
You know, No, he's he's really, he's really a top
notch guy.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
How do you go about it as a coach? Obviously
with all the different players and the team that have
all different types of majors, and you can't stay on
top of obviously everything, so you rely on him, but
to make sure that they're getting to class, they're getting
their workload, and obviously having a mental break as well,
because sometimes school can be a little stressful.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
Yeah, well, I mean, first of all, we try to
buy in large recruit really good students. And second of all,
I mean, you know, we have some policies in place
where like they understand they sign a contract and if
I don't go to class, then I'm going to get
kicked out of practice. If I take a zero and assignment,
I get kicked out of practice. And so I think
that I hope that demonstrates to them and to their

(31:34):
families that we really do care about academics and you know,
we're going to be successful academically here. If we're not
doing that, if they're not walking away with great grades
and degrees, then I feel like I've done them a disservice.
And so we try to do some things to help
them understand that, like, no, we're not just we're not
just ballplayers.

Speaker 7 (31:52):
Although you know, you know, I get that. I have
to be honest.

Speaker 4 (31:55):
I feel like I went to school and I got
it done and I got good grades, but I was
a ballplayer up here. You know, I think I was
like a ballplayer slash student. But so I get that,
But no, we were really committed to that.

Speaker 3 (32:07):
Obviously, school can present challenges. What's been the most difficult
class you've taken so far?

Speaker 6 (32:12):
You think definitely that chemistry class.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
I brought it earlier.

Speaker 6 (32:15):
Yeah, we met twice a week with the three hour
lab and I'd have to go straight from my lab
to practice. It was definitely very challenging, but I got
through it.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
What about you, Maddy?

Speaker 15 (32:25):
So it's actually a class I'm in right now.

Speaker 14 (32:27):
It's actually a rock science class, and you know, it's
it's interesting, but it is challenging, and especially missing a
lot my labs on Fridays, so it is challenging when
we travel basically every other week. So just trying to
communicate with our professor and get the extra work needed
it really helps.

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Do you guys have anyone from the team that's in
any of your classes that make it maybe a little
easier because he's got someone from your team?

Speaker 6 (32:52):
Not right now, because even Kevin said, like he hasn't
had anyone that's taken my major yet. But I took well,
I thought I was gonna be a business major up first,
so I took a couple of math classes and I
had a lot of girls that've taken.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
That makes it. Does that make it a little easier
having a few of the men there, Oh.

Speaker 6 (33:08):
Yeah, it definitely helped a lot. They guided me through
a ton of it.

Speaker 14 (33:12):
Yeah, I've never had an in person class with anyone,
But even right now, I'm meaning faith have an online
class together and just like making sure we get the
same work done when quiz is just communicating and helping
each other out is really helpful.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
How is it on the road, sir, you guys one
of those that you get all the work done before
the weekend or is it one of those that if
you're on the road, you're like, hey, I'm gonna be
doing some work in the hotel. Well, I tried to
get as.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
Much done before, but I usually end up doing a
lot in the hotel. Just last weekend, I was doing
an exam in the hotel. But we they definitely make
sure we have time, you know, to get that done.
And like, like me myself, I'm able to like set
time aside to make sure I can finish my assignments sometime.

Speaker 3 (33:52):
That's good, whatever.

Speaker 14 (33:53):
You're mad for me, I try to get it done early,
and even like we play home this weekend, but still
I'm trying to do work now just to so I
don't have to worryorry about it. I can just focus
on plane and just get it.

Speaker 15 (34:03):
Get it done. Feels nice. What I'm distressed about it.

Speaker 3 (34:05):
That's so funny because I'll bring a book on the
road and I never read it and I'm just the
broadcaster and they actually have classes and work to do.
The coach, how do you stay on that? Obviously, you
kind of you give them their freedom to do what
they want. But is it one of those that if
you walk by and you see that they're studying, you're
just like, Okay, I'm gonna leave them alone and not
say anything, or it warms my.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
Heart, you know, So, No, I know they do a
great job. I think a good percentage of them really
do try to get their work done before the weekend.
A lot of them have, especially our younger athletes, have
required study hall hours and so they'll they'll just go.

Speaker 7 (34:37):
In there and knock some stuff out. So, you know,
I hear that a lot of like I just I'm
going to get all my work done before the use.

Speaker 4 (34:43):
Then they get just have fun and play the game
and enjoy that and not be stressed and thinking about
all the things they have to do.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Do you guys have Do you guys have anything like that?
It's tough in a class in terms of maybe writing
a paper or public speaking or anything like that, where
you're just like eh, I'd rather just take a test,
read do that or hands on activity or is there
anything that you walk into a class? Because I remember
when I used to play there are a couple of
basketball kids that hated doing public speaking, like hated it
more than anything.

Speaker 6 (35:11):
Yeah, well that's definitely mine. Yeah. I was in this
class last semester that like required it, and I just
every time I'd have to go through my lines like
a thousand times to get it right, and you know,
it ended up being fine. But definitely that's one of
my worst things. But I have to get used to
it with the career choices I make.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Exactly. I was gonna say, you're gonna be talking to
a lot of people. It's dimmer though talking I would
think one on one that it is talking to a
group though.

Speaker 6 (35:37):
Yeah, And it's definitely something that you're able to get
over well.

Speaker 7 (35:41):
And you're doing great tonight.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
You're doing fantastic natural than what about you, Maddy.

Speaker 14 (35:47):
Mike would probably be like more on the history and
anatomy side of it, especially like going into liberal studies.
It's more of the writing and that aspect of it.
So at least I'm more on that side than all
the mysteries.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
If you guys get free time, which I know is
tough with obviously academics and then softball. Is there something
that you do to relax and maybe clear your head
and get away from everything.

Speaker 6 (36:12):
Well, I've become a big fan of the Farmers Market
down in River Park, Okay, every Tuesdays and Saturdays. I
really enjoy going there with like my friends, you know,
like Maddie. I Also I feel like we're around, you know,
a lot of people, good amount of the time, so
sometimes it's nice to just have some alone time.

Speaker 14 (36:30):
And something for me that I've basically fun up doing
is we go up to Sky Harbor and there's I
know people on the team have done it this year,
and you go up there, there's a nice hike and
I think they did like a sunrise hike this year
and that's really cool and it's pretty up there.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Oh, it is nice. What do you do coach to
get away? Because you know, you're you're in the season,
You're you're grinding and out. You probably can't get away
at all, but maybe in the off season when you
can end of like, you know, take a breath.

Speaker 7 (36:56):
What's it like, Well, it's it's also I have a garden. No,
I really do.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
I have a garden. So it's I try to try
to sneak in like some gardening when I can.

Speaker 7 (37:05):
Really yeah, I really do.

Speaker 14 (37:07):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (37:07):
You know.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
Fortunately, here gardening season starts earlier, so I can kind
of get going in January. You know, other parts of
the country can't really get going till much. But yeah,
I like I like the garden, and then I play
a little bit of golf.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
You play a little bit golf too, Okay, all right.
It's always important I think for mental health especially, that's
a big thing that's been a topic and not only
just sports in general, but college athletics to get away
and clear your head. So how much do you preach
that with the young ladies.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
Yeah, I mean, you know, they can't they can't perform
in the classroom, they can't perform on the field if
they're not in a in a great headspace. I mean,
I think for me, I think my role is to
support them. You know, we've we've had a number of
athletes say I got to step aside for a day
or two or do this, and you know, like, and
I think that's there's just some things that are just

(37:55):
more important than than playing.

Speaker 7 (37:56):
Softball throwing a ball around.

Speaker 4 (37:58):
So you know, for me, I just want to sup
them and whatever it is that however, I can help
them on their journey. Obviously we you know, we we
have goals as a team and those are still important.
That doesn't lessen those things, but you know, I feel like,
for me, I make promises to them and I make
promises to their family that when we bring them here
that we're going to take care of them, you know.

(38:20):
And obviously this is a high pressure environment where you know,
we have to win and they need to perform, and
that's part of it. But that doesn't mean that we
can't you know, invest in them, you know, above and
beyond that. So when when they come to me and say, hey,
I got I need some time, like you know, honestly,
it's it's my honor to say, yeah, like take some time,
you know, go do you get your head right, and

(38:41):
then come on back.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
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Speaker 3 (41:53):
At is driven to left field by Ray. That is
no doubt. Old run solo shot for Madison Ray, the sophomore,
and we are noted up added one up. Ne're at
the bottom of the third lush and Madison Ray with
a solo home run is one of the student athletes here.

(42:14):
And you got Faith Jordan as well, so we got
a pitcher and a hitter as well as we welcome
you back to Crohnwolf five twenty six. Bruce Avenue, thanks
for listening on AM thirteen forty Fox Sports Radio. The
Bulldog app or iHeartRadio as well. I met normal talking
with head coach Stacy May Johnson and Madison Ray and
Faith Jordan as well. Does the Bulldog Softball our final
ten minutes or so with the student athletes, and then

(42:36):
we'll wrap things up with coach. Guys. We kind of
touched on it earlier, the young girls showing up to games,
and that's something that's been a tradition under head coach
Stacy May Johnson and even before her, where young girls
go to the games and they get honored, they get
to go on the field, all that fun stuff. But
you guys are role models. You guys are their heroes.
How much responsibility do you feel and how much do

(42:58):
you cherish that they look up to you guys?

Speaker 6 (43:02):
Yeah, no, I think it's like one of the coolest
things in the world, Like getting off out of the dungeon,
you know, going up and little girls are like asking
for your autograph, and like I remember being a kid
and like looking up to other players, and like now
it's like the roles are reversed, and you know, I
just want to like be the best I can, you know,
for them.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
As it's just talking off the air that we hear
Faith get yelled quite a bit when I go to
the concession stand. They know, they always know the picture
we were talking about. Maddie's the name that gets yelled
quite a bit too. Because you're a local kid from
obviously close West High schools where you went. So what
does it mean to you that people look up to
in your role model?

Speaker 14 (43:39):
Yeah, I just mean it means a lot, especially coming
from here, like knowing like these little girls like you
could also do this too, like if you work hard
for your dream, like you can't accomplish it, and even
retouching on like how I got introduced, Like that's something
like I'll never forget, and like just making an impact
on these little kids like maybe that day before, like
they didn't want to do college softball, but once they

(44:02):
got there and saw and we had that interaction with them,
like maybe that's now their dream. And I just think
it's really cool that we can be inspirations to them
and that can now.

Speaker 15 (44:10):
Be their future.

Speaker 3 (44:12):
Well, they love the concession stan. I love the concessions stand.
I know you guys are playing so you don't really
get a chance to experience what it is at Margie
Wright Diamond, but it's one of the best concessions fans around,
and they've got phenomenal food.

Speaker 7 (44:22):
I tore up that clam chowder last Friday night before
that game.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
Don't tell anybody, it's really good. How do you handle
that coach? Doubleheader wise? Obviously you just got sandwiches and
stuff for them that they can get ready and get
going and stuff. But like if there's a kid maybe
not come to play, or do you kind of say, oh,
I can go to the concession stand and get you.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
No, if they got.

Speaker 4 (44:42):
There, they sneak up there. We might let that fly
under the radar now. But yeah, we usually just get
them something. It's gotta be quick, right, we don't have
very much time, So they go down there and put
some meat on a bun and off we go.

Speaker 3 (44:55):
What's the season been like for you guys up to
this point, obviously coming off the leak and you were
a two year four to zero in your first home weekend.
How do you feel like as a team you guys
are playing.

Speaker 6 (45:06):
I think it's I think it's going good. All the games,
you know, been super close, and you know it can
only like go up from here. I love playing with
this group of girls, you know. I think everyone works
super hard, like you can see in practice, like there's
never a time when anyone's really standing around doing nothing,
like it's always go, go, go. So it's it's been
good and I'm excited to see what the season holds

(45:27):
for us.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (45:28):
I think we meshed really well, and like obviously our
goal is to win the Mountain West Tournament and just
all doing our own jobs and like working behind the
pitchers and having their backs because they do a lot
something I could never do. But I just think we
all work really well, we all have each other's backs,
and even through adversity, like we're gonna try and figure

(45:49):
out a way to win.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
You guys have played a lot of softball growing up,
a lot of travel leagues. You've been all over the country.
Have you ever played on a football field, because you
did your first weekend at Stanford, which by the way,
looked at like an actual softball diamond.

Speaker 6 (46:03):
Yeah, no I have not, but I remember hearing that
they were doing that with their field, and like I
was talking about that for weeks until we went on.
I was super excited.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
They made it look awesome, It looked unreal, and you
showed up. You wouldn't even have known it until you
took a peek like outside of it, and so I
don't what about you, Maddy, have you ever played on
a football field before?

Speaker 15 (46:21):
No, I haven't until recently.

Speaker 14 (46:23):
But it was really cool just looking up and there's
so many stands there and so many people that could
fit there.

Speaker 15 (46:29):
It's crazy.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
Yeah, that's not going to be like the biggest stadium.
We were talking to Stanford folks there because they're trying
to host a regional and do all of that, coach
and they were saying that they had to make it
nice if they were going to have a softball field.

Speaker 7 (46:41):
Well they did make They did make it nice.

Speaker 4 (46:43):
And I have it on pretty good authority that they
they spent a million dollars put in. I said, well,
that you spend a million dollars on this, what's the
renovation car? So you know, but no, they did it.
They did a tremendous job with it, and and I think,
you know, I was a little skeptical I first when
I heard about it. I will say this, I did

(47:04):
you notice how they oriented the short part of the park.

Speaker 16 (47:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (47:07):
Yeah, they have a why yeah?

Speaker 4 (47:09):
Why have for anybody who doesn't know they have a
lineup full of left handed hitters nine and they were
going to be short on one park, so they're one
ninety down the right field line for their left handed line,
so very clever.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
That's a nice home field advantage to have. I noticed
that when I walked up. I said, I was asking
the dimensions and they were telling me, and I said, oh,
so right feels one ninety huh huh. Interesting.

Speaker 7 (47:29):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
What has it been like for you guys playing against
obviously the Stanford's, the Washington's, you know, programs that are
as good as you guys, but they're bigger schools. What's
it been like so far?

Speaker 6 (47:40):
Well, if we're speaking of like role models, I used
to go to UDUB games all the time growing up,
and I was like those little kids. I thought it
was super cool, you know, being able to pitch against them.
Obviously Stanford, you know, we played them last year and
it's still like, you know, it's a great experience. Also
being able to hold their own against them.

Speaker 7 (48:00):
I got a question, how was it striking out those Huskies?
It was cool.

Speaker 6 (48:05):
It was funny two girls back to back in the lineup.
But I used to play travel ball with them.

Speaker 15 (48:08):
There you go, Yeah, that is funny.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
That is cool. Did you get the chance to talk
to them before after the game?

Speaker 6 (48:14):
Is yeah, I said high after their parents. You know,
it was super cool, full circle moment.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
That's awesome.

Speaker 14 (48:19):
What about you, Maddie, you know, I just it's really cool,
like knowing we're kind of a smaller organization, but looking
at it like we held our own.

Speaker 15 (48:29):
Like we played just as good.

Speaker 14 (48:31):
Like just because you know where the underdogs doesn't mean
like we're not going to hold our own and fight back.

Speaker 3 (48:36):
Well, it's interesting to coach because obviously you look at it,
nineteen ninety eight National Champs, College World Series, a bunch
of times, all the All Americans Olympians here, so Presno
State when you show up, you get everyone's best shot.
They're not. It's one of those it's not like that
you're like, oh, we're playing Fresno State. It's like, no,
we're playing Fresno State this week.

Speaker 15 (48:54):
That's right.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Yeah, Well, I mean you look at look at the
Washington game. Uh, you know, they came in and they
started Ramuno, who's probably their one B and then you
know that the girls did a great job and knocking
her out of the game, and they.

Speaker 7 (49:07):
Brought in Rhymers, who's their one A.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
Yeah, you know, they didn't bring Hans in and they
didn't bring their their lower inning getters in because you know,
they're not going to mess around. So they know that,
you know, they know that this team can really take
it to them, and so they just so mess around
with it.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
It is fun watching you guys play and seeing how
you guys have developed over the time. Talk to me
about the fans. The fans show up. They're very passionate.
I don't know, if you you're probably so locked in
you don't hear them. But they live and die every
single pitch, every single ed bat. So what's it like
pitching in front of the fans?

Speaker 6 (49:38):
And Margie right, No, Yeah, I think it's super cool.
And that was also like one of the big reasons
I was excited to go here is because I heard
about what a great fan base they had. Yeah. My mom,
she was at a tournament a couple of weekends ago,
our home one, and she was sitting there and the
people behind her were just like, oh, yeah, we've been
having tickets for thirty years. And I was like, wow, Like,
you know, I thought that was super cool that, like

(50:00):
so many of these people here have been going to
games for so long to support like the Bulldogs.

Speaker 14 (50:05):
Yeah, and for me, like growing up, like I was
a part of Red Wave and like always going to games,
So just having Red Waves support me now, it's just
really cool and it's.

Speaker 15 (50:15):
A good feeling to have.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
They tailgate every Saturday, by the way, so they always Yeah,
they have now officially invited me to have some food
if I want to. But you're trying to do an
interview with you. I'm like, I can't. No, I know,
we're working, I know, But then what is it like
for you though? I mean, obviously you've been a lot
of different places, so you've coached a lot of different places,
You've played a lot of different places, and now you're
you know, your third base coach. You look up and
you see, I mean sometimes on certain weekends the whole

(50:39):
thing is pretty much full.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Yeah, this thing's special. This place is special, Mergie Wright,
Diamond is special. And yeah, you're right, like I've coached
at you know, the powerful institutions, and and they're not
like this, you know, they're just not this is this
is a very unique place, I think.

Speaker 7 (50:58):
And I grew up on the West Coast, so you know.

Speaker 4 (50:59):
I I knew, you know, a as a fifteen year old,
I knew that Friends of State was a tremendous program
because I was just four hours up the road. And
so when I was offered this opportunity four years ago,
I mean it was not it was no light thing.
It was like, Wow, this is this is something that
I get to be a part of and you know,
follow up the gradesman, Margie Wright, Trish Ford, Linda Garza,

(51:21):
you know, tremendous coaches, right, and so then I get
to come in and be a part of that history,
a part of that tradition. I'm really just just proud
and honored to have this opportunity.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Well, guys, thanks for joining us. I'm gonna chat with
the coach for the last ten minutes or so, and
good luck this weekend and the rest.

Speaker 10 (51:38):
Of the way.

Speaker 6 (51:39):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 15 (51:40):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
That is the Bulldog Softball Hour. We'll take our final break,
come back. We're at Crolling Wall five, twenty six Spruce Avenue.
It's Bulldog Softball from lear Field.

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That's it.

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Speaker 6 (54:52):
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Speaker 3 (54:52):
It's a high in deep to the gap and left center.
That's off the wall. Ray's gonna head this second. That's
a stand up double for Madison Ray, the sophomore and
third baseman, and the Dogs have a runner and sporting
position here in the top of the first. We just
wrapped up with the Madison Ray and Faith Jordan and

(55:14):
Madison Ray has seven doubles this season and a home
run Faith. A couple of saves for the right hand
or both sophomores for head coach Stacy A. Johnson. As
we wrap up the Bulldog Softball Hour here for the
last three minutes or so. Thanks for joining us on
AM thirteen forty Fox Sports Radio. If you're listening on
the Bulldog app in iHeartRadio as well. We are at

(55:34):
Crolnwoll five twenty six Spruce Avenue here tonight. I am
Matt Norville and coach. When we talk about Margie Wright Diamond,
how nice it is you guys have been fortunate enough
to get new stuff year in year out. I think
the one thing it's missing from a broadcaster's point of
view is just that a big video board or jumbo
tron out in center field is I think the next thing.

(55:57):
But for you guys, talk to me about some of
the stuff that you you guys have had some new
tech maybe that you've got this season.

Speaker 4 (56:03):
Yeah, well it's not it's not new new, but you know,
we've we've got some some in game text so we're
getting pitch and batted ball data from from every game
and we can use it in practice as well, anytime
a pitcher is pitching off the mound or a hitter
is hitting in the box. So you know, I think
that's obviously that information is really really valuable when you
look at say, the Mountain West. To my knowledge, nobody

(56:26):
in the Mountain West has it except for US. Uh
and so you know, I I would imagine that. You know,
the University of Washington might have it. I know for
a fact, Stanford doesn't, you know. So there's a lot
of there's a lot of power forces are gonna have.

Speaker 7 (56:38):
There's a lot that don't you know.

Speaker 4 (56:40):
And so we're really we're really blessed here and and
we have a lot of competitive advantages, and you know,
we need to continue to stay on the forefront of that.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Talk about your upcoming weekend. It's a home weekend, you guys,
A four and oh right now at Margie Wright Diamond.
You've got Cal and CSU Bakersfield on Friday night, CAL
and Southern Utah on Saturday, and then CSU Baker's Field
again on Sunday. It's part of the Fresno State Invite.
You guys actually have done some good job scheduling. You
have three home tournaments, which is always crucial. Talk to

(57:09):
me a little bit about this week, and I know
we touched on it a bit, but how excited are
you to get back in front of the red wave? Faithful?

Speaker 4 (57:14):
We're good at home. I know, we love playing at home.
Their fans love us and we love them. And we
went at home. We went a lot.

Speaker 7 (57:21):
We're really tough.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
The scoring environments typically a little bit lower than when
we go other places, and you know, when you bring
in a team like Berkeley that can really swing the bat,
it just it plays in our favor.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
You know.

Speaker 4 (57:35):
Really, it's really great to have those teams and have
opportunities to knock a bunch of teams off in front of.

Speaker 7 (57:40):
Our home crowd.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
And the other thing that the home crowd likes is
the black unis that you guys rocked the first weekend
at home. I thought they were just spectacl there looking
and you even said, you're like, hey, you know, man,
I kind of like the black uniform I.

Speaker 4 (57:53):
Really like the black uniforms. And it's funny because nine
times out of terra, I just don't care about that stuff.
I just don't care. And then all then walk out
those black uniforms and I thought, man, those look really good.
So you know, you please the hater.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
So hey, they're really nice. You got another upcoming tournament
as well. We're gonna highlight before you go. You've got
the Bulldog Classic. So you got back to back home
weekends that will see Saint Mary's Pacific and you'll play
Saint Mary's again and what's interesting about Saint Mary's is
they went to the NCAA tournament last season, and that's
a good program as well. So that's what you got

(58:27):
upcoming in back to back weekends.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
Yeah, that'll be a tough, tough tournament as well. Saint
Mary's has some good pitching, you know, so I think
that'll be the I think they're very competitive team. I
think that they're really scrappy. I think they run the
bases really well. They know how to score runs, you know,
and and it's it's I think they're similar to us,
is that they're really well balanced team. They have some pitching,
they have some defense, they have some offense. It's not

(58:50):
like it, you know, they're just gonna last eighty home
runs a year. But it's gonna be really competitive softball.
I love that matchup for us, and I love that
we have them at home.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Coach is always we say thanks for the time, and
we'll be seeing you. Of course this weekend. We'll have
all your games for you.

Speaker 7 (59:04):
All right, thank you very much.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
That's head coach Stacy may Johnson. That is going to
wrap up the Bulldog Softball Hour here tonight. Or a
minder for you. Our next Bulldog Softball Hour will be
happening on March twelfth, That is a Wednesday, leading into
the Mountain West Conference opener against Boise State on Friday,
March fourteenth. I'm Matt Norbles saying so often you've almost
have been five twenty six Bruce Avenue. It's Bulldog Softball Field.

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