What every team at the Women's College World Series said

Read what all eight teams at the Women’s College World Series had to say ahead of the games on Thursday

Florida head coach Tim Walton

On Keagan Rothrock’s ramp-up from injury:

“The velocity piece never really vanished, per se. She still was throwing pitches. I think the one thing you can see, the spin rate piece. Georgia, Friday afternoon when we played, she had more swing-and-misses in that Friday game than she had probably in her previous 15. Just a ton of swing-and-misses.

So the spin rate is up. Things are starting to break a lot better. She’s getting the ball in and out of the zone like she’s accustomed to doing. We didn’t have our data in stadium. We didn’t have what was going on in the stadium, but things weren’t the same as in practices, and she’s repeating that.

But the injury was just an odd injury, and she never really lost any velocity. She took a couple weeks off from pitching. And I think the one thing that probably impacted the most, just the sharpness in game, getting her pitches in the right locations.

But I think she’s… this weekend she pitched really well. She’s had some really good three- or four-inning stints from a lot of good teams, including the Oklahoma series and Ole Miss in the SEC tournament.”

Florida outfielder Taylor Shumaker

On potentially breaking Jocelyn Erickson’s single-season RBI record:

“I have been playing with Joce for a long time. I got to be her teammate my sophomore year and we got to win in the Lion’s Championship together and I think being able to have our paths cross again in college and make it here nonetheless is really, really, really cool.

And honestly, I think Joce is somebody everybody team needs. She’s very level-headed. She will keep you calm when the moment gets a little too big and she’s always there to remind me that I’m meant to be where I am, that I belong here. So Joce has been really, really special to my process and I appreciate her.”

Texas Tech head coach Gerry Glasco

Building a roster around NiJaree Canady

“Yeah, I think when we started building our roster, and once we got NiJa, there were two steps. First, tracking the players where I could look NiJa in the eye and say: This roster can take us to the World Series with you in the circle.

Because even I didn’t want NiJa to come to Texas Tech if I didn’t believe she could go to the World Series with the team that we had, and I knew that she shouldn’t come to Texas Tech.

The first step — and she gave me about 30 days because she had a trip to Japan. That was the first step, getting the players and the roster in place. Once we did that, NiJa came on board. And we were able to make a few moves after that, I think, if I remember right.

So then we began fall, and I think it was just a matter, then, of becoming mentally tough. It’s not an accident that the team is here. They worked really hard. And NiJa is a great talent, a great player, but this team is more than just NiJa Canady. It’s a great team, a product of a lot of hard work.

A lot of kids have put in a lot of time, worked hard in the mornings in the weight room. They work hard in batting practice, work hard on the defense. They’ve honed their skills. They’ve really worked hard all year. And I think their hitting is just a matter of learn how to be mentally tough-minded when a moment comes and really bear down when a moment comes.

And they have learned to trust their training, to believe in each other and play for each other. That’s been one of the biggest keys. We started the first couple weeks of the season, everyone is trying to play for themselves and accomplish things themselves. And if you look back the first two weeks, I think we were batting like .150.

And finally it dawned on me what was happening. Everybody was trying to do it themselves for the team, and I said: Start trying to make each other better. Don’t worry about what you’re doing. Don’t worry if you’re 0-3 or 3-3. Make sure the other eight kids are focused on their attitude and how you can make them feel better and play better, and we’ll play better as a team.

From that point on, that’s when we hit our stride and we got better and better with that. You see that in our scoring. Our scoring averages just went up throughout the season, our batting averages climbed throughout the season. Even as the opponents have gotten tougher, our performance has gotten tougher.

So that’s how we have arrived at where we’re at. A lot of it is emulating. NiJa, when she gets in the circle or steps on the diamond, she’s a tough-minded competitor, a fierce competitor. And our whole team has emulated that. They learned how to compete and emulate that competitive mindset and become a bunch of tough-minded competitors. I’m proud of our entire roster and our entire team.

Texas Tech infielder Lauren Allred

On coming back from a season-ending injury

“I would say it was hard. Last year, the goal last year was to host the regional, and we got to do that. It was tough watching my team do something so well without me. So coming into this year, I knew I wanted to try to make a mark and have an impact on the team. And being able to do that and work throughout the season, I think that’s the biggest reward to the injury itself.”

Texas head coach Mike White

On Reese Atwood’s sustained success

“Nothing is ever guaranteed, and the amount of work that Reese puts in in the offseason, not only physically but mentally and prepares herself, it doesn’t surprise me she’s had the success she’s had, following up such a great sophomore season as well.

We’re looking forward to having her here one more year and see what numbers she can put up. She’s set the Texas all-time record for RBIs and I’m sure some other records as well.”

Texas catcher Reese Atwood

On Ashton Maloney setting the table for the offense

“Ashton is great, and I do believe she goes a little bit under the radar. She’s probably the biggest table-setter we have. I swear, every time she gets on, no matter what her batting average is, I can’t tell you there’s a time she’s not going to lead us off that first inning. It could be first pitch, whatever it is, she’s on first base. That’s a huge spark of our lineup right now. If Ashton is on, I feel like all of us are going to follow her. So she’s a huge part of our lineup.”

Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan

On the relationship with Reese Atwood

“Her passion and her drive kind of just inspire me. And I know she’s going to give her all for this team, and I think that rubs off on all of us. And she’s one of my best friends off the field, and I think that helps a lot. We trust each other. And she can tell sometimes what I’m feeling, and it helps out when we need it.”

Ole Miss head coach Jamie Trachsel

On the newcomers and assistants from this off-season

“It’s a lot of work, but to answer your question directly, I can’t even put into words to tell you how proud and satisfying it is. It was a lot of work starting last summer, and maybe part of it is identifying the right coaches.

Got the right coaching staff, the right freshman group, the right returners — I should start with them, the right returners that stayed because they were committed to Ole Miss and myself and had a lot of trust and belief in me to make the right choices and bring in the right people.

So the retention of those players to our staff, and then some transfers as well, all of them playing a part, playing a role, it was up to us to figure out the puzzle to develop them, to figure out how those puzzle pieces fit together and to continue to build them as we move through the season.

And I got asked a lot throughout the season, each and every week, and my answer was always the same. I said we’re going to keep getting better. We have too many new pieces to not, even as a new coaching staff to come back and have the conversations, roles and responsibilities, what those conversations are pregame, in game, and I thought we could be a team that was on the rise when it came down the stretch.

And all that actually kind of came true, but we just had so many new pieces I thought it would take that amount of time. And I think this is probably the team — I don’t think I have ever coached a team that has maximized the whole season getting better, using the lessons learned, the adversity that you go through to continue getting better throughout the season.

We lost a handful of extra-inning games until the Florida game in the SEC tournament. We had the lead, they tied it, and we won our first extra-inning game after going 0-5 off extra innings, and then losing Game 2 and coming back in Game 1, Arizona’s environment to Arkansas’s environment.

So I’m proud of how they’ve continued to get better, to buy in the investment, the resiliency that we have and the pride and the fight that we show.”

Ole Miss pitcher Aliyah Binford on making it to Oklahoma City

“Yeah, the moment is just… can’t really put it into words, obviously. It is our last year, and we worked our entire careers to get here. I’ve played on this park plenty of times but never in this environment.

And I think that’s what makes it so special, just being able to do it with the girls that we have and see that we all have the same vision, the same goal and the same excitement to be here is just amazing. And it’s really hard to put into words, but we’re really looking forward to it.”

Oklahoma head coach Patty Gasso

On focusing on coaching again

“I have. Maybe you’re seeing me smile a little bit more. That’s what I’ve been told. It’s nothing against the team over the last four years. They’ve just been so good that my goal here was stay out of their way and let them go. If they need me, I’m here. And that’s just maturity and elite athletes. Not that these guys are not elite here, but we’re so new.

And I’ll share this. If you asked me back in October, I would say, man, I hope we finish middle of the pack in the SEC. I didn’t know, nor did any of us. There’s still a lot of things to learn.

It’s been a lot of coaching. It’s been a lot of push. And they’ve taken it, and they’ve run with it. And they want it, and that’s the difference. They want to be pushed. They want that extra ground ball. They want those extra swings. They come in and swing on their own. They do things the right way. And that’s literally why we’re here, because they trusted in the coaches and what we were doing, and they always, always want more.”

Oklahoma infielder Nelly McEnroe-Marinas

On leadership

“Yeah, I think the biggest thing is you only get what you put in. And the more we put into each other, the more we receive out of each other.

Just as we have grown throughout this season and just learning to trust each other, have faith in each other, believing in each other, those are the biggest things. Especially when you make it this far into the season, we only have each other, so we’re going to trust each other. We’re going to believe in each other, have faith in each other because it’s literally us who are doing it.”

UCLA head coach Kelly Inouye-Perez

On the Oregon series earlier in the season.

“The Oregon series? What I learned is that was an opportunity for us in the middle of conference on the road, and what I learned most was our best is yet to come. We didn’t play our best ball. We had a day. We had a day where we definitely showed up on day two and finished a game, but day three we didn’t finish out.

That’s what I learned at the end of the day. I think my team and my players feel the same. At the end of the day, you go to every series with a goal of winning the series, and we walk away knowing we just didn’t play our best game. And I think that really set the tone for us getting ready to be able to come through in games like we did in regionals and super regionals because of those lessons learned. So that’s pretty much what I learned from that.”

UCLA infielders Jordan Woolery and Megan Grant

On their relationship

JORDAN WOOLERY: “Yeah, Megan is the best. I’m grateful to be hitting in front of her. And I feel like our relationship is so special so it makes it easy to have someone you love, trust, and care about hitting behind you. I think that just makes our relationship so much better on the field.

And off the field, I know Megan is going to have my back no matter what. And there’s been moments that we’re there for each other regardless of ups and downs. So I think just having someone so supportive and so loving as a teammate but most importantly as a friend, it means a lot to me.”

MEGAN GRANT: “I would have to agree with that. Just knowing Jordan from the start, we clicked immediately. Even before we got here, it was always like when’s our time? When’s our time? And we finally get here, and it’s a special bond you can’t break. Coach I tried to break that by separating us in the lineup… no, I’m just kidding.

Jordan is amazing. Everything we have experienced, being freshmen and going from sophomore, junior, now, our experiences, I feel like we’ve shared them together, and it makes it that much more special. So just having Jordan here is just one of one.”

Tennessee head coach Karen Weekly

On pitching coach Megan Rhodes Smith

“I think she’s one of the most underrated pitching coaches in the country. And a lot of that is because Megan is a family person. When she’s not pouring into Tennessee softball, she’s spending time with her family. So she’s probably not out there as much as other coaches are, doing things away from our team, but that’s okay. She’s fantastic at what she does. And the numbers speak for themselves. We have had an All-American pitcher for quite a few years running now, and Megan has been with us only five short years.”

Tennessee infielder McKenna Gibson

On the growth of the offense this season

“Yeah, I’m super proud of this team, the way we have been able to grow this season. From early on you kind of get a glimpse of what we can do, but we have played some tough teams throughout this season. SEC is a very tough conference.

And I’m just really proud to see the growth because we do have a young lineup and a young staff. So especially Ella and Gabby, they’re really playing into their roles. And this is a perfect time for them to step up and be big and be bold with what they’re doing.

And we have had a lot of growth, both mentally and physically, throughout the lineup. So I’m just really proud of this team and really lucky to be here. And that’s what’s gotten us here too.”

Tennessee pitcher Karlyn Pickens

On the growth of pro softball

“I think it’s amazing to see where the sport has grown from when I was younger watching college softball. There wasn’t Athletes Unlimited or anything like that. So it’s a privilege to be a part of the generation now to where we get to go to that next level and really grow the sport of softball, and it’s exciting to see how much it’s growing in such a short time and how it will continue to grow. I’m very honored to be a part of that.”

Head coach Melyssa Lombardi

On why this team made it to Oklahoma City

“It was the right team. I think of all of our versions prior to version seven, and they have helped prepare us to get to this point. Our seniors, they left the torch for this group to take it and run with it.

But, again, just in the fall, you can just feel such a difference with this group. There was just so much more depth with this group in all areas, just with our culture.

And I think of Kai and Paige and what they have done for the culture this year and the leadership they have provided. You can see this team start out as a team where for us as coaches we had to help lead them along the way, but as we got going and the more experiences they got and the growth they got through the tough schedule we played, they started to become a player-led team.

And I just look at what this group has done on the field and more importantly what they’re doing off the field, and it’s the deep connection that they have. There’s no surface here. They play hard for each other. They have tough conversations because they know it will make each other better. Those are things that are needed, also having a team that’s very talented, to be able to do the things that we have been able to do all year.